Darren S. Layne
@funkyplaid.bsky.social
Historian of 18th-century Scotland focused on Jacobite Studies and Digital History. Curator of JDB1745. Chair, Jacobite Studies Trust. PhD via University of St Andrews. In love with a swan and two cats. Currently watching the leaves in Portland, OR.
Reposted by Darren S. Layne
My apologies if you wished my shitposts contained the levels of appropriate scholarly nuance for a conversation someplace where we don't refer to them as skeets.
November 27, 2025 at 7:10 PM
My apologies if you wished my shitposts contained the levels of appropriate scholarly nuance for a conversation someplace where we don't refer to them as skeets.
So well-deserved, Andy!
November 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
So well-deserved, Andy!
The cool thing about this particular list is that it shows what portions were earmarked specifically for that 'service', and that it was utterly ubiquitous across this particular estate. Also that it was accepted and sanctioned, whether voluntarily or not, by the estate factors and managers.
November 15, 2025 at 8:57 PM
The cool thing about this particular list is that it shows what portions were earmarked specifically for that 'service', and that it was utterly ubiquitous across this particular estate. Also that it was accepted and sanctioned, whether voluntarily or not, by the estate factors and managers.
'Watch' in this case means blackmail; i.e., how much was reserved to pay local toughs to protect a tenant's livestock and possessions – and, sometimes, their persons. It was a real racket in the 18th century, and often times folks were pressured to pay it under threat of distress BY the watch!
November 15, 2025 at 8:57 PM
'Watch' in this case means blackmail; i.e., how much was reserved to pay local toughs to protect a tenant's livestock and possessions – and, sometimes, their persons. It was a real racket in the 18th century, and often times folks were pressured to pay it under threat of distress BY the watch!
Appreciated, Chris. This is a small piece of a larger analysis I'm currently working on for publication, so I'll be explaining it more fully when that comes out. In the meantime, this is a snippet from a tenancy roster listing how much the plot brings in rent, and how much of that goes to the watch.
November 15, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Appreciated, Chris. This is a small piece of a larger analysis I'm currently working on for publication, so I'll be explaining it more fully when that comes out. In the meantime, this is a snippet from a tenancy roster listing how much the plot brings in rent, and how much of that goes to the watch.