Changes and Life in Scotland During the

1700s

Cerra Hernandez

Professor Emily Herff

HIST 481
Scottish History
American Public University

November 29, 2020

 Everyday life in Scotland might have been a little mundane and hard at times but there

was gradual change. When change did happen from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, it

happened mainly in the eighteenth century. There was a deterioration of the usual practices of the

Scottish countryside at this time; development and modernization of architectural design; an

improvement in the amount and variety of food and garments available; a noticeable decrease in

the number of people that spoke Gaelic; innovations in transport and higher numbers traveling

for pleasure and work; a rise in the variety of professions and full-time wage employment; and

the emergence of mentally unstable institutionalization.1 But it is recognized that certain

geographical areas have been exempt from all of this. Many living in Scotland's deep north and

north-west and some of its islands remained remote, and very little affected by development,

hanging on as before to many of the traditional forms of life and beliefs. Therefore, it was in the

eighteenth century that there was the clearest confirmation of the significance of location and

place to Scotland's daily life.

Everyday life was operated on, or closely affiliated with the land for most Scots. Every

day's weather was therefore of major importance, whether it be for lairds or day workers: the

duties that could be done depended on the weather, whether good, windy, cold, or rainy.

Households, families, and the able-bodied residing alone retained what the land they planted or

herded could yield: that is, for their own personal or household use or for their owners who could

compensate them for their work, either in monetary or in kind.2 Even those employed in mining

and manufacturing such as coal mining still worked the land for at least a little bit, and definitely

during sowing and harvesting season. Two thirds of the population resided in villages and towns

of less than two thousand five hundred inhabitants and also in the countryside even by 1800,
1
Elizabeth A. Foyster, and Christopher A. Whatley. A History of Everyday Life in Scotland, 1600 to 1800. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, 2010. ProQuest Central.
2
Ibid.

2
when enormous numbers of Scots were migrating to the growing, mostly manufacturing towns

such as Glasgow.3 In the eighteenth century, Glasgow was not the gritty and tight-

packed community that it would become in the nineteenth century. Instead it was a series of

villages, each with distinctive occupational and social traits, with lands and rolling hills in

between, such as Bridgeton and Calton.4

The familiarity of locations, physical structures and areas controls much of daily life;

generations of Scots would have experienced an urban environment and engaged in urban culture

that evolved over centuries, but that was not beyond recognition. Greater social division

according to wealth and rank was a characteristic of the time, with Edinburgh's

wealthier merchants and practitioners preferring the old city center.5 During certain hours of the

day, middle-class ladies in Edinburgh seem to have been prone to occupy churches, certain types

of stores, and the main streets.6 Occupations that were known for pungent smells were relegated

to more remote areas, and the poor and poverty stricken were grouped with

specific neighborhoods. There were less town gates, and they had been entirely eliminated in

several areas by 1754.7 Yet church towers went on to dominate urban horizons.

Adjustments in rural lifestyles were also made. By 1800, the level of collective rural self-

sustainability had fallen significantly, but the old system had not been wiped away.8 What was

set in motion, however, was a pattern in which rural dwellers either entered the groups of the

more affluent single tenants of bigger farms, or those of their paid workers, rather than

3
Auer Amblard, Towns and Town Life in Scotland. Presses Universitaires François-Rabelais. Presses universitaires
François-Rabelais, 2017. ProQuest Central.
4
Ibid.
5
Elizabeth A. Foyster, and Christopher A. Whatley. A History of Everyday Life in Scotland, 1600 to 1800. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, 2010. ProQuest Central.
6
Ibid.
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.

