The Crofters’ Strategies And Adaptations In Times Of Expansion And Crisis

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Poverty And Plenty In The North", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Crofters, leasing their land and homes, were dependent on the landowners such as peasant and estates. The agricultural land attached to the crofts were seldom enough for a family to make a proper living. Therefore, crofters practised different odd jobs and handicrafts to make ends meet. Special opportunities were offered by iron works industries. Crofters thus made important extra income by producing charcoal, in transportation, delivering wood etc. Also, larger agricultural estates were periodically in need of extra labour.

The estates and the iron works were thus important hubs in the local rural economies. However, they were also sensitive to changes in the global economy. In extension, the crofters were affected in different ways and had to adapt to changed circumstances. By examining individual crofting households we aim at detecting a variety of different strategies in times of expansion, stability and decline of the iron works and the agrarian estates.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Poverty And Plenty In The North   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow