Power of the Land

A brief history of landownership in Scotland.

This film looks at some of the key events in the evolution of landownership in Scotland from the earliest times, to today’s land reform agenda.

How was land controlled in Scotland’s early communities? How did the Roman presence and the development of early states like Pictland, Dalriata and Alba affect control of the land? What was the impact of feudalism and what were the effects of the highland clearances?

The film provides a personal perspective on how Scotland’s land should be owned and controlled viewed through the lens of history.

The script for this film has been based upon the following sources.

Any factual errors or errors in interpretation have been made in good faith.

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Nick Aitchison The Picts and Scots at War Sutton Publishing 2003

Peter Aitchison and Andrew Cassell The Lowland Clearances. Birlinn 2012

Ian Armit Celtic Scotland Birlinn 2016

Guy de la Bedoyere Roman Britain: A New History Thames and Hudson 2006

Steve Boardman and Alasdair Ross The Exercise of Power in Medieval Scotland Four Courts Press 2003

David Breeze The Antonine Wall John Donald 2006

Robin Callander A Pattern of Landownership in Scotland Haughend 1987

Tim Clarkson The Makers of Scotland:Picts Romans Gaels and Vikings Birlinn 2012

Robert Dodgshon No Stone unturned: A History of Farming Landscape and Environment in the Scottish Highlands and Islands EUP 2015

Robert Dodgshon From Chiefs to Landlords 1493-1820 EUP 1998

Steven Driscoll Alba: The Gaelic Kingdom of Scotland. HS 2002

Graham Ewen Glen Ey A History Cairngorm Club Journal Vol 20 no103 1994

Sally Foster Picts Gaels and Scots Birlinn 2014

Sally Foster A. Macinnes R.McInnes Scottish Power Centres Cruithne Press 1998

James Fraser From Caledonia to Pictland : Scotland to 795. EUP 2009

Fraser Hunter Beyond the Edge of Empire: Caledonians Picts and Romans Groam House 2007

James Hunter Scottish Exodus Mainstream 2007

Lawrence Keppie The Legacy of Rome: Scotland’s Roman Remains Birlinn 2004

Kenneth Jackson The Gaelic Notes in the Book of Deer CUP 1972

Land Reform Review Group The Land of Scotland and the Common Good. Edinburgh 2014

Andrew Mackenzie History of the Highland Clearances Inverness 1883

Donald Meek Tuath is Tighearna: Tenants and Landlords Gaelic Poetry of the Clearances Era SAP 1995

Richard Oram Domination and Lordship: Scotland 1070-1230 EUP 2011

Willie Orr Deer Forests, Landlords and Crofters John Donald 1982

Eric Richards The Highland Clearances Birlinn 2000

Alasdair Ross Land Assessment and Lordship in Medieval Northern Scotland Brepols 2015

Alasdair Ross The Kings of Alba 1000-1130 Birlinn 2011

RCAHMS Mar Lodge Estate Grampian Archaelogical Survey Edinburgh 1995

SCARF The Roman Presence 2012

Chris Tabraham Scotland’s Castles HS 2000

David Taylor The Wild Black Region: Badenoch 1750-1800 Birlinn 2016

New Statistical Account of Scotland http://stataccscot.edina.ac.uk/

Adam Watson and Elizabeth Allan The Place Names of Upper Deeside AUP 1984

Andy Wightman The Poor Had No Lawyers Birlinn 2011

Andy Wightman Who Owns Scotland? Canongate 1996

Alex Woolf From Pictland to Alba 789-1070 EUP 2007