Scotland is a separate kingdom in the 16th century: it doesn’t become part of the British monarchy’s title until the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of England in 1603. So, in the 16th century because England and Scotland are two separate kingdoms, there is also tension and hostility between them. The danger is that the Scottish monarchy would link-up with the French and possibly make use of Ireland as some sort of back-door for an invasion into England.

Q: - So what sort of steps did the English Crown take in order to prevent this expected invasion of the Scottish into Ulster?

Well, it wasn’t just an expected invasion. There was increasing Scottish settlement in the north-east of Ireland right through the first half of the 16th century, so it was a very real and practical concern. They did discuss what they should do about it; they attempted several naval invasions of the Scottish coastline - they weren’t very successful. Some private adventurers and investors in London suggested the possibility of introducing a Plantation.

Q: - Tell me a little bit about the resistance that they must have confronted when they sought to establish themselves in the north-east of Ulster, in Ards and north-Antrim.

The main lord they encountered in the mid-16th century is Sir Brian MacPhelim O’Neill, and the London authorities worked very hard on Sir Brian MacPhelim O’Neill to win him round to support for the government, and they got him to co-operate, to undermine any potential hostility.

The problem was when they began to talk about Plantation, the territory that was going to be ear-marked for that Plantation was the territory of Sir Brian MacPhelim O’Neill, so the Early attempts to co-operate with Brian MacPhelim O’Neill were undermined when the Plantation plans of people like Sir Thomas Smith and the Earl of Essex were approved by the London authorities. So one of the things Essex does in particular, is he is very hostile to Brian MacPhelim O’Neill and eventually he has him, his wife, his brothers taken to Dublin Castle and arranges for their execution to get them out of the way.