Museum of Scottish Rural Life, Kittochside
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The National Museums of Scotland and partners have developed the Museum of Scottish Rural Life (MoSRL), previously known as the Museum of Scottish Country Life, which is based at Wester Kittochside farm lying between the town of East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire and the village of Carmunnock in Glasgow. The site has good road links, especially with the new M77 extension to Ayrshire and its associated link with East Kilbride.
Other National Museums of Scotland sites are the Royal Museum and the Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh); the National War Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh Castle); the Museum of Flight (East Fortune); Shambellie House, Museum of Costume (New Abbey, Dumfries); and the Granton Centre (Edinburgh).
[edit] The Creation of the Museum
The project, opened in 2001, cost over nine million pounds and was made possible through a partnership between The National Museums of Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the European Regional Development Fund, South Lanarkshire Council, Scottish Natural Heritage and a number of private funders.
The MoSRL has greatly extended the work of the former Scottish Agricultural Museum, founded in 1949, latterly located within the show-ground of the Royal Highland Agricultural Society for Scotland at Ingliston, west of Edinburgh.
The completed MoSRL features a 50,000 square foot museum and visitor centre, the Georgian buildings of Wester Kittochside farm, the species-rich fields and hedgerows around it and a 24 ha (60 acre) events area.
[edit] The Lairds of Kittochside
The 69 ha (170 acre) farm was gifted in 1992 to the National Trust for Scotland by Mrs. Margaret Reid who had run the farm for many years with her late husband James, the last of ten generations of Reids. The Reids, as Lairds of Kittochside, farmed the property over a period of 400 years from 1567 to 1992.
Originally, John Reid, previously the tenant, had purchased the lands of Kittochside in 1567 from the Robert Muir, Laird of Caldwell. Muir tried to take back the lands by force and after burning down Kittochside the case came to be adjudicated at the Privy Council of James VI in 1600, the result being that Robert Muir was jailed for six years and then the Reids were free to develop the farm buildings and lands.
During the covenanting troubles the Reids were prominent and they fought against the king at the Battle of Bothwell Brig in 1679. At one point in the battle the Kilbryd (Kilbride) Parish Flag was taken by the enemy and James Reid fought his way to its rescue, ripping it off its pole and wrapping it around his body as he ran with it. He was captured and would have been sent abroad as a convict if it were not for the intervention of the Duke of Hamilton. James was jailed for a time and then returned in less violent times to manage Wester Kittochside farm.
[edit] The Laird's House
The fine Georgian dwelling house was built in 1782-4 and cost £45.12.7, not an inconsiderable sum for the time, paying for a Laird's home of almost miniature classical country house appearance. An extension to the house was built in 1906 allowing for remodelling of the interior layout. Electricity was installed in the 1920's, replacing the use of oil lamps and candles. The interior of the house has been left as it was in the 1950's.
Some of the buildings have carved ball finials on the gable ends as per the architectural fashion of the time. The finial can also function as a lightning rod, and was once believed to act as a deterrent to witches on broomsticks attempting to land on one's roof. On making her final landing approach to a roof, the witch, spotting the obstructing finial, was forced to sheer off and land elsewhere.
Both the house and the farm stand on an exposed hill top and are screened from the elements by mature trees, a particularly fine old Sycamore or Plane (Acer pseudoplatanus) being prominent amongst them.
[edit] Wester Kittochside Farm
[edit] The Farm Buildings
The north and west ranges were built in 1782-4 by John Reid. The north range stands on the foundations of an earlier building, probably a 17th century longhouse. The small byre was re-roofed and upgraded in the mid 19th and early 20th centuries. The corn barn still has its threshing floor where a flail would have been used by hand until a horse-engine and threshing machine was installed in around 1820 to 1840. This was in turn replaced in 1860 by the present threshing mill. Finally around 1870 travelling mills made even this mill redundant.
The 6th Laird was involved in quarrying and limestone-burning, hence the need for a stable with room for three horses and loose box, with a loft above. Various modifications took place over the years and a Dutch barn was built in 1949. Dairying ceased in 1980 and the farm turned to raising beef cattle until 1992 when the National Trust for Scotland took over the running of the farm operations.
[edit] The Horse Engine or Gin
The very rare survival of a 'Horse mill' , engine or 'gin' at Wester Kittochside has been professionally excavated and restored to working condition. It had been used to drive farm machinery, such as the winnowing machine in the corn barn which removes the husk from grain, powered via a rotating horizontal axle drive from the gin. As already stated, prior to using horse driven machines a flail was used by the farm workers to separate the grain from the husk. The flail itself being a wood pole with a smaller pole linked at the end via a chain or leather thong. Another door opposite the existing barn door used to provide sufficient wind to separate the grain from the chaff or seed husks.
