He was one of the main promoters of sheep in Lewis, managing major sheep runs in the north-west of the island to the east of Little Loch Roag, as well as the island of Pabbay, and on Valtos to the north. Chapman oversaw the creation of thirty-four crofts on the island of Bernera (north-west Lewis) by 1807, probably the earliest crofts created in the Outer Hebrides. Chapman also worked as an estate surveyor on Uig in Skye in about 1803, and, later, practised as a land surveyor in Inverness, in partnership with Alexander Gibbs. 160 x 100 cm.įrancis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth, appointed James Chapman as Chamberlain between the late 1790s and about 1810. Made out of an accurate survey taken anno 1785. Belonging heritably to Francis Humberston Mackenzie Esq.

Title: A Plan of the harbour bay and town of Stornoway.The map deliberately gives no detail of the main built-up part of Stornoway itself Chapman’s map of 1800 (see below) provides the complementary detail here. The distinction into Arable, Pasture, Moor & Sand, and Moss are the main categories, but more detailed descriptions too. As is customary for estate maps such as this, each land parcel has been carefully measured (written out in Acres, Rods, and Falls) and its broad agricultural use or potential has been described.

This beautiful and striking estate plan, commissioned by and dedicated to Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth, is the earliest detailed record of named proprietors in Stornoway, and is therefore of major value for local and family history.

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