In Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 a crofting

Croft (land)

A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer.- Etymology :...

 township

Township

The word township is used to refer to different kinds of settlements in different countries. Township is generally associated with an urban area. However there are many exceptions to this rule. In Australia, the United States, and Canada, they may be settlements too small to be considered urban...

 is a group of agricultural

Farm

A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

 smallholdings (each with its own few hectare

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

s of pasture

Pasture

Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...

 and arable land

Arable land

In geography and agriculture, arable land is land that can be used for growing crops. It includes all land under temporary crops , temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow...

 (in-bye land)) holding in common a substantial tract of unimproved upland grazing. Like older Scottish landmeasurements, such as the davoch

Davoch

The Davoch, Davach or Daugh is an ancient Scottish land measurement. All of these terms are cognate with modern Scottish Gaelic Dabhach. The word Dabh or Damh means an ox , but Dabhach can also refer to a "tub", so may indicate productivity...

, quarterland

Quarterland

A Quarterland or Ceathramh was a Scottish land measurement. It was used mainly in the west and north.It was supposed to be equivalent to eight fourpennylands, roughly equivalent to a quarter of a markland. However in Islay, a quarterland was equivalent to a quarter of an ounceland...

 and oxgang

Oxgang

An oxgang or bovate is an old land measurement formerly used in Scotland and England. It averaged around 20 English acres, but was based on land fertility and cultivation, and so could be as low as 15.Skene in Celtic Scotland says:...

, the extent of a township often varies according to the quality of the land it is on, and this can range from a hundred to a few thousand hectares.

In reference to the history of Scotland, a township is often called a toun (the Lowland Scots

Lowland Scots

Lowland Scots can refer to:* people of Lowland Scotland* Scots language...

 word for a township), though before the coming of Scots (Inglis) the words baile was the most common.

Each Crofting Township comprises a formal legal unit.

There is often a substantial tract of unimproved upland common grazing - known as a "shieling

Shieling

A shieling is a small house or hut once common in the hills and mountains of Scotland and northern England. Farmers and their families lived there during the summer, when their livestock were grazing common land in the hills...

" or "àirigh" which is held in common. This tends to be used in the summer, but with the advent of fertilisers it is often used in colder times as well.