Townships, Timber and Trees in the Late Medieval Highlands

On 16 July, the second in the 2009 Groam House Lecture Series was presented by Dr Alasdair Ross, Lecturer in History at the Research Centre for Environmental History and Policy at the University of Stirling.  The title of the lecture was Townships, Timber & Trees in the Late Mediaeval Highlands.

Most people probably associate the word ‘recycling’ with recent developments relating to global warming and sustainability.  But this is not so.  Recycling has been going on for as long as historical records exist, and the north of Scotland is no exception.  Dr Ross’s lecture concentrated on certain areas of the North and in particular on sourcing, provision, usage and
recycling of timber products ranging from major structural component of dwellings to farm implements and kitchen utensils.

Records are sparse on this subject and Dr Ross and his research team resorted to local archaeological exploration and examination of the records of court cases (pertaining to land ownership) of the time … 17-19th centuries.

It is clear that the growing of trees of various species according to usage requirements was carefully managed so as to ensure a continuing supply of wood for various building, farming and domestic purposes.  Dr Ross quantified the numbers of trees that were consumed by the various special functions and perhaps surprisingly, the number reached into the millions, depending of the location and function.

The knowledgeable and appreciative audience was introduced to certain mediaeval Scots words such as davoch, a land measurement that overlaps with others such as ‘oxgang’, an area of about 13 acres.  The management of these land packages with regard to ownership, legality, and calculated timber needs constituted the essence of this excellent address.

The next in the Groam House Lecture Series will be on 27 August 2009… “New Discoveries of Early Medieval Sculpture at St Vigeans”, and will be delivered by Dr Jane Geddes of the University of Aberdeen.