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Therundale system (apparently from the Irish Gaelic words "roinn" which refers to the division of something and "dáil", in the sense of apportionment) was a form of occupation of land in Ireland, somewhat resembling the English common field system. The land is divided into discontinuous plots, and cultivated and occupied by a number of tenants to whom it is leased jointly. The system was common inIreland, especially in the western counties. InScotland, where the system also existed, it was termedrun rig (with the first element either from the Scottish Gaelicroinn or the Englishrun, and the second from the Lowland Scotsrig or ridge).
Rundale farming systems in Ireland existed from theEarly Medieval Period right up until the time of theFirst World War. The rundale system of agriculture consisted of nucleated villages known asclachans. Usually the land was of poor quality and the population of people trying to make a living was intensive.
The main "clachan" area where the smallthatched cottages were concentrated, was situated in a cluster on the best land (theinfields) which was surrounded by mountain orgrazing land of inferior quality (theoutfields) where thelivestock was grazed during summer or dry periods, a practice known astranshumance or as "booleying". All the sheep or cattle of the village were grazed together to alleviate pressure on growing crops and also provided fresh pasture for livestock. In the remote western areas of Ireland where the rundale system was most commonly seen, the land was a complex mixture of arable, rough andbogland. It was a difficult task to ensure that each tenant had an equal share of good and poor land.
Rundale clachans and their transhumance pastures, also known as Booley, Boley, Bouley, Bualie and Boola can still be seen in the parish ofKilcommon inErris,County Mayo, in many townlands such as Gortmelia,Inver andGlengad where clusters of cottages can be seen on the hillsides with land in narrow strips running down to the sea. These names survive in place names such as Buaile h'Anraoi inKilcommon where the landscape still shows very clearly the layout of the Rundale system.
The practise of booleying provided a safety valve in that it allowed maximisation of available human resources. Seasonal migration to Scotland and England superseded this ancient system and went hand-in-hand with more permanent emigration to theUnited States. Booleying alleviated pressure on the growing crops and provided fresh pasture for livestock while the migratory worker to the potato fields ofAyrshire orLothian earned sufficient income to allow him and his family to live at home for most of the year. The average holding on the small farms ofCounty Mayo was only fiveacres, insufficient to maintain a family for more than part of the year.
Booleying is mentioned in theBrehon Laws.
John O'Donovan of theOrdnance Survey (1838) noted that the people owned houses in two townlands, one of which was a booley. "It is a great habit among the people of the island to have two townlands and houses built on each where they remove occasionally with their cattle. The townlands are held under one lease and one of these farms is called a Bouley."
The demise of booleying in Ireland came about in the 19th century when incoming landlords began to impound livestock which trespassed on their property. Retrieval fines were prohibitive and there was a consequent reduction in the number of cattle kept.
Theagrariancommunes of the rundale system in Ireland have subsequently been assessed using a framework ofprimitive communism, where the system fitsKarl Marx andFriedrich Engels' definition.[1]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rundale".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.