| AdminHistory | The City of London played an integral part in the plantation of Ulster as James I sought financial backing for his plans for colonisation (1609). The City Livery Companies were cajoled into investment in the project and subsequently into accepting a proportionate share of the lands 'to build and plant at [their] pleasure, costs and charges'. The Clothworkers' Estate was granted in 1618 and lay on the west side of the River Bann, opposite Coleraine.
The Company was in effect an absentee landlord, preferring to let its estate on long leases; however, records become more detailed from the 1840's when the head lease fell in and the Clothworkers took a more active role in the estate's management, initiating a comprehensive programme of improvements.
In 1871 the Estate was sold to Sir Hervey H. Bruce MP. |