[edit] The Bothy
A single room to house a bachelor farm servant was called a bothy. The example at Wester Kittochside was used as a tack room in the early 20th century, but came back into use during the Second World War when it was used a quarters for a German prisoner of war, Heinrich Luckel, who remained in contact with the Reid family for many years after the end of the conflict.
[edit] Doocot, Cart and Gig Sheds
A typical dovecot or doocot is located above the door of the cart shed building. The doocot is a typical feature of country estates, as the right to build one was strictly limited to the major landowners initially, and only later were small freeholders permitted to build them; at a more recent date tenants could sometimes gain permission from their landlord to build doocots to provide food or to add a picturesque feature to their properties. (Peters 2003). In the Middle Ages doocots or pigeon-houses were a badge of manorial privilege and distinctive, often very ornate buildings were constructed (Buxbaum 1987). The Kittochside doocot is a simple and practical design, however the problem of the pigeons feeding off the farm crops still had to be balanced against the benefits of the all year round meat supply that the doocot provided (Quiney 1995). A lean to gig shed was built at the north end of the stable in the early 19th century.
[edit] The Stathel
Wester Kittochside has two 'Stathels', both made in Edinburgh. The structure is basically a cast-iron version of a set of staddle stones with its upper wooden framework. These rare survivals are still in use for supporting ricks, keeping the material well aired and dry underfoot, as well as free from rats and mice which cannot run up the legs of the structure and make it 'up and over' the 'mushroom shaped' tops and thence into the hay, etc.
[edit] The Whin Stone
Lying outside in the farm courtyard is a large oval sandstone object with metal attachments on its central axis. This was used to crush whin or gorse in a shallow trough, the stone being dragged up and down by a horse, making the spiny and tough branches of the plant suitable for use as animal feed. It was normally only used when other sources of feed were lacking.
[edit] Field Names
An interesting survival and a source of historical information, is the record of field names from the 1858 farm map, giving us such names as Buchans, Long Croft, Short Croft, Greenlawford, Fauselands, Queyspark, etc. The meaning of these names are explained in the Laird's House where an exhibition room is dedicated to the history of the Reid family and their farm.
[edit] The Stile Gateposts
Sandstone 'stile' gateposts are found at the bottom entry point to the Buchans field beside the pedestrian footpath. Such 'stile' gateposts were built with a series of downward facing 'L' shaped grooves on one side and a matching concavity on the other gatepost. Wood bars could then be inserted across and parallel, giving a gate without a hinge. These are sometimes still found in the countryside at large, but they are almost always adapted to carry metal hinged gates. In some areas wood rather than stone was used to construct this type of hinge-less gatepost.
[edit] Rig and Furrow
The familiar Rig and furrow marks in the Buchans field are exceptionally well preserved due to the fact that heavy machinery was rarely used here. These marks represent the way in which earth was built along the centre of a long strip or rig of land with drains or furrows at either side. This is how crops were grown up until the 17th century before enclosure with hedges and fences took place, as well as great social changes, improved farm machinery, etc., all of which altered the way in which fields were ploughed and managed(Blair 1976).
[edit] Archaeology
As part of Scottish Archaeology Month in September 2005, 50 volunteers took part in a fieldwalking exercise to the SW of Wester Kittochside Farm (NS65NW 72). An area of 110 x 20m was gridded out in 10m squares, and the volunteers spent 5 minutes in each grid collecting all the visible artefacts.
Most of the artefacts recovered are of 19th-century origin. These include white and brown glazed pottery, stoneware, bottle and window glass, porcelain figurines, clay pipes and roof slates. More unusual finds include beads, buttons, burnt bone, lead toy soldiers, medieval green-glaze pottery and flint. Most of these these items would had probably come from the 'night soil', which was deposited on the midden and then spread with the manure from the farmyard midden.
[edit] The Exhibition Building and the Collections
The Exhibition Building was constructed in 1998-2001 on newly purchased land. It is designed to reflect its links with the world of agricultural and nature, with large sliding entrance doors giving access to a wood cladded barn-like building. The other outer walls appear to be 'white-washed' and the lower portion of almost the whole of one side appears to be open to the ground outside, echoing the design of typical barns, cart sheds, etc.
