3/11/2020 Oxgang - Wikipedia

Oxgang
An oxgang or bovate (Old English: oxangang; Danish: oxgang; Scottish
Gaelic: damh-imir; Medieval Latin: bovāta) is an old land measurement
formerly used in Scotland and England as early as the 16th century sometimes
referred to as an oxgait[1]. It averaged around 20 English acres, but was based
on land fertility and cultivation, and so could be as low as 15.[2]

An oxgang is also known as a bovate, from bovāta, a Medieval Latinisation of

the word, derived from the Latin bōs, meaning "ox, bullock or cow". Oxen,
through the Scottish Gaelic word damh or dabh, also provided the root of the
land measurement 'daugh'.

Skene in Celtic Scotland says:

"in the eastern district there is a uniform system of land denomination

consisting of 'dabhachs', 'ploughgates' and 'oxgangs', each 'dabhach'
consisting of four 'ploughgates' and each 'ploughgate' containing eight
'oxgangs'.

"As soon as we cross the great chain of mountains [the Grampian

Farm-derived units of measurement:
Mountains] separating the eastern from the western waters, we find a
different system equally uniform. The 'ploughgates' and 'oxgangs' 1. The rod is a historical unit of length equal to 51⁄2
disappear, and in their place we find 'dabhachs' and 'pennylands'. The
portion of land termed a 'dabhach' is here also called a 'tirung' or yards. It may have originated from the typical length
'ounceland', and each 'dabhach' contains 20 pennylands." of a mediaeval ox-goad. There are 4 rods in one
chain.
In Scotland, oxgang occurs in Oxgangs, a southern suburb of Edinburgh, and
2. The furlong (meaning furrow length) was the
in Oxgang, an area of the town of Kirkintilloch.
distance a team of oxen could plough without
resting. This was standardised to be exactly 40 rods
or 10 chains.
Contents
3. An acre was the amount of land tillable by one man
Usage in England behind one ox in one day. Traditional acres were
See also long and narrow due to the difficulty in turning the
References plough and the value of river front access.
External links 4. An oxgang was the amount of land tillable by one ox
in a ploughing season. This could vary from village
to village, but was typically around 15 acres.
Usage in England 5. A virgate was the amount of land tillable by two oxen
in a ploughing season.
In England, the oxgang was a unit typically used in the area conquered by the
Vikings which became the Danelaw, for example in Domesday Book, where it 6. A carucate was the amount of land tillable by a team
is found as a bovata, or 'bovate.' The oxgang represented the amount of land of eight oxen in a ploughing season. This was equal
which could be ploughed using one ox, in a single annual season. As land was to 8 oxgangs or 4 virgates.
normally ploughed by a team of eight oxen, an oxgang was thus one eighth the
size of a ploughland or carucate. Although these areas were not fixed in size
and varied from one village to another, an oxgang averaged 15 acres (61,000 m2), and a ploughland or carucate 100–120 acres (0.40–
0.49 km2).[3] However, in the rest of England a parallel system was used, from which the Danelaw system of carucates and bovates seen in
Domesday Book was derived.[4] There, the virgate represented land which could be ploughed by a pair of oxen, and so amounted to two
oxgangs or bovates, and was a quarter of a hide, the hide and the carucate being effectively synonymous.[5]

A peasant occupying or working an oxgang or bovate might be known as a ”bovater” or ”oxganger”.

See also
Obsolete Scottish units of measurement
In the East of Scotland:
Rood
Scottish acre = 4 roods
Oxgang (Damh-imir) = the area an ox could plough in a single annual season (around 20 acres)
Ploughgate (?) = 8 oxgangs
Daugh (Dabhach) = 4 ploughgates
In the West of Scotland:
Groatland - (Còta bàn) = basic unit
Pennyland (Peighinn) = 2 groatlands
Quarterland (Ceathramh) = 4 pennylands (8 groatlands)
Ounceland (Tir-unga) = 4 quarterlands (32 groatlands)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxgang 1/2
3/11/2020 Oxgang - Wikipedia
Markland (Marg-fhearann) = 8 Ouncelands (varied)

References
This article incorporates text from "Dwelly's [Scottish] Gaelic Dictionary" (1911). ((Dabhach) with corrections and additions)

External links
Oxgang: Wiktionary
Carucate: Wiktionary
Wapentake: Wiktionary

1. Innes, Cosmo (1872). Lectures on Scotch Legal Antiquities. p. 283.

2. Cf. the Scottish acre.
3. http://www.battle1066.com/g209.shtml Retrieved 2007-12-12; E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898 (htt
p://www.bartleby.com/81/12614.html) Retrieved 2007-12-12;
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~heckington/Church___Records/Records/Domesday_Heckington/domesday_heckington.html
Retrieved 2007-12-12
4. See for example Roffe, D., 'The Origins Of Derbyshire', in Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 106, 1986, especially pp. 102, 110-1.
5. The true picture is however vastly more complex: see e.g. Stenton, F.M., 'Introduction', in Foster, C.W. & Longley, T. (eds.), The
Lincolnshire Domesday and the Lindsey Survey, Lincoln Record Society, XIX, 1924, especially pp. ix-xix.

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