ABSTRACT
The colonisation of waste and the foundation of new settlements are complementary processes in any expanding rural society. Their reactive and creative association in medieval Scotland, 1100–1650, can be assumed almost without question. However, their exact history and phasing are still uncharted, at least compared with what is known about their history in other parts of north-west Europe over the same period. Even in the Highlands and Islands, the extensive areas of waste and hill pasture recorded by them does not detract from the fact that every pocket of suitable soil, and many that were unsuitable, had been pressed into service to sustain a large and growing population. Documented instances of colonisation in progress appear with the earliest land charters. Some leave no doubt they are foundation charters, carving a new holding or toun out of waste.
