Croft farming plays a large part in Scottish history and the way that people have lived, and it has been particularly prominent in the Orkney and Shetland islands.  A croft is basically a small agricultural unit which is usually a tenancy, a small area of land with grazing rights shared with a number of other crofts. Crofters have seen some tough times here particularly in the time of 'The Clearances' when wealthy and influential landowners from the Scottish mainland threw out the tenants to make way for sheep.

Crofters were, and still are, hardy and self-reliant. In the past men were often forced to take more lucrative summer jobs in the more fertile parts of Scotland, in which case wives and children were left to manage the crofts. For coastal crofts as in the picture above, the sea was just as important as the land. Every croft had at least one boat which would have been used for fishing and transportation.

An Act of Parliament in the late 1800's is seen by Orcadians and Shetlanders as the greatest piece of government legislation ever passed as it gave the power back to the tenant farmers. More so than anyone could ever have envisaged. Such is the power of the Act of Parliament that back in the early 1992 someone bought a piece of land on Shetland Mainland by way of a London auction, went to see his new tenants and talked of his decision to build a new house. The tenants listened but now they had the power and decided against his plans and there was little the new landowner could do. The Act of Parliament strongly protects them and the amount that the crofters pay for their land each year has remained the same since 1880, £5 still the rate the crofters pay for their tenancy.

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