Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
WATTLE, n.2 Also watl(e), wattel, -ill; misprinted wallett. A tax paid in Sh. and Ork., orig. as an obligation on the part of landowners to entertain the Foud, q.v., or other royal representative, on his annual tour of administration and justice, commuted later for a payment, partly in money and partly in kind, and gen. lumped under the general charge of ‘scat, wattle, ox- and sheep-money' (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.; I.Sc. 1907 Old-Lore Misc. I. iv. 121, wattill; Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), watl, wattel). Now only hist. The explanation of the term was not understood in the 18th and 19th cs. and various conjectures, as in 1807 quot., were long prevalent. In Ork. in the 17th c. it appears to have been paid as part of the parish bailie's fees (P.S.A.S. LV. (1920–1) 265–72). [watl]Sh. 1716 P.S.A.S. VII. (1885) 234:
Watle, Ox and Sheep money.Sh. 1772 A. C. O'Dell Hist. Geog. (1939) 243:
Wattle was and in some parishes is to this day from the inhabited houses or heads of families, a house or capitation tax.Sh. 1807 J. Hall Travels I. 618:
The wattle: an imposition which had its rise so early as the tenth century; when it was demanded by the clergy, as the price of the holy water they distributed among the people.Sc. 1821 Scott Pirate xviii.:
Scat and wattle, which were all the public dues under our old Norse government.Sh. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 XV. 63:
The wattle was a tax imposed on every family paid in barley to the foud or bailie.Sh. 1936 W. Moffatt Shetland 125:
Wattle was the ancient assessment for the salary of the under Foud, or tax collector.Ork. 1970 in H. Marwick Place-Names Birsay 110:
Wattle was a tax on each pennyland raised originally to pay the expenses incurred in giving hospitality to the ruler when passing through his kingdom.
