# Ounceland

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{{Short description|Traditional Scottish land measurement}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
An '''ounceland''' ({{langx|gd|unga}}) is a traditional [Scottish](/source/Scotland) land measurement. It was found in the West [Highlands](/source/Scottish_Highlands), and [Hebrides](/source/Hebrides). In Eastern Scotland, other measuring systems were used instead. It was equivalent to 20 [pennyland](/source/pennyland)s or one eighth of a [markland](/source/markland_(Scots)). Like those measurements, it is based on the rent paid, rather than the actual land area. It was also known as a "tirung" (from [Scottish Gaelic](/source/Scottish_Gaelic): tìr-unga), or a ''dabhach'' (same as [daugh](/source/daugh)), which is a term of [Pictish](/source/Picts) origin, also used in the east of Scotland too, but for a different measurement. The “ounceland” is thought to be of [Norse](/source/Norsemen) origin, so it is possible that Norse (‘ounceland’) and native systems (''dabhach'') were conflated in the west.

==Quotes==
[Skene](/source/William_Forbes_Skene) in ''Celtic Scotland'' says:
:"As soon as we cross the [great chain of mountains](/source/Grampian_Mountains_(Scotland)) separating the [eastern](/source/North_Sea) from the [western waters](/source/Atlantic_Ocean), we find a different system equally uniform. The ‘[ploughgate](/source/ploughgate)s’ and ‘[oxgang](/source/oxgang)s’ disappear, and in their place we find ‘[dabhachs](/source/daugh)’ and ‘[pennyland](/source/pennyland)s’. The portion of land termed a ‘dabhach’ is here also called a ‘tirung’ or ‘ounceland’, and each ‘dabhach’ contains 20 pennylands."{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

The Rev. Dr Campbell of [Broadford](/source/Broadford%2C_Skye) on the island of [Skye](/source/Skye) said:
:"the system of land measure which prevailed in the [Western Isles](/source/Western_Isles), and then took root in [Argyll](/source/Argyll) was neither Pictish nor [Irish](/source/Scoti), but Norse. The unit was the '[ounce](/source/ounce)'-land, i.e. the extent of land which paid the rent of an ounce of [silver](/source/silver). The word was borrowed by Gaelic and appears as 'unnsa'. The land term was 'unga', e.g. Unganab in [North Uist](/source/North_Uist) and in [Tiree](/source/Tiree). It appears in the old charters as 'teroung', 'teiroung', &c. This extent was divided into twenty parts—sometimes into only 18 – which parts being called '[peighinn](/source/pennyland)'…"

== Other uses ==
The term ''unga''/''uinge'' is also used for an [ingot](/source/ingot).

==See also==
* [Obsolete Scottish units of measurement](/source/Obsolete_Scottish_units_of_measurement)
** In the East [Highlands](/source/Scottish_Highlands):
*** [Rood](/source/Rood_(Scots))
*** [Scottish acre](/source/Acre_(Scots)) = 4 roods
*** [Oxgang](/source/Oxgang) (''Damh-imir'') = the area an ox could plow in a year (around 20 acres)
*** [Ploughgate](/source/Ploughgate) (''?'') = 8 oxgangs
*** [Daugh](/source/Davoch) (''Dabhach'') = 4 ploughgates
** In the West [Highlands](/source/Scottish_Highlands):
*** [Markland](/source/Markland_(Scots)) (''Marg-fhearann'') = 8 Ouncelands (varied)
*** Ounceland (''Tir-unga'') =20 Pennylands
*** [Pennyland](/source/Pennyland) (''Peighinn'') = basic unit; sub-divided into [half penny](/source/halfpenny_(British_pre-decimal_coin))-land and [farthing](/source/Farthing_(British_coin))-land 
*** (Other terms in use; [Quarterland](/source/Quarterland) (''Ceathramh''): variable value; Groatland (''Còta bàn'')

* [Townland](/source/Townland) (''Baile'')

==References==
* {{Dwelly}} ((Dabhach, Peighinn, Unga) with corrections and additions).

{{Scandinavian Scotland|state=autocollapse}}

Category:Obsolete Scottish units of measurement
Category:Units of area
Category:Scandinavian Scotland

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{{Unit-measurement-stub}}
{{realestate-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ounceland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ounceland) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ounceland?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.