Author Archives: Ian Adamson

Cromwell’s campaign against the Royalist forces began with the storming of Drogheda on 11 September 1649. The resultant massacre was directed primarily against the English Royalist garrison and the clergy. A normal market was held in the town the following … Continue reading →

However, although the plantation never proved to be the radical transformation the Crown might have originally intended, those Irish noblemen who were dispossessed had sufficient cause to harbour a deep-seated resentment. In 1641, with civil unrest in England between Parliamentarians … Continue reading →

Ulster as a whole was not anglicised as quickly as Leinster. According to the 1851 census, of the nine counties in Ireland which contained the least number of Gaelic speakers of any variety only one (County Down) was in Ulster … Continue reading →

The ravages of the cruel and bloody war fought by the Elizabethan English against O’Neill left large areas of Ulster virtually without inhabitants. As well as that, the Crown now controlled the vast territory confiscated following the ‘Flight of the … Continue reading →

Effective English control had eventually become confined to Dublin, founded by Danish invaders using the stolen wealth of British Dumbarton and British slaves,  and to an ever-shrinking area around it known as ‘the Pale’. Not only were the Irish chiefs beyond royal … Continue reading →

Although the Gaelic chiefs continued to resist the Anglo-Norman presence, this did not inhibit constant warfare between the O’Donnells of Tirconnell and the O’Neills of Tirowen. In 1258 a conference was held to promote a spirit of unity among the … Continue reading →

Now we enter the Age of the Vikings, who were to leave a greater genetic footprint on England and Scotland than on Ireland. Their influence has remained however in Scots and Ulster Scots (Norse speech forms), English (Norman French word … Continue reading →

With the arrival of the Christian period and the intensive missionary activity that spread to “Scotland”, initiated by men of vision and energy such as Comgall and Columba, the cross-fertilisation between “Scotland” and Ulster was to reach new heights, particularly … Continue reading →

It is to the ‘Scottish connection’ that we shall now turn. We have already seen that the link between Ireland and “Scotland” goes back to when people first established themselves in Ireland, one substantial piece of evidence being the appearance in both … Continue reading →

When the Gaelic dynasties became indisputably into their ascendancy, their learned men sought to provide them with a lineage that would glorify their remarkable achievements. Furthermore, the Gaelic invaders had not only imposed their military control over much of Ireland, but, … Continue reading →