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Did you know...

...that the Scottish settlers came from Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, the Borders and the Lothians?

King James VI thought that his fellow countrymen would be excellent material for the plantation because they ‘are a middle temper, between the English tender breeding and the Irish rude breeding and are a great deal more likely to adventure to plant Ulster than the English’. However, because Scotland was incredibly poor compared to England and could not provide all the craftsmen, masons, carpenters and blacksmiths necessary to build new towns, new villages and fortifications, the Scottish settlers were supplemented with English settlers who came largely from Lancashire, Cheshire, East Anglia and Devon.

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