The three main themes to the museum are land, tools and people. Many of the artifacts and equipment originally came from the existing museum at Ingliston, others came from an operational traditional working farm, as well as items which were donated and some which were specific acquisitions. The displays illustrate how people lived and worked the land in the past, and how this helped shape the countryside which we see today. The museum also includes items which highlight the folklore aspects of the farming way of life, including a 'cup marked' stone, a collection charms and many other display items.
Specifically themed exhibitions include agricultural tools and equipment, clothing, toys, musical instruments, and household items. Amongst the preserved machinery is the reaping machine invented by Patrick Bell (1799-1869), the earliest surviving example of an iron plough invented by James Small (1730-1793) and the best collection of combine harvesters in Europe, mostly housed in an area which can be visited upon request.
The High Breck of Rendall Mill is a permanent exhibit. It is the oldest known surviving threshing mill in the world.
The museum has a large collection of scale and other models from the Highland Society and other sources relating to farm machinery, water wheels, etc.
[edit] The Visitor Experience
A day at MoSRL gives an opportunity for visitors to get back to the land and experience the traditional way of life as it was on the rural and partly mechanised Scottish farm of the 1950's. Ploughing, sowing, haymaking and harvesting are all carried out on this working farm. Interpretation guides enable visitors to understand and appreciate the many activities which are part and parcel of the Scottish farming year. Tractor rides take visitors to the farm where they can also see the herds of cattle and sheep.
An annual programme is offered of demonstrations of country skills, workshops and ranger-guided walks. Activities are spread throughout the year, such as the heavy horse show, the tractor show, the horse shoeing competition, the sheepdog trials, Kittochside Fair, Toytrac Scotland, Christmas at the Farm, the Halloween Party, Willow Harvest, etc.
[edit] Kittoch Glen and Philipshill Mill
Below the Exhibition Building is the glen through which the Kittoch Water runs, previously powering the grain mill which stood on the further bank of the Kittoch Water. The mill cottage still stands and the Weir is visible further up the glen looking towards the road bridge. It had a cast iron wheel, providing a direct link with the MoSRL and its collection of wheelwright's patterns for waterwheels exhibited in the land gallery of the Exhibition Building.
[edit] Education
The museum provides a national educational resource on countryside practices, biodiversity, the environment, traditional and more recent farming methods involving pesticides and fertilisers, topical issues, etc. It focuses on the long history of agriculture in Scotland and on the lives of those who lived and worked in the countryside.
[edit] Gallery
 The Buchans field stile gatepost with 'L' shaped grooves |
 The opposing stile gatepost with square concavities to receive the horizontal crossbars |
 The pedestrian route up to the farm from the Exhibition Building |
 The farm is 600 feet up and exposed, so the shelter provided by mature trees is important |
[edit] References
- Alba, C (1997). Lottery ploughs cash into farm plan [Wester Kittochside Farm, newscutting], The Scotsman, 21 February 1997,
- Alexander and Miller, D and M (2003). 'Wester Kittochside Farm (East Kilbride parish), horse gin', Discovery Excav Scot, 4, 2003, P.125.
- Blair, Anna (1976). A Tree in the West. Pub. Collins. ISBN 0-00-222467-4
- Buxbaum, Tim (1987). Scottish Doocots. Pub. Shire No.190. ISBN 0-85263-848-5.
- Peters, J.E.C. (2003). Discovering Traditional Farm Buildings. Shire Books. ISBN 0-85263-556-7.
- Quiney, Anthony. (1995). The Traditional Buildings of England. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27661-7 P.191.
- RCAHMS (2001). Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland: Wester Kittochside, the Museum of Scottish Country Life, RCAHMS broadsheet 7, Edinburgh.
- Sprott, G (1997) Hope down on the farm [Wester Kittochside Farm, newscutting], The Herald, 25 August 1997.
[edit] External Links
- [1] The Architecture of the MoSCL
- [2] An aerial view of MoSCL
- [3] MoSCL website
- [4] Map (provided by multimap.com)
- [5] National Cycle Network Map (provided by Sustrans)
- [6] The Museum of Scottish Country Life
- [7] The National Museums of Scotland
- [8] The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
- [9] Antique British farm tools.
[edit] A Dictionary of terms used in Rural and Local History
- Air Vent - any of a wide variety of holes in farm buildings which allow ventilation and prevent crops inside getting damp and mouldy.
- Arable - land which is ploughed or suitable for ploughing for growing crops.
- Barn - a building designed for threshing and storing corn.
- Barony - lands held directly from the crown.
