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#0197
188
ALEXANDER FENTON
swingletrees, and the side-ropes were as described
above (Sh’rreff 52). However, such an arrange-
ment is unlikely with yoked oxen, for which col-
lars did not come into use until the second half
of the eighteenth century. Nevertheless the “side
ropes” must have been supplementary to the
draught chain in some way but exactly how is as
yet obscure.
The bridill of the same 1516 source is the at-
tachment at the muzzle of the plough where the
draught chain was fixed at one of a number of
points so as to give the plough more or less land.
It is, conceivably, equivalent to the pleugh-bowle.
Tombstone Illustrations. The only supporting
graphic sources of information are the more or
less stylized representations of ploughs, alone or
with their teams, on tombstones in both Scotland
and Ireland. These, however, date only from the
late seventeenth century, and the majority are
eighteenth century (figs. 3 and 4). Even so they
reproduce the essential features of the type of
plough referred to in the Plough-Song. All are
four-sided in construction, and have a pair of
stilts. The regular lack of a mould-board, and the
casual way in which the stilts may be attached to
the end of the beam, are warnings against the too
easy use of this type of source material for the
historical study of plough forms. The pointed,
symmetrical share of the Glen Nevis plough
(fig. 4, 6), and the bridle for the draught attach-
ments, appear to be reasonably true to life,
however.
Summary. The Plough-Song, in itself, and in
relation to contemporary sources, gives a lively
picture of a four-sided plough drawn by a team
of eight oxen, accompanied by two people, a
ploughman and a driver. The plough had an iron
share and coulter, the coulter-mortice was iron
bound, the front of the sheath and parts of the
mould-board and ground-wrest were probably
covered with metal plates. Apart from this, the
plough was made entirely of wood. The plough-
man carried a plough-staff or pattie to clean the
mould-board, and a hammer or mallet to adjust
the wedges in the stilt mortice and in the coulter
mortice. Though the Song refers to stilt in the
singular, it is unlikely that this is a one-stilted
plough, and the singular form no doubt empha-
sizes the superior importance of the left hand-, or
great stilt.
The eight oxen were harnessed with wooden
bow yokes with central yoke-rings to which the
main draught-chain was attached by chains and
links (often paired). They were urged on by a
sharp pointed goad wielded by the driver as well
as vocally instructed by him.
The team and plough together appear to be the
joint property of a number of tenants in a joint-
farming community of the pre-enclosure period.
The fact that they are referred to as those with
rights in the common grazing emphasizes the close
and essential relationship between the arable and
pastoral land as a basis for the community organ-
ization of the period.
Acknowledgement. I am greatly indebted to A. J.
Aitken, editor of the Dictionary of the Older
Scottish Tongue, for his advice in the preparation
of this article, and to K. Danaher of the Irish
Folklore Commission for information on and
illustrations of the Irish material.
Zusammenfassung
Die wichtigste einzelne Quelle, die fiber den im
Mittelalter in Schottland benutzten Pflug Auf-
schluss gibt, ist das Pfluglied (the Plough-Song),
das nach inhaltlichen und sprachlichen Kriterien
zu urteilen aus der Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts
stamrnt. Die Bezeichnungen der Pflug- und Zug-
geschirrteile finden sich nur im gedruckten Text
aus dem Jahr 1666.
Das Pfluglied beschreibt einen Pflug, der von
acht Ochsen gezogen wird, die einzeln bei Namen
genannt werden. Obgleich ein so zahlreiches Ge-
spann zweifellos allgemein ublich war und die
Grundlage fruher Gesetzgebung bildete, war es
nicht unabanderlich, vielmehr kamen auch Ge-
ALEXANDER FENTON
swingletrees, and the side-ropes were as described
above (Sh’rreff 52). However, such an arrange-
ment is unlikely with yoked oxen, for which col-
lars did not come into use until the second half
of the eighteenth century. Nevertheless the “side
ropes” must have been supplementary to the
draught chain in some way but exactly how is as
yet obscure.
The bridill of the same 1516 source is the at-
tachment at the muzzle of the plough where the
draught chain was fixed at one of a number of
points so as to give the plough more or less land.
It is, conceivably, equivalent to the pleugh-bowle.
Tombstone Illustrations. The only supporting
graphic sources of information are the more or
less stylized representations of ploughs, alone or
with their teams, on tombstones in both Scotland
and Ireland. These, however, date only from the
late seventeenth century, and the majority are
eighteenth century (figs. 3 and 4). Even so they
reproduce the essential features of the type of
plough referred to in the Plough-Song. All are
four-sided in construction, and have a pair of
stilts. The regular lack of a mould-board, and the
casual way in which the stilts may be attached to
the end of the beam, are warnings against the too
easy use of this type of source material for the
historical study of plough forms. The pointed,
symmetrical share of the Glen Nevis plough
(fig. 4, 6), and the bridle for the draught attach-
ments, appear to be reasonably true to life,
however.
Summary. The Plough-Song, in itself, and in
relation to contemporary sources, gives a lively
picture of a four-sided plough drawn by a team
of eight oxen, accompanied by two people, a
ploughman and a driver. The plough had an iron
share and coulter, the coulter-mortice was iron
bound, the front of the sheath and parts of the
mould-board and ground-wrest were probably
covered with metal plates. Apart from this, the
plough was made entirely of wood. The plough-
man carried a plough-staff or pattie to clean the
mould-board, and a hammer or mallet to adjust
the wedges in the stilt mortice and in the coulter
mortice. Though the Song refers to stilt in the
singular, it is unlikely that this is a one-stilted
plough, and the singular form no doubt empha-
sizes the superior importance of the left hand-, or
great stilt.
The eight oxen were harnessed with wooden
bow yokes with central yoke-rings to which the
main draught-chain was attached by chains and
links (often paired). They were urged on by a
sharp pointed goad wielded by the driver as well
as vocally instructed by him.
The team and plough together appear to be the
joint property of a number of tenants in a joint-
farming community of the pre-enclosure period.
The fact that they are referred to as those with
rights in the common grazing emphasizes the close
and essential relationship between the arable and
pastoral land as a basis for the community organ-
ization of the period.
Acknowledgement. I am greatly indebted to A. J.
Aitken, editor of the Dictionary of the Older
Scottish Tongue, for his advice in the preparation
of this article, and to K. Danaher of the Irish
Folklore Commission for information on and
illustrations of the Irish material.
Zusammenfassung
Die wichtigste einzelne Quelle, die fiber den im
Mittelalter in Schottland benutzten Pflug Auf-
schluss gibt, ist das Pfluglied (the Plough-Song),
das nach inhaltlichen und sprachlichen Kriterien
zu urteilen aus der Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts
stamrnt. Die Bezeichnungen der Pflug- und Zug-
geschirrteile finden sich nur im gedruckten Text
aus dem Jahr 1666.
Das Pfluglied beschreibt einen Pflug, der von
acht Ochsen gezogen wird, die einzeln bei Namen
genannt werden. Obgleich ein so zahlreiches Ge-
spann zweifellos allgemein ublich war und die
Grundlage fruher Gesetzgebung bildete, war es
nicht unabanderlich, vielmehr kamen auch Ge-