3
becoming farm servants in the scores of communities of farm-towns spread around the country.9

Separate from their masters and livestock, growing numbers now resided in lines of cottages,

often carefully placed so that the activities of their inhabitants could be monitored by the farmer's

employer including during non-working hours. The long-term effect of these changes would be

significant on the social and economic relations established by the Scottish countryside.10

While the experiences, lives, and especially the mental condition of those at the bottom

end of the continuum of Scottish society are too little understood but there is little question that it

was extremely challenging to get by with most living only below the limits of survival. Life in

this respect was bearable in the Lowlands, and in most years there was a sufficient supply of a

limited range of essential foods that provided nothing by way of gratification for the taste buds of

the ordinary Scot.11 Oats and oatmeal were the most popular and affordable food by far;

starchy foods made for at least half of the spending of the average working family, and during

the 1700s became more common.12 Peas and beans were added to the oatmeal and where

available, some butter, cheese, dairy and cabbage, but no meat was added. The fish were

consumed by those residing in coastal areas when they could be collected and dried for winter

use throughout the northern islands.13   But oatmeal and water, maybe some milk and salt, were

the daily standard throughout, eaten usually as porridge or oatcakes.  As a replacement, potatoes

were introduced and became the main ingredient of the diet of the working poor in some

northern and western areas. They have been used in the Lowlands as the main source of

9
Griffiths Morton, A History of Everyday Life in Scotland. Vol. 3. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010.
ProQuest Central.
10
Ibid.
11
Elizabeth A. Foyster, and Christopher A. Whatley. A History of Everyday Life in Scotland, 1600 to 1800.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010. ProQuest Central.
12
Ibid.
13
Ibid.

4
emergency calories.14  The diets of the working classes had become more diverse in preferred

locations by the early 1790s, and could include dairy products, tea, bread, and some meat. Even

so, meals were not only bland for many, but they were possibly also regularly deficient in

essential nutrients.

In conclusion, changes in daily life in Scotland were mostly incremental, difficult to

distinguish and their influence was not necessarily regional or even local. In this culture,

ordinary items, such as food and clothes, could have a political meaning where visual images

could have just as much influence as the written word. Things like plaid, medallions, feathers,

tartan, glasses, and fans enabled the Scots to show their political allegiances and affiliations, as

well as songs, newspapers and books did in various ways.15 Similar functions were performed by

banners and other types of decoration in color and rock: as a way of showing personal, familial

or community identities. The daily importance of the protest, bargaining and struggle of social

power was considerable for both urban and rural areas. The way Scots talked, dressed, consumed

and even smelt showed wealth and social position and decided land rights, accommodation and

transportation.16  But while the distinctions between Scots could be illustrated every day, their

similarities could also be identified.

This was a time when everyone shared the fear of disease and the threat of death lingered.

For many, possibly the majority, irrespective of rank, faith was a means of solace and also a

guideline to decent, or godly, conduct, even with the confessional divisions and tensions within

Presbyterianism after 1733.17 Weather influenced the availability of jobs, fuel and food;

14
Elizabeth A. Foyster, and Christopher A. Whatley. A History of Everyday Life in Scotland, 1600 to 1800.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010. ProQuest Central.
15
Ibid.
16
Ibid.
17
Elizabeth A. Foyster, and Christopher A. Whatley. A History of Everyday Life in Scotland, 1600 to 1800.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010. ProQuest Central.

5
therefore, Scots were intensely conscious of the seasons and weather. To a large degree, the

seasons have influenced the tempo and rhythms of everyday life. Several activities continued to

rely on physical power, and working life continued to be divided along gender lines, as well as

other aspects of daily life. But there was a dramatic transformation of roles during the eighteenth

century in broad vast areas of the Scottish countryside. Women began to play bigger roles in the

fields with the harvesting.18 And although the church played a vital role in directing, disciplining,

and regulating ordinary Scots' lives, a significant degree of moderate disorder existed. And

several individuals decided to combine church membership with supernatural beliefs, even as the

kirk attempted to eliminate magic and skepticism. In part, traditional beliefs and rituals persisted

and derived their power from a vibrant oral tradition, which survived amid increasing literacy

levels and cheap print availability.19

18
Ibid.
19
Ibid.

6
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Amblard, Auer. Towns and Town Life in Scotland. Presses Universitaires François-Rabelais.

Presses universitaires François-Rabelais, 2017. ProQuest Central.

Foyster, Elizabeth A., and Christopher A. Whatley. A History of Everyday Life in Scotland, 1600

to 1800. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010. ProQuest Central.

Morton, Griffiths. A History of Everyday Life in Scotland. Vol. 3. Edinburgh: Edinburgh

University Press, 2010. ProQuest Central.