Trade and markets in early modern Orkney (Scotland)

A recent AHRC-DFG-funded historical archaeology research project, ‘Looking in From the Edge’ (LIFTE), has focussed on better understanding the impact of early modern commercialisation on two archipelagos off the north coast of Scotland: Orkney and Shetland. This paper presents findings from archival-centred research investigating the mechanisms of trade in Orkney, something which has previously had little attention. Whilst contemporary historical written accounts often list goods exported from Orkney in the early modern period, none provide detailed information on the infrastructure of trade within the archipelago. Orkney had a small burgh town and commentators went no further than to say this, yet archival evidence, place names, written sources and a very few upstanding buildings all indicate trade was taking place in the parishes and islands beyond the main trading centre of Kirkwall. As a means of identifying the places where people were trading and thus enabling a better understanding of trading infrastructure, this paper identifies and maps merchants’ properties, storehouses and the locations of markets/fairs to visualise the mechanisms of trade in a rural archipelago as it became increasingly involved in commercialisation. In doing so, two discrete yet interconnected forms of trade
are proposed: laird-based trade centred on estate management, with boats functioning as shops; and booth-based trade, where merchants are found located throughout the archipelago, mostly in the burgh town but also in much smaller nucleated settlements.