Stitchers: Sarah McCabe, Christina Moffat (Prestonpans and Cockenzie, Scotland).
When King James VI of Scotland was offered the throne of England in 1603, Ireland was part of his inheritance. Uprisings had weakened the power of the old aristocracy in Ulster, with a number fleeing overseas, so James saw an opportunity to colonise their territories with a population more reliably loyal. The plantation of Scots (and English) settlers into the north of Ireland was also intended to help spread Protestantism in what was largely a Gaelic speaking Catholic society. Private plantation was already underway in Down and Antrim before the more formalised colonisation of the remaining counties of Ulster, which began in 1610.
GBN01 Planntachas Ulaidh
Nuair a chaidh rìgh-chathair Shasainn a thairgsinn do Rìgh Seumas VI Alba ann an 1603, bha Èirinn mar phàirt den dìleab aige. Bha aramachan air cumhachd na seann iarfhlaitheachd ann an Ulaidh a lagachadh, le àireamh a’ teicheadh thall-thairis, mar sin chunnaic Seumas cothrom air an fhearann aca a thuineachadh le àireamh-sluaigh a bha na bu dhìlse. Bha am planntachas de dh’Albannaich (agus de Shasannaich) ann an ceann a tuath Èirinn cuideachd ag amas air Pròstanachd a sgaoileadh ann an co-chomann Caitligeach a bha gu ìre mhòr a’ labhairt Gàidhlig. Bha planntachas neo-oifigeil a’ gabhail àite mar-thà anns An Dún agus Aontroim, mus do thòisich tuineachadh na b’ fhoirmeile air na sgìrean eile ann an Ulaidh ann an 1610.