Crofting Township With Music On History Visit To The Highlands Of Scotland

Tour Scotland short 4K travel video clip, with Scottish music, of a crofting township on ancestry, clan, genealogy, family history visit to the Highlands, Britain, United Kingdom. Crofting is a traditional social system in Scotland defined by small-scale food production. Crofting is characterised by its common working communities, or townships. Crofting is a form of land tenure and small scale food production particular to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th century townships, individual crofts were established on the better land, and a large area of poorer-quality hill ground was shared by all the crofters of the township for grazing of their livestock. Crofting communities were a product of the Highland Clearances though individual crofts had existed before the clearances. The crofts created by clearance were not intended to support all the needs of those who lived there and consequently were restricted in size to a few acres of arable land with surrounding shared grazing. Landlords intended their crofting tenants to work in various industries, such as fishing or kelp. A contemporary estimate was that a crofter needed to carry out 200 days of work away from his croft in order to avoid destitution. In the second half of the 19th century, many crofters provided a substantial migrant workforce, especially for lowland farms. Crofting communities were badly hit by the Highland Potato Famine. The small arable plots had meant that the potato was an essential crop, due to its high productivity. The arrival of potato blight and the collapse of the kelp industry a few years before made some crofting communities inviable. This gave rise to the second phase of the Highland Clearances, when many tenants left the Highlands, often emigrating to America, Canada and Australia. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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