medieval-atlas/economic-development/273

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Scottish trade in the seventeenth century In 1656 a Cromwellian official, Thomas Tucker, drew up a Report reorganising the collection of customs and excise duties. It envisaged the creation of eight administrative districts or 'precincts', each with its head port where a collector would be based. An excise had already been introduced by the Scottish parliament in 1644, which placed dues on the sale and import (where appropriate) of all ale, beer and whisky, as well as on imported wine, tobacco and textiles; but Tucker's scheme involved harmonization with the English system of tunnage and poundage. The result was complex and over-firm conclusions should not be drawn from the data, which is based on revenue over a three-month period in 1655-6; imports were subject to customs dues and often to excise as well, but levels of dues varied greatly, high for Customs Excise • Head port of preCincts Custorns precincts -Ayr ~"'~ Leith ///~ Bo'ness 1111111111111 Burntisland Dundee ""'''~ Aberdeen WH.M Inverness Leith 39.6% Bo'ness 24.7% Glasgow 9.3% Dundee 8.4% Aberdeen 7.9% Burntisland 6.9% Inverness 2% Ayr 1.2% Leith 51.6% Glasgow 12.9% Bo'ness 11 .2% Dundee 6.8% Ayr 5.3% Aberdeen 5.2% Burntisland 3.7 Inverness 3.3% example on wine and foreign salt but low on timber. The combined returns, though complicated, do reflect, as do the burgh tax rolls, a marked rise of Glasgow, which had begun to use the road via Kilsyth to Bo'ness, now said to be 'the chief port' after Leith, as an entry to east-coast based overseas trade. Yet the Bo'ness precincf also catered for Stirling's trade, the coal and salt of Culross and Limekilns and some cloth from Perth and its returns should not be claimed wholly or even largely for Glasgow. The most striking difference between the customs for 1655-6 and those for the 1590s is the sharp fall of Leith, from 73% to under 40%. Its dominant postion as an entrepot had slipped drastically since the 1630s and certain exported commodities, especially coal and salt, were now shipped direct, also helping to lift the Bo'ness returns. .#Af/~ ·' I ~ j ~ Aberdeen ~.... Dundee ~~ :-0" . :-.; :-,.'0 ' -, hlllll 1111111111111 ' Burntisland_11111 / / -111111111 Bo'ness • / //I'lIriSlil!i:!llr g-=-. ~~ Glasgow G~S~AY' ~~~,>$ ~t~· 7~~~"~~ Customs and excise duties: customs precincts 1656 ML 273

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