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Crofting and Land Reform |
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The crofting system seemed a perfect marriage; the landowners who replaced the Clan Chiefs could no longer ask their tenants to raise arms, or provide other services for them, but they could make money by leasing off small areas of land – or crofts – to many tenants. In turn, the now landless Highlanders had a chance to rent their own piece of land for them and their family to live on and live off. The rent was usually paid in goods, rather than money, and although it was a harsh life, the crofting ‘communities’ would pull together and help each other out.
Crofting was an entirely self–subsiding way of life. The family home would be built on the plot of land, with the rest of the space (usually around 5 hectares in total) used for growing crops. Sometimes a small area was left aside for grazing animals. Fuel had to be found for the winter, usually in the form of peat, and anything else the crofters required had to be made themselves, or bartered for from the trades-people who would travel from community to community.
This seemingly balanced way of life didn’t last long. Profit seeking landlords were looking for ways of making more money out of their land; rents got higher, and now had to be paid in cash. The land itself was struggling, as fathers tried to share their small plots of land with their sons, and landowners tried to squeeze more tenants onto their lands.
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