The Fife Adventurers — a group of Lowland entrepreneurs backed by James VI — made a third attempt to colonise Lewis in 1609 after two previous expeditions had been driven off by the MacLeod clan of Lewis. This expedition was more militarily prepared but again faced sustained guerrilla resistance from the Lewis MacLeods under Ruari Mor MacLeod. The Lewis colonisation project eventually failed entirely — the Adventurers sold their rights to the Mackenzies in 1610 — demonstrating that military-commercial colonisation of the Outer Hebrides was beyond the logistical capacity of Lowland projectors without sustained crown military support.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
Research a location near Ross and Cromarty