The Agricultural Revolution began in the mid-18th century with improvements to farmland in the Scottish Lowlands and a transformation of Scottish agriculture from one of the most backward into what was to become the most modern and productive system in Europe.

Many small settlements were dismantled, their occupants forced either to the new purpose-built villages built by the landowners to house the displaced cottars on the outskirts of the new ranch-style farms, or to the new industrial centres such as Glasgow.

         

The founding fathers of this period of Scottish Enlightenment were Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Thomas Reid and Adam Smith. They held to a belief in the ability of man to effect changes for the better in society and nature, guided only by reason. The Bishop's Forest lands had been transferred to the Burgh Of Glasgow in 1684 and were soon to join in the massive changes to Glasgow's economy and urban fabric brought about by the influences of this movement.