Run Rig

Simply to move from cache to cache.

At the end of the 17th Century the state of agriculture in throughout Scotland, was still quite primitive. For drainage the usual method was to plough the land in fairly long narrow strips about 200 yards by 15 yards wide, though these widths varied from farm to farm. The land was ploughed towards the centre so that the ‘rig’ became a raised strip having on either side a ‘baulk’ or hollow which acted as a drainage channel. The name Run Rig refers to alternating "runs" (furrows) and "rigs" (ridges) and this system of agriculture continued well into the 20th century in the Hebrides.

Many farms at this time were operated by a number of tenants and in order to give each tenant an equal share they were allocated one or more ‘rigs’ which were considered to have an equal share of good and bad land. It was not a system that encouraged innovations or improvements in farming. Often the rigs were changed from year to year but in any case ploughing needed to be done on a communal basis and individual initiatives were not possible.

In 1695, an Act was passed allowing proprietors whose land lay in run-rig to apply to Sheriffs, J.Ps or Lords of Regality to make a division or consolidation of their land. Even if only one of the proprietors desired to proceed with the Act it could be forced through regardless of the wishes of the others. This meant that proprietors no longer had strips of land intermingled with those of other landlords and was the essential preliminary before enclosure could take place and hence the field system that we have to day was started.

In Ireland, a similar system was used and this was called rundale.

In areas where farming was abandoned, the characteristic corrugated effect on the land that it created is still visible. They are particularly well-preserved at the Braid Hills golf course in Edinburgh.