at a time'), iomair mu seach ('one ridge at a time'), fearann-tuatha ('peasant field'); in Scots it was generally rin-rig. Its origins are not clear, but it is possible that the practice was adopted in the late medieval period, supplanting earlier enclosed fields which were associated with a more dispersed pattern of settlement. It fell into decline mainly over the last quarter of the 18th century and the first quarter of the 19th century.

The land was divided into towns or