The Scots Gaelic Myth

[Damion]

Further to this I was watching a documentry on Roman Britain & another hypothesis for the appearance of Gaelic in Galloway was that mercenaries could have been employed from Ireland either towards the end of the Roman period or after the end of the Roman occupation in a similar way to the Saxons.

That would be very convenient if true as it might solve the mystery of who the Attecotti were. The name possibly derives from Aithechthuatha, which referred to vassal people in Ireland. Attecotti units did exist in the Roman army.

That only accounts for the first Irish settlers, obviously they kept coming over the centuries including the Norse Gaels. The Irish colonised much of the western seaboard of Britain during this time though only the ones in what became Scotland were successful.