The plantation in North West Ulster

A Scottish Border Reiver cavalryman

Colour photograph of a man dressed in the uniform of a Scottish Border Reiver cavalryman. He is wearing a tunic of mail, a metal helmet and woollen trousers tucked into boots. He is carrying a long pike and a sword.As soldiers, the Border Reivers were considered among the finest light cavalry in Europe. They can be traced back to the twelfth century. Renowned for guerrilla-type tactics, many Reivers served as mercenaries in English and Scots armies in Ireland, and during the fortification of Ulster during the seventeenth century Plantation. Typical Reiver surnames still prominent in Ulster are Armstrong, Beattie, Elliot, Graham, Nixon and Scott.

Reproduced with permission of Donegal artist Sean O Brogain

A Scottish Border Reiver cavalryman
Reproduced with permission of Donegal artist Sean O Brogain

A Scottish Border Reiver cavalryman

Colour photograph of a man dressed in the uniform of a Scottish Border Reiver cavalryman. He is wearing a tunic of mail, a metal helmet and woollen trousers tucked into boots. He is carrying a long pike and a sword.As soldiers, the Border Reivers were considered among the finest light cavalry in Europe. They can be traced back to the twelfth century. Renowned for guerrilla-type tactics, many Reivers served as mercenaries in English and Scots armies in Ireland, and during the fortification of Ulster during the seventeenth century Plantation. Typical Reiver surnames still prominent in Ulster are Armstrong, Beattie, Elliot, Graham, Nixon and Scott.

Reproduced with permission of Donegal artist Sean O Brogain

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The scheme which King James now unfolded for Ulster west of the River Bann was without a doubt the most ambitious plan of colonisation ever devised in Western Europe. Following on from O'Doherty's rebellion of 1608, the counties of Tyrconnell (modern Donegal), Coleraine (modern London/Derry), Tyrone, Armagh, Fermanagh and Cavan came into the Crown's possession.

This was a unique chance for the king to reward all those to whom he owed favours, mostly military and administrative leaders. He also believed that by these means, the troublesome province would be quietened and, with an increased military presence, less likely to be invaded by England's old enemy, Spain. Importantly, too, he hoped that the civilising effect of the introduction of the protestant faith would "establish the true religion of Christ among men almost lost in superstition."

The seventeenth century was the era of colonial expansion for England ; shortly before the flight of the earls; English settlers had founded a successful colony, Jamestown, in the American state of Virginia.

In January 1609, King James issued orders for the Plantation of Ulster. Counties Antrim, Down and Monaghan were not included in the Ulster Plantation; these counties were very close to Scotland, and Scottish people had been connected to them for centuries. Neither was County Monaghan. Here most of the land remained in Irish ownership in the early seventeenth century. Some English families had large estates there, but the number of Scots in the area remained very small.

Out of a total of c. 4 million acres, one and a half million acres of partly or completely infertile lands were given to the native Irish. Over one and a half million acres of the remainder was given in grants to schools, the Church of Ireland, the military and institutions. The rest was set aside for colonisation, with large estates granted at nominal rents on condition that the landholders let the land only to English or Scots tenants.