Land Issues

Crofting - Background

Limited land distribution within rural communities ensured that self-sufficiency was not achievable by crofters and that there was a continuing dependence on the estate for support.  Top-down land management and social organisation also offered the landlord an impoverished and compliant community from which to draw an available workforce when required.  This dependence by small-scale agricultural tenants in the Highlands and Islands on additional means of income or support was the precursor of the subsistence farming that would become known as ‘crofting’.

During the 18^th century a number of Lowland landowners commissioned land surveyors to help improve their estates.  This structured approach to land management and planning was adopted in the Western Isles around 1800 and would ultimately determine the shape, size and location of crofts and croft housing that largely remains with us today.

For much of the 19^th century the fortunes of crofters were largely at the discretion of their landlords; who could raise rents at any time, and failure to pay usually resulted in summary eviction of families from their land and homes.  By the 1880s, poverty, the insecure nature of croft tenancy and the failure of staple crops, such as potato, led to a great deal of unrest within the crofting population – concerns that were becoming increasingly vocal and proactive. 

Visiting extensively throughout the Highlands and Islands the ‘Napier Commission’ reported to Parliament in 1984 and identified a number of concerns among the crofters and cottars (tenants occupying a cottage in return for labour as required).  The principal complaints included:

• The limited size of holdings
• High rents
• Loss of land to sporting pursuits
• Lack of compensation for land improvement by tenants
• Lack of security of tenure

As a result of the Napier Commission report, the Government introduced the Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886, which offered the crofters protection under the law in a number of respects.  Crofters were given the right to a reasonable rent and were now entitled to pass on the tenancy of a croft to a family member.  In addition, where the crofter wished to give up his tenancy, the Act stated that he should be entitled to compensation for any improvements made to the land.  The 1886 Act also set up the Crofters Commission – the forerunner of the present organisation.

Originally constituted as a result of the passing of the Small Landholders (Scotland) Act 1911, the Scottish Land Court was set up on 1st April 1912 and is currently empowered under the Scottish Land Court Act 1993.  The Scottish Land Court is a Court of law, with its jurisdiction set firmly within the context of Scottish farming. It has authority to resolve a range of disputes, including disputes between landlords and tenants, in agriculture and crofting. The Court is based in Edinburgh, but holds hearings throughout Scotland. 

Population density on croft land is about 9 people per kilometre.  In some parts of west coast mainland Scotland, crofting households account for 30% of households and rises to nearly 65% in areas such as the Western Isles and Skye.

The principle crofting areas are in the Western Isles (6,000 crofts), Shetland 2,700), Skye and the Inner Hebrides (1,800) and the north-west Highlands (2,300). [SOURCE: Crofters Commission]

Few earn a living from crofting - it remains very much a subsistence form of small-scale farming.  Modern day crofters are typically employed in industries such as building and weaving, the service and retail sectors, oil-related activities, self-employment, and working for the local authority - a major employer in the Highlands and Islands.