Lot meadows, do they have a role in understanding scattered holdings? A study case in northern Spain

Lot meadows are those hay meadows that, periodically, are divided into plots which are allocated by raffle among the inhabitants of a township or a parish, usually integrated within a common field system. In this article the lot meadow is presented as a relevant object of study, which can facilitate the understanding of the origin and evolution of agricultural landscapes. Firstly, the article provides technical aspects on how the lot meadows operate in Cantabria, a region located in northern Spain. In this region two lot meadows are still in use, and many others remained in use until the mid-twentieth century. By interviewing and by direct observation, a feature about the way in which they are internally zoned was documented: a permanent division of the meadow into large sets of similar forage quality, each of them being the subject of a separate lottery. Secondly, a locational analysis of twentyseven lot meadows, based on environmental factors and using historical records from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, enabled the identification of possible causes of privatisation or the preference for private meadowlands. The entire analysis led to an illustration of two classic explanations about scattered holdings in common field systems: i.e. equality distribution, and risk avoidance. If a lot meadow was consensually privatised among the villagers, it is likely that such internal zoning in sets was maintained, and therefore scattered plots were obtained. Likewise, this tenure pattern would result if this allocation procedure (with internal zoning in sets) were used to collectively create private meadows or arable fields.1