DOI article:
Fenton, Alexander: The Plough-Song: a Scottish source for medieval plough history
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48998#0191
182
ALEXANDER FENTON
The Yoking of the Oxen. The references in the
Plough-Song to yokes and ox-bows show that the
oxen wore bow-yokes. This was the standard type
of ox-yoke in Britain in historical times (Fenton
1969). Documentary references are numerous.
For example, in 1516, in Fife, “yokkis and bollis”
(yokes and bows) were listed amongst stolen
plough gear (Dickinson 26). In 1523, sixty yokes
were sent from a smithy in Leith, “weill landit and
ryngit with stapillis” (well supplied with hooks,
and fitted with staples) (Treas. Acc. V. 231). In
1560 in Inverness-shire, a brown ox died in the
plough from the narrowness of the ox bow (Mac-
kay and Boyd 47).
Bow yokes began to fall into disuse in Scotland
with the adoption of improved plough-types in
the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and
though oxen served as draught animals for long
after that, they were harnessed with collars
resembling horse-collars, but open at the bottom
so that they could be dropped straight down over
the animals’ necks. Yokes died out nearly two
centuries ago and only one, of unknown date,
is known to survive in Scotland. However, they
figure prominently on farmers’ tombstones in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and from
these representations, added to the documentary
sources, a certain amount of light can be thrown
on the terminology used in the Plough-Song.
The yokes on the tombstones (fig. 1) are always
shown with two bows. To the centre of each yoke
a ring or staple is attached, and into this goes a
pair of S-hooks, set so that the hooks of one lie
opposite to those of the other (fig. 1:2). These
are clearly equivalent to the staples and “lands”
or hooks of the 1523 quotation above. One ex-
ample dating from 1666 shows a slight variation,
for the hook is attached to the staple by an iron
shank with a loop on the end (fig. 1:3). Apart
from these minor differences, the combined docu-
mentary and representational evidence clearly
indicates one standard yoke type in Scotland from
the early sixteenth century, and probably much
earlier, down to the end of the eighteenth century,
and even later in certain regions and amongst the
poorer classes of farmers.
We are, therefore, in a position to interpret the
terms in the Plough-Song relating to the yoking
attachments. The ring is the loop or staple at-
tached to the middle of the yoke, and the sZzwg
must be the hooks or hooks and chains fixed in
the ring, that take the end of the trace rope or the
trace chain. The chock is unlikely to be an actual
part of the yoke, however. In the modern Scottish
dialects, since a choke-band is the strap of the
bridle that passes under the animal’s jaw, it is
possible that the chock is a rope attached in some
way at the head of the ox. On the other hand this
would hardly appear to be necessary for yoked
oxen. Another possibility is a connection with the
term cheek-lone, a term applied in nineteenth
century Aberdeenshire to the bridle of a plough
(Gregor 180). Either way there are difficulties and
the term chock remains obscure. It is unlikely to
refer to the peg, not otherwise named, that holds
one end of the yoke bow in place.
The Plough. A fairly clear impression of the
plough of the period can be gained from the list
of plough parts, especially when the Plough-Song
evidence is supplemented by that of other docu-
mentary sources.
The plough consisted of the beam, the plough-
head or sole, the sheet or sheath that linked beam
and sole at the front, and the stilt or handle, that
linked the sole and the beam at the back. This is
a four-sided plough type, and the only point that
may differentiate it from the “old Scots” plough,
as known in later times, is the use of the term
“stilt” in the singular. Single stilted ploughs were
in use in the north and west of Scotland until
comparatively recently (Fenton 1962-63, 249ff)
and in parts of England as well (Vancouver 142-
3) and it is conceivable that a one-stilted plough
is being described here. On the other hand, there
is no supporting evidence for this from con-
temporary sources relating to Lowland Scotland.
In 1601, a landlord in the Edinburgh area broke
ALEXANDER FENTON
The Yoking of the Oxen. The references in the
Plough-Song to yokes and ox-bows show that the
oxen wore bow-yokes. This was the standard type
of ox-yoke in Britain in historical times (Fenton
1969). Documentary references are numerous.
For example, in 1516, in Fife, “yokkis and bollis”
(yokes and bows) were listed amongst stolen
plough gear (Dickinson 26). In 1523, sixty yokes
were sent from a smithy in Leith, “weill landit and
ryngit with stapillis” (well supplied with hooks,
and fitted with staples) (Treas. Acc. V. 231). In
1560 in Inverness-shire, a brown ox died in the
plough from the narrowness of the ox bow (Mac-
kay and Boyd 47).
Bow yokes began to fall into disuse in Scotland
with the adoption of improved plough-types in
the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and
though oxen served as draught animals for long
after that, they were harnessed with collars
resembling horse-collars, but open at the bottom
so that they could be dropped straight down over
the animals’ necks. Yokes died out nearly two
centuries ago and only one, of unknown date,
is known to survive in Scotland. However, they
figure prominently on farmers’ tombstones in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and from
these representations, added to the documentary
sources, a certain amount of light can be thrown
on the terminology used in the Plough-Song.
The yokes on the tombstones (fig. 1) are always
shown with two bows. To the centre of each yoke
a ring or staple is attached, and into this goes a
pair of S-hooks, set so that the hooks of one lie
opposite to those of the other (fig. 1:2). These
are clearly equivalent to the staples and “lands”
or hooks of the 1523 quotation above. One ex-
ample dating from 1666 shows a slight variation,
for the hook is attached to the staple by an iron
shank with a loop on the end (fig. 1:3). Apart
from these minor differences, the combined docu-
mentary and representational evidence clearly
indicates one standard yoke type in Scotland from
the early sixteenth century, and probably much
earlier, down to the end of the eighteenth century,
and even later in certain regions and amongst the
poorer classes of farmers.
We are, therefore, in a position to interpret the
terms in the Plough-Song relating to the yoking
attachments. The ring is the loop or staple at-
tached to the middle of the yoke, and the sZzwg
must be the hooks or hooks and chains fixed in
the ring, that take the end of the trace rope or the
trace chain. The chock is unlikely to be an actual
part of the yoke, however. In the modern Scottish
dialects, since a choke-band is the strap of the
bridle that passes under the animal’s jaw, it is
possible that the chock is a rope attached in some
way at the head of the ox. On the other hand this
would hardly appear to be necessary for yoked
oxen. Another possibility is a connection with the
term cheek-lone, a term applied in nineteenth
century Aberdeenshire to the bridle of a plough
(Gregor 180). Either way there are difficulties and
the term chock remains obscure. It is unlikely to
refer to the peg, not otherwise named, that holds
one end of the yoke bow in place.
The Plough. A fairly clear impression of the
plough of the period can be gained from the list
of plough parts, especially when the Plough-Song
evidence is supplemented by that of other docu-
mentary sources.
The plough consisted of the beam, the plough-
head or sole, the sheet or sheath that linked beam
and sole at the front, and the stilt or handle, that
linked the sole and the beam at the back. This is
a four-sided plough type, and the only point that
may differentiate it from the “old Scots” plough,
as known in later times, is the use of the term
“stilt” in the singular. Single stilted ploughs were
in use in the north and west of Scotland until
comparatively recently (Fenton 1962-63, 249ff)
and in parts of England as well (Vancouver 142-
3) and it is conceivable that a one-stilted plough
is being described here. On the other hand, there
is no supporting evidence for this from con-
temporary sources relating to Lowland Scotland.
In 1601, a landlord in the Edinburgh area broke