There is alot of evidence to suggest that crofters evicted from their lands in both the Highlands and the Lowlands not only emigrated to Canada, Nova Scotia and Australia (forced or otherwise) but also migrated south into England to take up poor farm lands and small holdings that would otherwise not be farmed.
The abilities and skills of crofters to farm on the poorest of soils and climatic challenging areas of the highlands would stand them in good sted when farming on better arable conditions on the plains of Cumbria, Cheshire and Derbyshire. Census records show the increased development of Scots families appearing in Cheshire around 1840 onwards.
Scots names also frequently appear in the more industrialised areas of the Northwest of England, Manchester, Liverpool where industrial development and employment would attract migration towards these areas in the search of work.
Migration within Scotland would have taken crofters towards the new Conurbations of Glasgow and New Lanark where Robert Owen (1771-1858) were cultivating Mills and industrial areas that would have provided both employment and social housing.
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