Àiteach / Agriculture
- Informant(s)
- Name
- Mrs M Duncan
- Origin
- South Uist
- Location
- Stockbridge
- Notes
- [NOTE: the diagram and list are attached to a letter from Hugh Cheape of National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (no date): “(...) that I should write to you about a subject which we are investigating at the moment. We have in the collection two wooden ploughs from Uist, of the type shown in the accompanying photocopy. I am of the opinion that all these ploughs are relatively modern, that is of the period 1880s-1950s, although they do have older features. They have been described as crann fiodha and I am wondering if this is a recent compound, introduced to distinguish the locally made plough from the newer plough types which were beginning to be imported about 1886? I am wondering if their use is specifically related to the resettlement shemes of the period after 1886 when, I imagine, the Uist crofters suddenly had a great deal more arable at their disposal and therefore the sudden need for a substantial plough. I also enclose some photocopy of the named parts of this type of plough which came to us by a tortuous route. The Mrs Duncan referred to was a South Uist lady. I hope that there [sic] may be useful for Dictionary use.”]
© DASG
