Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.A pilot investigation into 18th century landownership in the Highlands and Islands by computerised data processing of the valuation rolls of Argyllshire for the years 1688, 1751 and 1802. Argyll is the best served of Scottish shires with respect to extant records which list, describe and evaluate the estates of heritors (landowners) according to each parish and territorial division within the shire. Whilst the valuation rolls do not serve as a useful indicator to changing rental as against fiscal expectations in a Highland shire, they do serve to demonstrate continuity and change in the shift from clanship to commercial landlordism during the 18th century; a vital time of estate re-orientation characterised variously as agricultural improvement or rural clearance.Main Topics:The valuation rolls data were constructed primarily to scrutinize continuity and change in landownership, although the commercial re-orientation of estate management can be detected from the literal evidence of placenames and the numerical evidence of valuations. Accordingly, seventeen fields were created for each database, with one database for each year: YEAR: year of valuation. DIVISION; PARISH: geographical location in terms of shrival divisions and parishes of Argyll. HERITOR: family or clan name usually with landed designation XIAN: Christian name. STATUS: indicates the heritor's status in terms of how he holds land. TOTHOLD: number of individual holdings a heritor has in the parish regardless of status. HOLD1; HOLD2; HOLD3: itemised holdings - placename etc. LANDRES: details of landed resources such as mills, houses etc. RESCODE: code corresponding to LANDRES. TLVAL: total valued rent of all a heritors holdings and land in the parish. PARHERS: the number of heritors in each parish. PARVAL; DIVAL: indicate the total valued rent of the parish and division respectively. REMARKS: contains any relevant outstanding or...