Scottish Heritage Event, Laurinburg NC, 5 through 7 April

Scottish Heritage Weekend, 5-7 April; Laurinburg NC

I will be speaking at the 30th Charles Bascombe Shaw Memorial Scottish Heritage Weekend.  This symposium runs from April 5 through April 7. The event takes place in Laurinburg, North Carolina and is sponsored by St Andrews University.  

An excellent slate of speakers will be there. My talk is on the Redshank Migration from Mid Argyll to East Donegal.  This is the story of the Redshanks, or Highland Gaels, that settled in Portlough Precinct, in the Lagan District, east Donegal, in the 1500s. It is a romantic, though tragic tale, of the Scottish princess, Fionnuala Nic Dhónaill, the daughter of Seamus Mac Dónaill, the taoiseach, or chief, of Clann Dhónaill and how she became a pivotal figure in the migration of Highland Gaels into west Ulster. 

Fionnuala Nic Dhónaill is better known in history as Iníon Dubh (said Nee-an Doo), which means 'black haired daughter.'

If you have an interest in Scottish history and lore, do attend. Going to be an enjoyable and interesting event.

Click on Brochure Icons To Enlarge.   

BBC Radio Ulster, Kist o Wurds program

Barry R McCain

(Update.... a Rugby match on BBC is running long, our program rescheduled for  Wednesday 30th at 19.30 hour UK time and that is 1:30 PM CDT.   The show can is archived for a couple of weeks so can be streamed during that time also.  But on a brighter note, at least Ireland is winning the rugby match)

My BBC interview will be on today, evening in the UK, at 1:30 PM (13:30) on BBC Ulster Radio.  The program is the Kist o Wurds program and I was interviewed by Alister McReynolds, well known writer and personality in Northern Ireland.  (and a friend of mine)

Here is the link:   BBC Ulster Radio

This link should go to the program page from which you can click on a link to live stream the show.

The Kist o Wurds program focuses on Ulster Scots history, culture, and language.  It is a very good program, and a great way to discover an interesting aspect of Irish life and society.  This is my second time on the program.  I was also interviewed by them when I started my Finding the McCains book project.  This interview was done as the book is finished now and out at bookshops and on Amazon.  It is always enjoyable to talk with the lads and lassies back in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Foyle Valley Covenanters, a new book by William Roulston

Dr William Roulston is the Research Director of the Ulster Historical Foundation. He holds a PhD in Archaeology from Queen’s University Belfast.
  

Foyle Valley Covenanters

In the middle of the eighteenth century a community of Covenanters in the Foyle Valley emerged from the shadows to form a congregation. The first minister was ordained in 1765 and six years later a site at Bready was secured for a meeting house. Since then the members of this small but significant congregation have been active in preserving a Reformed Presbyterian witness in the district as well as contributing to many other aspects of local life. Through a detailed study of the congregational and denominational records, this book explores the ministers and ministries, the life and work of the congregation, the buildings, the families, and the relationship between the Covenanters of Bready and the state. The appendices to the book include an index to the names in the earliest session book (1791-1800). Raised on the family farm in Bready, William J. Roulston grew up a few fields away from the Covenanter meeting house. He has written extensively on his local area and is the convener of the Reformed Presbyterian Church History Committee.

For overseas orders the best place to go is:

http://www.booksireland.org.uk/store/all-departments/foyle-covenanters-history-bready-reformed-presbyterian-church-1765-2015

The Laggan Redshanks

Mongavlin, the Castle of Iníon Dubh


 In the sixteenth century Scottish Highlanders settled in the Laggan district of east Donegal. They were called Redshanks.  The history of the Laggan Redshanks has many fascinating elements which include Clann Chaimbeul and their dynamic leader the fifth Earl of Argyll, Gaelic sexual intrigues, English Machiavellian manoeuvres, and the Redshanks themselves.  This book not only tells the fascinating story of how a Highland Scottish community became established in the Laggan, but also includes the surnames of the Redshanks and notes of their origins in Scotland, which will be of interest to family historians and genealogists.

 

This book has the complete Portlough Muster roll taken in 1630 and includes notes on each of the surnames.  It is available from Amazon as a paperback and Kindle version.

Link to Amazon:  The Laggan Redshanks

I have been asked many times about Highland Scottish surnames among the Scots-Irish.  Over the years as I worked with primary sources I did indeed notice within early Scots-Irish settlements there was a considerable Highland Scot presence.  One part of the story concerns the migration of Highlanders from mid-Argyll and Lennox to east Donegal circa 1569 to 1600.  This migration was sponsored by Clann Chaimbeul.  After the Plantation began in 1609 these Highlanders remained on their lands in the Laggan district.  Their experiences with the New Order in Ulster was different than other Redshank (Highland Scots) communities living in Ireland.  One reason was these particular Redshanks were of the Reformed faith.  Clann Chaimbeul, under the fifth Earl of Argyll were early converts to the Reformed faith.  While they retained their Gaelic language and culture they did in time become part of the general Ulster Scots community in the Laggan. When the Ulster Migration began in 1718 they were on the first ships that left for the Colonies and throughout the eighteenth century they continued to migrate in great numbers.  In the New World they were part of the people that became what we call today, the Scots-Irish.