- Bee Bole - an alcove or space in which a skep for bees is kept to provide shelter.
- Beehive - an artificial home for bees.
- Bicket - a pocket (Scots).
- Bothy - a single room for a bachelor farm worker.
- Bour Tree - a Common Elder (Scots).
- Breike - trousers.
- Butt & Ben - Literally 'backwards and forwards'. A dwelling entered by a single shared fore-door with a double partition and doors to the living quarters on one side and the byre on the other. A person sitting in the living area, called the in-seat, would look 'butt to the byre' and someone in the byre would look 'ben to the living area' (Scots).
- Byre - a cowshed.
- Cart - a strong vehicle with two or four wheels designed for carrying loads and drawn by a horse or horses.
- Cartshed - a building for housing carts, waggons, ploughs, harrows and other farm machinery.
- Cereal - any plant which produces grain.
- Cobbled - surfaces such as roads and floors covered with small rounded stones or cobbles.
- Combine harvester - a mobile machine that reaps, threshes and bales.
- Corn - any cereal before or after harvesting.
- Crop - the produce of cultivated plants, especially cereals.
- Crop rotation - growing different crops on the same field each year to prevent the build up of pest species, etc.
- Cothouse - a dwelling with or without land attached. A tied cottage to a farm labourer and his family (Scots).
- Cottar - a tenant or villein.
- Cotte - woman’s or child’s petticoat; a skirt.
- Cousin german - having the same grandparents on the Father's side.
- Covenanter - a person who had signed or was an adherent to the 'National Covenant of the Solemn League and Covenant' in 17th. century Scotland, in support of Presbyterianism.
- Dairy - where milk was made into butter and cheese. In earlier times demand for milk as a drink was quite low as it went off quickly in the absence of refrigerators.
- Demesne - all the land, not necessarily all contiguous to the castle, that was retained by the lord for his own use as distinguished from that "alienated" or granted to others as tenants. Initially the demesne lands were worked on the lord's behalf by villeins or by serfs, in fulfillment of their feudal obligations.
- Doocot - Scots for a dovecot / dovecote. A shelter with nesting holes for domesticated pigeons, originally kept as a source of food (especially in winter) and later for appearances sake.
- Dutch Barn - a farm building which is completely open on one or more sides and supported by brick or stone pillars or cast-iron or steel piers.
- Dyke - in geology an intrusion or band of hard stone, usually igneous, often running for miles and eroded very slowly in relation to softer rocks (Scots).
- Fallow - ploughed and harrowed land left uncultivated for a year.
- Fertilizer - any chemical added to the soil which makes it more fertile or productive.
- Flail - a wood pole with a smaller pole linked at the end via a chain or leather thong, used for threshing.
- Fold - an enclosure in which animals were kept, often sheep.
- Gaw - the 'cut' left by a plough (Scots).
- Georgian - of or characteristic of the times of kings George I - IV (1714 - 1830).
- Gig - a lightweight two-wheeled carriage designed to be drawn by one horse.
- Glebe - land apportioned to a minister in addition to his stipend.
- Grain - a seed of a cereal, such as wheat, maize, rye, oats, and barley.
- Granary - a building for the storage of grain. Sometimes lifted up on staddles or bricks to improve aeration and prevent rats and mice from gaining access.
- Grazing - grassland suitable for pasture.
- Grieve - an overseer or farm-bailiff (Scots).
- Ham - old English for a village or homestead.
- Harrow - a heavy metal frame with iron teeth dragged over ploughed land to break up clods, remove weeds, etc.
- Hay - grass mown and dried for fodder / feed.
- Heck - a rack for keeping fodder, often coupled with manger. 'Food and board' in modern terms (Scots).
- Horse gin or engine - a mechanical device, usually made of cast-iron, with gearing that uses horse power to drive a device such as a thresher, milk-churn, etc, in a Horse mill. Donkeys or oxen were sometimes used.
- Huit - a stack in a field (Scots).
- Husk - the dry outer covering of some fruits and seeds.
- Knowe - a knol or low hill (Scots).
- Laird - from 'Lord', a land owner (Scots).
- Law - a small hill or burial mound (Scots).
- Limekiln - a kiln for burning lime to produce quicklime, a fertilizer.
- Livestock - the animals on a farm.
- Lone - a 'lane' in Scots.
- Longhouse - a steading with the byre adjoining the farmhouse in a straight line.
- Loosebox - an enclosure in a stable where the horse is not tide up and is therfore free to move around.
- Maid - a female domestic servant.
