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The Lowland Clearances in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 were one of the results of the British Agricultural Revolution
British Agricultural Revolution

The British Agricultural Revolution describes a period of development in Britain between the 17th century and the end of the 19th century, which saw a massive increase in agricultural productivity and net output....
, which changed the traditional system of agriculture which had existed in Lowland Scotland
Scottish Lowlands

The Scottish Lowlands , although not officially a geographical area of the country, in normal usage is generally meant to include those parts of Scotland not referred to as the Scottish Highlands , that is, everywhere due south and east of a line between Stonehaven and Helensburgh ....
 in the seventeenth century. Thousands of cottars
Cotter (farmer)

See also Canadian band The Cottars.A cottar, or cottars, is the Scots language term for a peasant farmer formerly in the Scotland Scottish Highlands....
 and tenant farmers from the southern counties
Scottish Lowlands

The Scottish Lowlands , although not officially a geographical area of the country, in normal usage is generally meant to include those parts of Scotland not referred to as the Scottish Highlands , that is, everywhere due south and east of a line between Stonehaven and Helensburgh ....
 of Scotland migrated from farms and small holdings they had occupied to the new industrial centres of Glasgow
Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and List of largest United Kingdom settlements by population in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's Scottish Lowlands....
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
 and northern England
Northern England

Northern England, the North, the North of England, or the North Country refers to the parts of England north of an ill-defined line....
 or abroad.

Many small settlements were torn down, their occupants moved to new, purposely-built villages.






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The Lowland Clearances in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 were one of the results of the British Agricultural Revolution
British Agricultural Revolution

The British Agricultural Revolution describes a period of development in Britain between the 17th century and the end of the 19th century, which saw a massive increase in agricultural productivity and net output....
, which changed the traditional system of agriculture which had existed in Lowland Scotland
Scottish Lowlands

The Scottish Lowlands , although not officially a geographical area of the country, in normal usage is generally meant to include those parts of Scotland not referred to as the Scottish Highlands , that is, everywhere due south and east of a line between Stonehaven and Helensburgh ....
 in the seventeenth century. Thousands of cottars
Cotter (farmer)

See also Canadian band The Cottars.A cottar, or cottars, is the Scots language term for a peasant farmer formerly in the Scotland Scottish Highlands....
 and tenant farmers from the southern counties
Scottish Lowlands

The Scottish Lowlands , although not officially a geographical area of the country, in normal usage is generally meant to include those parts of Scotland not referred to as the Scottish Highlands , that is, everywhere due south and east of a line between Stonehaven and Helensburgh ....
 of Scotland migrated from farms and small holdings they had occupied to the new industrial centres of Glasgow
Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and List of largest United Kingdom settlements by population in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's Scottish Lowlands....
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
 and northern England
Northern England

Northern England, the North, the North of England, or the North Country refers to the parts of England north of an ill-defined line....
 or abroad.

Many small settlements were torn down, their occupants moved to new, purposely-built villages. John Cockburn
John Cockburn (Scottish politician)

John Cockburn of Ormiston, East Lothian, was a Scotland politician, the son of Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, Lord Justice Clerk. He is also known as the father of Scottish husbandry....
 of Ormiston, for example, displaced cottars to the outskirts of his new ranch. Other displaced farmers moved to the new industrial centres of Glasgow
Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and List of largest United Kingdom settlements by population in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's Scottish Lowlands....
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
 and northern England
Northern England

Northern England, the North, the North of England, or the North Country refers to the parts of England north of an ill-defined line....
. In other areas, such as the southwest, landowners offered low rents and nearby employment to tenants they deemed to be respectable.

As a result, between 1760 and 1830, many tens of thousands of Lowland Scots emigrated
Emigration

Emigration is the act of leaving one's native country or region to Settler in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin....
, taking advantage of the many new opportunities offered in Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
 and the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 after 1776 to own and farm their own land. Others chose to remain, either by choice, out of an inability to secure transatlantic passage, or because of obligations in Scotland.

As farmland became more commercialised, land was often rented through auctions, leading to an inflation of rents that priced many tenants out of the market. Furthermore, changes in agricultural practice meant the replacement of part-time labourer / subtenants (known as cottars, cottagers, or bondsmen) with full time agricultural labourers who lived either on the main farm or in rented accommodation in growing or newly founded villages. This led many contemporary writers and modern historians to associate the Agricultural Revolution with the disappearance of cottars and their way of life from many parts of the southern Scotland
Scottish Lowlands

The Scottish Lowlands , although not officially a geographical area of the country, in normal usage is generally meant to include those parts of Scotland not referred to as the Scottish Highlands , that is, everywhere due south and east of a line between Stonehaven and Helensburgh ....
.

Although the causes were different, the lowland Agricultural Revolution
Scottish Agricultural Revolution

The Agricultural Revolution in Scotland began in the mid-eighteenth century with the improvements of Scottish Lowlands farmland and the beginning of a transformation of Scottish agriculture from one of the most backward into what was to become the most modern and productive system in Europe....
 is being seen as the forerunner of the Highland Clearances
Highland Clearances

The Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands between the 18th. and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the coast, the Scottish Lowlands and abroad....
, which started around the same time but continued to the 1870s. New research (2003–04) about the destruction of Lowland culture has led historians such as Tom Devine
Tom Devine

Professor Tom M Devine Order of the British Empire Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellow of the British Academy is a Scotland historian. His main research interest is Scottish history since c.1600.He is widely recognised as the leading authority on modern scottish history....
 to dub this period of time the Lowland Clearances.

See also

  • Highland Clearances
    Highland Clearances

    The Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands between the 18th. and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the coast, the Scottish Lowlands and abroad....


Further reading

  • Aitchison, Pete and Cassell, Andrew. The Lowland Clearances, Scotland's Silent Revolution: 1760–1830, 2003
  • Devine, Prof. Tom. The Scottish Nation: 1700–2000, 2001
  • Gibson, Alex, 1990. ‘Proletarianization? The Transition to Full-Time Labour on a Scottish Estate, 1723–1787’. Continuity and Change, 5 (3): 357–89.
  • Orr, Alistair, 1984. ‘Farm Servants and Farm Labour in the Forth Valley and South-East Lowlands’. In Farm Servants and Labour in Lowland Scotland, 1770–1914.


External links