Caithness CWS - Caithness Field Club - Annual Bulletins - 1979 - October

Old Letter of November 1799

The following two pages are a typed copy of an original single sheet letter to:

Sir Robert Anstruther Bart.
of Balaskie
by Pittenweem
Fife.

posted in Wick at the cost of 7d.

Acknowledgement: The original document is part of a postal collection belonging to Mr. G. Lewthwaite and the Field Club is indebted to Mr. Lewthwaite for permission to study and reproduce the letter. The notes on the letter were compiled by Mr. G. Watson.

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State of Crops on Mains of Watten and Strath 1797 & upon the former 1798

1797 Oats on Wattin &

	B F P L	B F P Lib	B F P L
Hillhead. . . . . . . . . . . 200: : 3:1		of which mealed 180: 2: :	Yielding 130: : 1: 6
Strath. . . . . . . . . . . . .117: 1: :3		" " mealed 80: 2: :	" 57: 2: 2: .
		Sown spring 1798 55: : :
		Sold Alexr Jay 8: : :
	--------------	--------------	--------------
	323: 2: : .	323: : :	187: 2: 3: 6
1798 Oats on Wattin & c270: : : .		mealed 90: : :	70: : : .
		Sown on Hillhead 18: : :
		Delivered Mr. Rogers 152: : :
	--------------	--------------	--------------
	599: 2: : .	583: 2: :.

	B F P
Livery meal pd. out crop -97 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	5: 1: 2
Do from Mar -97 to July - 99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	74: 3: 1�
Sold Major McLeayeay -98 at 12/6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	10: 2: 2
Sold Laborers 1799 at 15/- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	5: 1:
Delivd by Dd Small to Mr. Roger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	158: :
by Do to Alex Pride. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	3: 1: 3
Spoiled or Mily Meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	4: :

N.B.

The sixteen Bolls difference between the stock and delivery is said partly to have been given to the Horses and partly to have broke in upon 186 Bolls put up in Bykes in January where they remained untill dressed again and shipped.

State of Bear Crops 1797 & -98 threshed out May last	B F P
Sown Spring 1798 in No. 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	Bear 14: 2:
Do in Do. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	Barley 3: 2:
1799 in No 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	Bear 8: :
Do. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	Barley 5: :
Hillhead & Gersay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	" 13: :
Light or dressings mealed 1798 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	10: :
Do Do 1799. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	12: 1:
Delivered to Mr. Taylor 1799 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	3: :
Sold Thos. Brown spring 1799 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1: :
Bear shipped by Dd Small to Mr. Roger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	103: 3:
Bran Do by Do to Do. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	26: :
	-----------------
Total Bear Crops 1797 & 1798	200: 2:

State of Farms, payable by the Tenants of Watten Crops 1797 & 1798 received by David Murray

B
For Crop 1797 94: 3: 2: 6� paid in	84: 1: : 8 Arrear 21: : 3: 2
Crop 1798 78: 1: 1: 2� paid in	55: 1: : 7� Arrear 12: 1: 3:
From the millings 2 : : : .
From D. Ross1799 .
-----------------	---------------- Total --------------
Total payable 173: 1: : � Total paid	173: 2: 1: 7 Arrear 33: 2: 2: 2

The 173B:2f:1p & 7lib was paid in at 8� stones which 184B:1f:3p & 5lib at 8 stones. Therefore David Murray has crops in 5B:1f:3:5 lib & smalls come out 4:2:3:6 Murray says he had from six firlots to 2 Bolls spoilt meal & three smalls parcel of his own so placed together that it was impossible fully to distinguish the difference

N.B. As to the 33B:2f:2p:2lib arrear, 12B:3f:3p:5� lib are due by Mr. Taylor being his farm for crops 1797 & 1798, & is kept back in part payment of his victl. stipend for these two years

The remaining 20B:2f: p:51lib at 8� stones equal to 21B:3f:3p:2 lib at 8 stones at 15/- per B & which is stated in the charge,

amounts to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .�16: 9: 3�

Major McLeay 10B:2f:2p at 12/6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6:12: 9�

Laborers 5B: 1f: at 15/- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3:18: 9

	---------------
	�27: :10�

To pay up Mr. Taylor his victual stipend for crops in 1797 & 1798

	B
Sir Robert is still due . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . which meal & bear Mr. Taylor used the freedom to ship	11: : : 5 meal
of bear	21: : :
along with Sir Robert's Victll. Mr. Taylor also has a demand upon Sir Robt. for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	12:1f: meal

given to his servants. The New Meal at Watten was shipped before they thought of reserving coste for themselves & then finding the former years meal old tasted grumbled exceedingly, to remove which Mr. Taylor kept back what he had at his House to dispose of for their accommodation & they have received as above stated.

Joseph Taylor

Wattin Manse

22nd Nov 1799

State of victll delivered Mr. Rogers

By David Small. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	meal	158: : :
	oats	152: : :
	Beans	115: 1: :
	Bear	103: 3: :
	Barley	26: 2: :
By Adam Sutherland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	Bear	16: : :
Do	meal	11: 2: 2:
From the Mill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	meal	10: : :
From David Ross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	Bear	9: 3: :
By David Murray farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	meal	179: : :

Total delivered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	Bolls	781: 3: 3:

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Notes on the units used in the above letter.

The units are Bolls, Firlots, Pecks and Librae or pounds. From the letter:

4 lib. = 1 Peck
4 Pecks = 1 Firlot
4 Firlots = 1 Boll

The Boll was the old unit of capacity based on the Stirling Pint Jug of 1457, which had a volume of 31bs. 7ozs. of the Water of Leith. The Linlithgow Firlot (or Fourth-lot) for bear, malt, barley and oats was defined as 31 pints, and therefore a Boll equalled 124 pints. The weight of this volume depended on the contents being measured and agreed conversion figures which could vary locally

were often specified as in the Watten Letter where 8 to 8� stones per boll is used.

Now from the above table the libra was one sixty-fourth of a boll i.e. one sixty-fourth of 8� stones or 119 pounds avoirdupois. Therefore a libra was equivalent to 1.86 pounds avoirdupois and was not the modern pound but the old Scottish Pound.

In passing it should be noted that quarter of a peck in the old Scottish system, was a 'lippie' a word which is clearly a corruption of libra.

Joseph Taylor, was a schoolmaster in Wick until 1764 when he resigned to become a licentiate of the Caithness Presbytery. He was ordained in 1779 and became minister of Watten. He wrote the account of his parish for the first Statistical Account. It is on record that "He was a person of superior endowments, highly cultivated mind, exemplary conduct, and earnest in his wishes to discharge ministerial and parochial duty". This letter would seem to confirm Alexander Auld's assertion that Joseph Taylor also acted as factor on the Watten estate. He remained minister of Watten until 1805, when he was translated to Carnbee.

Caithness Bykes. The old method of storing grain was to drive a circle of stakes into the ground in a suitably dry location. A floor of chaff, straw and sacks was made inside the stakes. The interior was then filled with the grain to be stored and the whole outside was thatched with straw and closely wound and bound with straw ropes. This method of building temporary granaries was said to be rat-proof.

Beans. There is one mention of beans in the letter, this shows that even before Agricultural Improvements got underway there were some attempts at crop rotation to replace nitrogen in the soil by sowing beans. The inclusion of beans in the accounts of barley, bear and oats is not as unusual as it now sounds, for bean-meal was used to bake unleavened cakes on girdles just as oat-cakes are baked today.