Jacques P.

eski-jacques.bsky.social

18 October 2026 01:32

Et s’il y avait du chanvre dans les maisons?

Dr Craig Buchanan FSAScot

buchanan.today

17 October 2026 23:59

To be clear, none of these facts was particularly new to me in and of itself, but that early morning email from Ancestry just served to reinforce how important hemp would have been to my immediate ancestors on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Dr Craig Buchanan FSAScot

buchanan.today

17 October 2026 23:59

More interesting to me though was a note that mentioned that those Russian imports had essentially done away with small “hemplands” in Scotland, and domestic Scottish hemp farming had largely died out, as land transitioned to gentry-owned wooded estates instead. So is our “Hemphill Row” older still?

Dr Craig Buchanan FSAScot

buchanan.today

17 October 2026 23:59

Meanwhile, trade registries from the 1800s note that while Ayrshire exported manufactured goods like flour, leather, and textiles, hemp was a primary import (mostly from Russia) alongside iron, tar, and timber to sustain the local infrastructure.

Dr Craig Buchanan FSAScot

buchanan.today

17 October 2026 23:59

Look how close those Ulster allocations were to the little part of Co. Tyrone that my great-grandfather was farming. The Bog Commission’s plan came to naught in the end, but hemp was clearly a known and valued commodity in rural Ireland nonetheless.