Table Of ContentThe International Library of Sociology
WESTRIGG
Founded by KARL MANNHEIM
The International Library of Sociology
URBAN AND REGIONAL SOCIOLOGY
In 13 Volumes
I AnApproach to UrbanSociology Mann
II Cityand Region Dickinson
III The CityRegion inWesternEurope Dickinson
IV English Rural Life Bracey
V New Dubliners Humphreys
VI The Personalityofthe UrbanAfrican
inSouthAfrica deRidder
VII The Regions ofGermany Dickinson
VIII Revolution ofEnvironment Gutkind
IX Rural Depopulation in England
andWales 1851 - 1951 Saville
X TheSocial BackgroundofaPlan Glass
XI TheSociologyofan English
Village: Gosforth Williams
XII TheWest European City Dickinson
XIII Westrigg Littlejohn
WESTRIGG
The Sociology ofa Cheviot Parish
by
JAMES LITTLEJOHN
First published in 1963 by
Routledge and
Reprinted in 1998,2001 by
Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Transferred to Digital Printing 2007
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
O 1963 James Littlejohn
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
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The publishers have made every effort to contact authors/copyright holders
of the works reprinted in The IntemtiomL Library of Sociology.
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welcome correspondence from those individuals/wmpanies
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
Westrigg
ISBN 0-415-17712-X
Urban and Regional Sociology: 13 Volumes
ISBN 0-415 -17830-4
The International Library of Sociology: 274 Volumes
ISBN 0-415 -17838-X
ISBN 978 1136259920 (ebk)
Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this
reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original
may be apparent
CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgements page VII
I. The Parish
II. Farm and Forest 27
III. History ofthe Parish (I) 39
IV. History ofthe Parish (II) 59
V. Social Class 76
VI. Class Cultures 102
VII. Class and Social Organization 114-
VIII. The Parish and the Town 138
Appendices
I. ORGANIZATION OF TI-IE SHEEP FARM 156
II. TECHNIQUES IN TI-IE STUDY OF SOCIAL
CLASS 158
Index 162
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PREFACE
AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THE research on which this book is based was done mainly
during University vacations between 1949 and 1951; conse
quently all the data refers to this period. It was written in the
form ofa Ph.D. thesis in 1954; this bookis a compressionofthe
thesis with much purely local detail omitted and with the
addition ofpages 13-25.
I thank thefollowing institutions and persons, withoutwhose
aid the book could not have beel1 written or published. First,
the many friends I made in Westrigg; the Committee of the
Social Science Research Centre, University of Edinburgh,
for grants which made field-work possible; Dr K. L. Little,
Head ofthe Department ofSocial Anthropology, University of
Edinburgh, who supervised the original thesis; Dr W. Watson,
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of
Manchester, whose advice on the composition ofthe book was
invaluable; Mr S. Sklaroff, Department ofPublic Health and
Social Medicine, University of Edinburgh, for advice on
statistical procedures; Dr S. F. Collins, formerly ofthe Depart
ment of Social Anthropology, University of Edinburgh, who
drewthe maps. I have alsobenefitedgreatlyfrom the comments
J.
of Dr Nalson, University of Western Australia, and of my
colleagues in the Social Science Research Centre and Depart
mentofSocialAnthropology, UniversityofEdinburgh. Finally,
I wish to thank the Trustees of the Carnegie Trust for the
Universities of Scotland for a generous subvention which has
made possible the publication ofthis book.
J. LITTLEJOHN
Edinburgh,
February, 1963.
VII
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CHAPTER I
THE PARISH
WESTRIGG is an upland parish in a mainly rural county in the
south of Scotland. It belongs to 'the Borders', a not clearly
defined area ofScotland whose inhabitants regard themselves
as a slightly different group within the nation, different for
example in dialect and in the Common Riding ceremonies of
border towns. There are Border Associations in Edinburgh and
Glasgowforborderersexiledinthesetwocities.Themainroutes
from Englandnorth all by-pass the parish, anditis regardedas
a somewhat isolated place by people ofneighbouring districts
who live nearer the main lines ofcommunication.
It has been inhabited for several thousand years. There are
twoprehistoricstonecircles,severalcircularearthembankments
and the remains of a small Roman camp. The first general
account oftIle parish is given in the statistical Account ofScot
land of 179I-98, which indicates that Westrigg was then
undergoingthechangesinlandownership,labourorganization,
and agricultural techniques general throughout the more en
lightenedpartsofthecountry.!Theparishseemstohavecontri
butedto theagriculturalrevolution. Onerecentauthorremarks
that the open drain of the hill farm vvhich has played an
important part in the improvement ofthe herbage ofthe area
is thought to have beenfirst usedinWestriggabout 1770.2 Itis
clearfrom the descriptionin the StatisticalAccount that by the
end of the eighteenth century the economy ofthe parish was
assuming theform ithas retainedsince, the mainfeatures being
division of the land into farms devoted to sheep rearing with
1SirJ.Sinclair(ed.),TheStatisticalAccountofScotland,Edinburgh, 1791-99.
SeealsoH. Hamilton, TheIndustrialRevolutioninScotland,Oxford, 1932;and
I. G. Grant,EconomicHistoryofScotland, London, 1934.
2A. G. Ogilvie (ed.) Essays inRegionalGeography, Cambridge, 1953-
I
