A Ferm Toun or Farm Town was land divided into towns or townships the majority of which were rented by a tacksman and sublet to the actual farming tenants. It was a communal, co-operative system of agriculture where the run-rig arrangement of unenclosed strips of land were evenly distributed to ensure no-one got all of the good or all of the unproductive land. Each family got some of both.
Run rig, runrig or rig-a-rendal
A 'rig' .was a narrow strip of ploughed, cultivated land on average 20ft wide and the 'runs' were strips of unfertile land. The assignment of rigs and runs alternated every year so that all the fertile strips had lain fallow for a season prior to being used. Run-rig was a system of land tenure whereby each tenant was allocated several detached rigs or portions of land on a yearly basis. The name comes from the idea of the rigs running parallel to each other. The field closest to the settlement (the infield or in-bye) would be the most fertile and used for growing crops. The field furthest away (the outfield) was less fertile and provided rough grazing for the animals and perhaps some patches of oats.
The term runrig designates a system of arable farming where the land was worked by ploughing it into a series of ‘rigs’ (or ridges) and furrows; on the rigs the crops were grown, while the furrows served as ditches to drain off surface water.
The New History of Cumnock by John Strawhorn
pp17,18
'During the Middle Ages the population (of Cumnock) was small, depending on the produce of the land. Each farm unit was a group of cottages, each with its kailyard, and with fields nearby which the folk of the ferm toun cultivated together. These fields were unenclosed by fence or dyke and were set in a wide area of rough pasture which extended to the marches of the next ferm toun. The fields grew the staple crop of oats, with some barley, peas and beans. Cattle and sheep were pastured in the care of herds, their number limited by the dearth of hay and lack of winter fodder. Oatmeal formed the basis of the diet, supplemented by a few vegetables, some cheese, and salted meat in the winter.
The land also provided wool for clothmaking, hides for leather, wood and peat for fuel, and materials for building. Each tenant farmer produced a subsistence for his family, plus a meagre surplus to pay rent to the feudal landlord, dues to the church, with perhaps a little to buy a few necessities which could not be home-produced.
Meaning 'ferme-town at the burn'
