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==History==
{{main|Mac Fisheries}}
In his 30s, [[English people|English]] businessman [[William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme]] had taken a boat trip and fallen in love with the [[Western Isles]] of [[Scotland]]. In May 1918, at the age of 66, he bought the [[Isle of Lewis]] for £167,000, convinced that he could resurrect the [[fishing industry]]. But his investment floundered in 1919 when servicemen, demobilised from the [[First World War]] and promised land, started occupying plots on the Isle of Lewis. Leverhulme protested and took legal action against the people he considered squatters, but the [[Scottish Office]] took the side of the ex-servicemen, leaving Leverhulme's plan in tatters.<ref name=MacFishHist>{{cite web|url=http://www.macfisheries.co.uk/page2.htm|title=History|publisher=Mac Fisheries|accessdate=30 June 2010|
Still looking to develop his fishing plan, in late 1919 he purchased the [[Harris, Outer Hebrides#South Harris|South Harris]] estate from the [[Earl of Dunmore]] for the sum of £36,000. Taking in the fishing village of '''Obbe''' (deriving from a [[Norse language|Norse]] word for a bay), he planned to turn it into a consolidated major fishing centre, with fish distributed through the 400+ [[Mac Fisheries]] [[fishmonger]] shops. He chose the site because it gave access to the waters of both [[the Minch]] and the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] and his boats could always find sheltered fishing waters.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst598.html | title=Leverburgh| publisher=[[Gazetteer for Scotland]]| accessdate=9 August 2009}}</ref>
In 1920, with local consent,<ref name=MacFishHist /><ref name=HistLever>{{cite web|url=http://www.leverburgh.co.uk/history.htm |archive-url=https://archive.is/20100622011623/http://www.leverburgh.co.uk/history.htm |
With a second stage of development planned that would have seen the inner sea loch converted into a harbour to accommodate 200+ trawlers, fitted with a sea lock to ensure a constant {{convert|25|ft|m}} depth, Leverhulme paid for upgraded roads to accommodate the additional traffic.
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