Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
†HUSBANDLAND, n. A division of land occupied orig. by a husband or tenant of a manor. This form of tenancy was most common in N. England and S.E. Scotland but became obsolete a.1600, though the term itself survives till later. The exact area implied is somewhat uncertain. It appears to have been equal to two bovates, or ox-gangs, nominally about 26 acres, but it was no doubt linked to the productivity of the soil and hence fluctuated in amount from district to district (see 1773 quot.). Now only hist.Slk. 1702 T. Craig-Brown Hist. Slk. (1886) II. 307:
It [the estate of Haining] comprised two husbandlands, holding of the Marquis of Douglas.Rxb. 1754 Caled. Mercury (4 Nov.):
Four Husband Lands of the Lands of Langton, in the Parish of Jedburgh and Shire of Roxburgh. The Lands, including Kain and Carriages, pay about £40 Sterling of yearly Rent.Rxb. 1773 Edb. Ev. Courant (18 Jan.):
All and whole these two Husband Lands and Half a Husband Land in Newton . . . The lands consist of about 100 acres.Edb. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 I. 9:
There belonged to the vicarage of Liberton a husband land in the manor of Gilmerton.Sc. 1846 Liber S. Marie de Calchou (B.C.) pref. xxxvii.:
Each tenant of a husband-land kept two oxen; and six together united their oxen to work the common plough. The husband-land thus consisted of two ox-gangs, which might vary according to the soil; but which was estimated long ago in the Merse, as “twenty-six acres where plow and scythe may gang.”
