Talk:Croft (land)

Bleaching

You might like to incorporate the Lancashire meaning of crofting into the main page as it seems to come from the same source. A croft was a piece of land belonging to a cottage and this would be used for bleaching cloth so known as a bleachcroft so crofting in that area usually means bleaching. Similarly the land could be used in brickmaking as a brickcroft. --jmb 00:21, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

This is a talk page, you don't alter other people's signed comments. If you wish to make a comment then you add it below and sign it, preferanly with a Wikipedia ID rather than an IP number --jmb (talk) 23:20, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

Crofter

Crofter redirects to this article, but the first mention of a crofter is in the third heading, and still even at that point, no explanation is given. Ideally it could do with a high-level introduction, bolded in the lead paragraph as to who/what/when/where a "crofter" is. I'd consider adding such a defintion, but I haven't yet found a suitably reliable definition yet to be capable of constructing one! —Sladen (talk) 12:16, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Use of term outside Scotland

Agrarian historians, lawyers, etc., use the term "croft" to refer to a small parcel of agricultural land. The associated house, if there is one, is located on the "toft". The phrase "croft and toft" can be found in legal documents. If anyone can find some useful references on this, there really should be an explanation.ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 22:42, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

Based on the above, that means that the definition in this article is therefore wrong.

ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 08:58, 11 September 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

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Cottage farm

Cottage farm is equivalent to a croft with a crofter's house. The term redirects to Croft (land). The term cottage farm was in use from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s with instructional books dedicated to the subject. Two examples: Doyle, M. 1870. Cottage Farming, and Edwards, K. B. 1902. My Cottage Farm of Five Acres. Paleorthid (talk) 05:05, 19 March 2022 (UTC)

I think you are going to need substantially more than listing the titles of two books that are over 100 years old to justify that change to the article. You do not even attempt to say what these two books say on the subject. ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 08:46, 19 March 2022 (UTC)

Appreciate your revert of my edit. I can expand on supporting this addition. The historic intersection of the two terms quite fascinating. At some point I will get back to finding an opportunity to mention cottage farm in the croft (land) article as a closely related in use. Cottage farm was used as a synonym to the term croft in the United States and significant portions of Great Britain. For example, it was the title of an encyclopedic article (1818) in Rees's Cyclopaedia. Considering the similarity in use in popular culture, there is a place for the term in this article. Right now the article is strictly grounded in its ethnolinguistic role. It has meaning well beyond that context. Done correctly the Croft (land) article could benefit from more of a world-wide perspective. Having Cottage farm redirect to this article, showing readers how the terms are related, makes sense. Perhaps a Synonyms section is the best way to more of a world-wide perspective. Better than inserting the cottage farm into the lede. Appreciate any feedback. Paleorthid (talk) 17:44, 19 March 2022 (UTC)

I disagree that the article needs to have a more world-wide perspective. The term is most commonly (almost exclusively) used to describe a uniquely Scottish Highlands type of land-holding. This is legally defined and crofters in the crofting region (again, legally defined) have a security of tenure that is not available to other Scottish agricultural tenants. Yes, crofts are small farms, but small farms, certainly in the UK, are not crofts. I think the term you are looking for is Smallholding. ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 17:55, 19 March 2022 (UTC)

Tofts and Crofts

I was looking on Wikipedia for information about the village layout feature known as Tofts and Crofts where tofts (small houses with land) face onto a lane and their narrow fields (crofts) stretch out behind them. In found Crofting but that’s (understandably) specifically about Scotland. Toft village is mainly about the placename component. I found this article, but I see from this talk page that discussion of Tofts and Crofts has been controversial in the past. One relevant source includes

• Northern Echo – House to be built in heart of old village: [Echonews Edition] Darlington (UK). 01 Sep 2003: 06

which says "A report from Harrogate Borough Council's heritage unit said aerial photographs indicated earthwork traces of former tofts and crofts, along with a field system." I’m confident I can find more sources but is it better to leave this article alone and create a new one about the Tofts and Crofts landuse pattern? --Northernhenge (talk) 17:47, 8 December 2024 (UTC)