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ENCLOSURES
Pre-Improvement dykes
Lairds' parks
Dyking
Hedges and fences
Gates and access
main image Head dykes, Fair Isle, Shetland
Before lands were enclosed with walls and hedges, the main division within them was between regularly cultivated ground (infield) and generally uncultivated, marginal land (outfield, common). The dividing line was marked in the landscape by a 'head dyke'.

In most parts of Scotland this rigid division broke down in the 18th and early 19th centuries, when the enclosure of fields allowed crops for grazing livestock to be fitted into former infield and outfield alike.

This is a rare survival with two successive lines of head dyke: an earlier turf dyke – possibly dating back to Viking times, and a much later, probably 19th century stone dyke.


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