History of Arran’s agriculture

Jim Henderson continues his series

In the 1800s, Arran changed from a feudal society to something much closer to the island we know now. Life in Scotland was shifting away from the old tribal system in which landowners valued their tenants as potential fighting men and took a proprietory view of the communities without interfering with their methods of working. The traditional clan structure was giving way to a national shared conviction among the chieftains that farming must become more profitable, and this had a knock-on effect for tenants. Landowners, newly able to access imported goods as exploration of other countries increased, started to point out the benefits of nitrogen and lime. Because of the open, free-range system of rearing cattle, many farmers had not thought of cattle waste as a valuable source of nitrogen for horticulture, but regulation was starting to set in. An Act of Parliament required tenants to keep herds and to fold their cattle every night. Sheep had to be marked, and no cattle or sheep were to be killed
without calling together a jury of the three nearest neighbours. All weights and measures were to be taken to the castle, and compared with Ayr weights and measures.

In a ‘stick and carrot’ exercise, these restrictions were balanced by inducements. As early as 1776, rewards were offered to the tenants for specified requirements. The best ‘three-year-old humbled bull’ could win 5 guineas, a very considerable sum then. The best ‘two-year-old tup of Bakewell and Chaplin kind full blood’ might earn a bonus of 2 guineas, and the best ‘three-year-old entire horse, not above 15 hands high, 7 guineas.

Similar inducements were offered to farmers who followed detailed instructions. 6 guineas rewarded ‘the best field of turnips, not under 3 acres, sown broad-cast after a summer fallow by 3 ploughings and manured.’ Cabbages, too, had to be grown according to instructions, though these were intended as cattle feed.  The field must be  ‘well prepared, planted at 4 feet distance ‘twixt rows.’ On two acres, it was calculated that about 20,000 plants would be three times horsehoed. In 9 weeks the plants should weigh 4Ibs each, and the yield would fatten 16 head of cattle. A tenant achieving this would receive 6 guineas.

Cereal crops attracted the same inducements. 2 guineas would reward a tenant with ‘the greatest quantity and best quality of wheat upon enclosed ground, and after a
thorough summer fallow of 5 furrows, sufficiently manured, and no less than 2 acres.’ Hay and clover were not forgotten, either. ‘To the tenant who shall have the greatest quantity of
clover and rye-grass hay from at least 2 acres, sown with barley or wheat, after summer fallow, of 5 furrows, and properly manured, and not less than 100 stones an acre, and
upon enclosed ground – 2 guineas. The Duke also obtained the services of an experienced fisherman, one Andrew Wilson, to teach the art of line fishing to any of the islanders who applied to him. Arran was starting to become richly productive.

Familiar Arran names were found amongst the prize-winners in the two years following; Angus MacKillop, Alexander Thomson, Patrick Crawford, Robert Shaw, John Currie and Alexander MacKinnon.

In the early 1800s, nitrogen fertiliser started to be imported from Chile in the form of guano. Lime was brought to the island by the Clyde ‘puffers’, which often beached on sandy areas close to the farming community who loaded the cargo on to carts at low tide. Sulphate of ammonia and super phosphate was manufactured, which increased productivity and met the demand for root crops and vegetables that had arisen when bread became so expensive. Reaping and threshing machines became a new sight on Arran and the introduction of metal ploughs and drills improved the farm output.

Part of this was due to a man called Robert Bauchop who surveyed on Arran for five years, pushing the new plans even further, and bringing about modern improvements such as the building of new roads. In 1817 roads were built connecting Brodick and Shiskine (The String), from Brodick to Sannox, and from Lamlash to the South End (the Ross Road).

Bauchop had drawn up these plans in response to the new land divisions in 1814. Farming and improvements had become the fashion among country gentleman, newly seen as lucrative, and Arran was no exception. With the abolition of the runrig system, the management of Arran’s agriculture became squarely the landowner’s business, so access to the various parts of the island was much more necessary. One of the first improvements was the road built between Brodick and Gorton Alister, Lamlash, the cost shared between the Government and the landowner. This made transport much easier and increased the use of wheeled vehicles as opposed to heavy wooden sledges. Progress indeed.