To travel by older ways: a historical-cultural geography of droving in Scotland

Lowdon, Richard Edward (2014) To travel by older ways: a historical-cultural geography of droving in Scotland. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Taking critical inspiration from A.R.B. Haldane’s pioneering work on The Drove Roads of Scotland, this thesis explores the routes, movement and lively cultural geographies of Scotland’s droving trade. Tracing the journey of a typical drove from the Scottish Highlands, over dangerous river and sea crossings, to the great trysts at Falkirk and Crieff, this thesis examines the embodied intimacies, situated knowledges and mutual understandings developed between herdsmen and their cattle en route. In an effort to augment and enliven a longstanding, but frequently overlooked, ‘shire’ tradition of local landscape research, this thesis places specific emphasis on the personal encounters, skilled practices and cultural exchange which took place between herdsmen and other mobile social groups at key strategic sites such as drovers’ inns, cattle stances and markets. Furthermore, I examine how agrarian ‘improvement’, the introduction of tolls and turnpikes, and the enclosure of drove routes and stance sites, confined and restricted the drovers’ movement, transforming them from valued components of the Scottish economy into mobile ‘outsiders’ whose practices, customary privileges and association with animals rendered them increasingly ‘out of place’ in Scotland’s ‘modern’ commercial landscape.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences > Geography
• Supervisor's Name: Lorimer, Professor Hayden and Philo, Professor Chris
• Date of Award: 2014
• Depositing User: Mr Richard Edward Lowdon
• Unique ID: glathesis:2014-5444
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 08 Aug 2014 10:32
• Last Modified: 08 Aug 2014 11:12
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/5444