- Maiden - a young unmarried woman.
- Mains - the home farm of an estate, cultivate by or for the owner.
- Manure - animal dung used for fertilising soil.
- March - an estate or property boundary, from the old English Mearc a mark.
- Merk - a land value of 2/3 of a Scot's pound.
- Midden - a dung heap or refuse heap near to a dwelling.
- Night-soil - faeces and urine from human sources added to the midden before the developemnt of mechanical toilets.
- Owl-hole - an entrance, square or round, high up on a wall designed to allow owls to enter and catch rats and mice.
- Packhorse - an animal used for carrying heavy roads, usually over rough terrain or on poorly surfaced roads.
- Pastoral - relating or associated with shepherds and their flocks or herds.
- Pitch-hole - a window-like opening in barns, covered by wooden shutters, used for piching in corn or hay from a cart standing outside. They could also give ventilation and light if the barn was not full. After 1825 circular pitch-holes became common.
- Presbyterianism - a church governed by elders who are all of the same rank, therefore without Bishops, Deans and other such posts.
- Reaper - a person or machine that cuts or gathers in the harvest.
- Reid Frier - the Red Friars or Knights Templar (Scots).
- Rick - a stack of hay, corn, etc., built into a regular shape and usually thatched or covered in some way.
- Rig and Furrow - a method of agriculture where land was worked in long thin strips with drainage channels in between (Scots).
- Rig or Ridge - a type of cultivation practised in upland areas generally and in Scotland in particular, which differs slightly from the more common ridge/rig and furrow in that it was created through excavation by spade rather than plough. The technique improved drainage by creating raised areas of cultivation and furrows to carry away water.
- Rodden - a rough track, sheep path or right of way.
- Scrag - a variant of the commoner Scot's word Scrog, meaning a gnarled or stunted tree or tree-stump, specifically a crab-apple tree or its fruit, previously called scrag-apples (Scots).
- Serf - a labourer not allowed to leave the land on which he worked, a villein.
- Shak - to shake as in the threshing of grain (Scots).
- Shaw - a small natural wood (Scots).
- Shepherd - a person employed to tend sheep, especially at pasture.
- Shieling - a roughly constructed building used by shepherds in summer pastures.
- Skep - a type of primitive beehive made from coiled up straw and tied with wire. Kept in Bee boles.
- Sledge - a 'cart' without wheels. Used before good roads were built or during snowy weather conditions.
- Smallholding - an agricultural holding smaller than a farm.
- Stable - a building set aside and adapted for housing horses.
- Stack-yard - an enclosure for stacks of hay, straw, oats, etc.
- Staddle - stone structures, shaped like a mushroom, used to support a framework upon which a granary, rick or other food stuffs could be stored.
- Stall - a partitioned off space for an animal in a stable, etc. where its is tied up.
- Stathel - a cast-iron structure used to support and elevate a granary, rick or other stored food materials.
- Steading - farm buildings, with or without the farmhouse.
- Stile - an arrangement which permits people through an entrance but which blocks the passage of animals.
- Stockman - a person in charge of livestock.
- Teins - a tenth of the income of a property, payable to the church.
- Temple - lands belonging to the Knight's Templar.
- Tenant - a person who rents land or property from a landlord.
- Tenement - land built on and held in tenure.
- Thresher - a person or machine which separates the grain from the straw or husk.
- Toun or Ton - a farm and its outbuildings, originally an area fenced or walled off with a dwelling within.
- Turnpike - a road on which a toll or fee was charged at a toll-gate.
- Vassal - a holder of land by feudal tenure on conditions of homage and allegiance.
- Vernacular - a local building style using local materials and traditional methods of construction and ornamentation, especially as distinguished from historical architectural styles.
- Villein - a feudal tenant entirely subject to a lord or attached to a manor.
- Wagon - a four-wheeled horse drawn vehicle for heavy loads, often with a cover.
- Ward (waird) - feudal land tenure rights conferred through military service obligations of tenants.
- Ward-holding, (waird) - tenure of lands through ward rights.
- Ward Lands, (waird) - lands held in ward.
- Ward Superior, (waird) - the person entitled to draw rent from the lands of a deceased vassal while the heir was still remained a minor, thus unable to perform military service for the ward superior.
- Winnowing - using wind to separate the chaff from the grain.
[edit] See Also
- Dalgarven Mill The Ayrshire Museum of Country Life and Costume.
- Staddle stones
- Painted pebbles
- Horse mill
- Dovecot
- Farm
- Arable
- Gorse
