Oxgang

Key takeaways

Oxgang belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Oxgang to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Oxgang from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

An oxgang or bovate (Old English: oxangang; Danish: oxgang; Scottish Gaelic: damh-imir; Medieval Latin: bovāta) is an old land measurement formerly used in Scotland and England as early as the 16th century sometimes referred to as an oxgait. It averaged around 20 English acres (eight hectares), but was based on land fertility and cultivation, and so could be as little as 15 acres (6 hectares). An oxgang is also known as a bovate, from bovāta, a Medieval Latinisation of the word, derived from the Latin bōs, meaning "ox, bullock or cow". Oxen, through the Scottish Gaelic word damh or dabh, also provided the root of the land measurement 'daugh'. Skene in Celtic Scotland says:

"in the eastern district there is a uniform system of land denomination consisting of 'dabhachs', 'ploughgates' and 'oxgangs', each 'dabhach' consisting of four 'ploughgates' and each 'ploughgate' containing eight 'oxgangs'. "As soon as we cross the great chain of mountains [the Grampian Mountains] separating the eastern from the western waters, we find a different system equally uniform. The 'ploughgates' and 'oxgangs' disappear, and in their place we find 'dabhachs' and 'pennylands'. The portion of land termed a 'dabhach' is here also called a 'tirung' or 'ounceland', and each 'dabhach' contains 20 pennylands." In Scotland, oxgang occurs in Oxgangs, a southern suburb of Edinburgh, and in Oxgang, an area of the town of Kirkintilloch.

Usage in England In England, the oxgang was a unit typically used in the area conquered by the Vikings which became the Danelaw, for example in the Domesday Book, where it is found as a bovata, or 'bovate'. The oxgang represented the amount of land which could be ploughed using one ox in a single annual season. As land was normally ploughed by a team of eight oxen, an oxgang was thus one eighth the size of a ploughland or carucate. Although these areas were not fixed in size and varied from one village to another, an oxgang averaged 15 acres (6 hectares), and a ploughland or carucate 100–120 acres (40–49 ha). However, in the rest of England a parallel system was used, from which the Danelaw system of carucates and bovates seen in the Domesday Book was derived. There, the virgate represented land which could be ploughed by a pair of oxen, and so amounted to two oxgangs or bovates, and was a quarter of a hide, the hide and the carucate being effectively synonymous. A peasant occupying or working an oxgang or bovate might be known as a "bovater" or "oxganger".

See also Obsolete Scottish units of measurement In the East of Scotland: Rood Scottish acre = 4 roods Oxgang (Damh-imir) = the area an ox could plough in a single annual season (around 20 acres) Ploughgate (?) = 8 oxgangs Daugh (Dabhach) = 4 ploughgates In the West of Scotland: Pennyland (Peighinn) = basic unit also broken into halfpennyland and farthingland. Groatland - (Còta bàn) = ie 4 pennies; Quarterland (Ceathramh) = 8 pennylands (quarter of a mark); Ounceland (Tir-unga) = 4 quarterlands (32 pennies); Markland (Marg-fhearann) = 8 Ouncelands (varied);

References

This article incorporates text from Dwelly's [Scottish] Gaelic Dictionary (1911). ((Dabhach) with corrections and additions)

External links Oxgang: Wiktionary Carucate: Wiktionary Wapentake: Wiktionary

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Oxgang

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Oxgang claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Oxgang before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Oxgang ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Oxgang

In research: Oxgang appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Oxgang in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Oxgang is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Early modern history of England, Early modern history of Scotland, Obsolete English units of measurement, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Oxgang outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Oxgang in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Oxgang means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Oxgang out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Oxgang in simple terms?

An oxgang or bovate (Old English: oxangang; Danish: oxgang; Scottish Gaelic: damh-imir; Medieval Latin: bovāta) is an old land measurement formerly used in Scotland and England as early as the 16th century sometimes referred to as an oxgait. It averaged around 20 English acres (eight hectares), but…

Why does Oxgang matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Oxgang?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Oxgang.