BORGUE FIELD NAMES - mapping evolving landscapes
In the Borgue area over 800 fields have been mapped, the names gathered and analysed by volunteers uncover the story of agriculture in the area and can be found at:Â
www.borgue.org/borguemap.
Much of the field name evidence has been collected from discussions with landowners and farm workers but occasionally old farm maps have helped uncover the history of agricultural change.
Fields enclosed by drystone dykes, hedges or post and wire fences are a familiar part of our countryside and field names reveal many aspects including owners, wildlife, uses and notable features. They are an integral part of the modern agricultural landscape and are a relatively recent phenomenon on land that has been farmed for thousands of years.
300 years ago the landscape was scattered with small fermtouns, usually collections of three of four dwellings, where the inhabitants farmed the surrounding open countryside. Close to the fermtoun strips of land were cultivated while cattle and sheep were herded to prevent them straying too far or eating the crops. By the 1750s the way the land was farmed began to change as landowners saw the benefits of removing tenants of fermtouns and replacing them with a single leasehold tenant with a new farmstead consisting of a farmhouse, barns and stables. The landowner usually enclosed the farm with a boundary dyke but the new tenant was expected to subdivide the land into fields.
Doon Yeard, Doonyard and The Motte
Maps help us see how fields and names have evolved and we are fortunate to have been given access to old maps of Boreland of Borgue farm that have survived from 1780 and 1819.
Royâs Military Map from the 1750s (NLS wbesite) shows Borland as a fermtoun, open cultivated land is hatched and land nearby is beginning to be enclosed with early drystone dykes shown as red lines.
Survey of Boarland of Borgue 1780 shows the land enclosed, subdivided and every field named. The field marked as Doon Yeard refers to the hill-name, Doon of Boreland and includes the historic feature annotated moat.
Plan of the farm of Boreland in the parish of Borgue 1819 shows Doon Yeard has been subdivided into field numbers 7 East Doonyard and 8 West Doonyard, with the historic feature annotated Camp.
Doon is very common in Galloway place-names: in Borgue parish alone there are no less than seven names with âDoonâ. The word is derived from Gaelic dĂšn the meaning of which is normally given as âa fortâ and may have been used by Gaelic speakers to refer to the neighbouring hillfort. It appears to have been picked up and used by Scots speakers to refer to the medieval motte, marked as moat 1780 and camp 1819. Scots yeard, like English âyardâ, is from Old English ÄĄeard, and referred primarily to a piece of land around or adjacent to a house, but its use widened, partly falling together with yird âearthâ, to apply to larger pieces of enclosed ground, not necessarily close to the farmhouse. By 1819 yeard has been altered to yard.
By the 1850s the two fields East Doonyard and West Doonyard were reunited and this probably reflects the ability to cultivate larger areas with improved ploughs and horses.
Land Utilisation Survey 1931 â 1935Â (NLS website) was surveyed by local school children and shows that the land around the Mote was arable (brown) with other parts of the farm meadow and permanent grass (green).
Today the field is known as The Motte and refers to the distinctive historic landmark, Boreland Mote. The impressive motte, with its bailey and bordland was established by Hugh de Morville in the 1160s or 1170s.
