Kirkani was a royal borough, which gave certain advantages to local landowners or Burgesses. The richer farmers also were Burgesses because they had to have a house in the town. Just a few hundred yards away is the wide-mouthed port where Adam Smith's father worked as a customs officer. In 18th century Scotland, pins were made of iron and used in all sorts of industrial settings. Each worker at the pin factory had a specialized task: One would straighten out the iron, another would cut it so that it could be put together.