Are the Irwins of Irish or Scottish origin? Well…..the simple answer is “yes”. We are both. But the big question is where the clan originated. We know that many Scots immigrated to Ireland before going on to America, Canada, etc., but did our ancestors come to Scotland FROM Ireland in ancient times? That question isn’t answered as readily. Also, where did they come from before that?
I need to preface this post with the disclaimer that I am not a historian, a genealogist, or an academic. I have referenced my sources at the end of this post. The Wikipedia website links have the original sources to the items I included. Yes, I know that they don’t follow the correct academic format….this is, after all, not an academic paper. I did enough of those in the past and am just giving the information for further reading and to give the appropriate credit. I am just someone interested in my roots and defer to the people that have done the research and are professionals. Any errors are mine that were made from my reading/interpretation of the information that I gleaned. However, I have found some interesting tidbits in my reading.
One thing I found interesting is that DNA, archeology, and anthropology research has revealed that Scottish Celts have genetic ties to people from the Iberian Peninsula, including Spain. DNA analysis by Bryan Sykes, an Oxford University professor found that, Britain’s indigenous people, the Celts share a “nearly identical genetic ‘fingerprint’ with people from coastal Spain”. This study suggests that a tribe of Iberian fishermen who crossed the Bay of Biscay 6,000 years ago are the ancestors of the Celts. Previously it was believed that the Celts originated in central Europe but this study challenges that earlier research.
The Celts were composed of many different tribes and generally were lumped into a group referred to as “Britons” by the Romans. According to some historians, the Picts and Gaels were of Celtic origin and they occupied the area of Scotland during the time of and before the Romans. The Roman army conquered and occupied Britain but left in or about the early 5th century CE without ever conquering the Picts. Does Hadrian’s Wall sound familiar?
At about the same time as the descent of the Roman control of Britain, the Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada), a Gaelic kingdom “encompassing the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel” was growing in power. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is now Argyll (“Coast of the Gaels”) in Scotland (Caladonia) and part of County Antrim in Northern Ireland (Eire). After a period of expansion, Dál Riata eventually became associated with the Gaelic Kingdom of Alba”. Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, states that Latin sources often referred to the inhabitants of Dál Riata as Scots (Scoti), a name originally used by Roman and Greek writers for the Irish Gaels who raided and colonized Roman Britain. Later, it came to refer to Gaels, whether from Ireland or elsewhere.
According to Wikipedia, no written accounts exist for pre-Christian Dál Riata. The earliest-known accounts come from the chroniclers of Iona and records of Irish monasteries. During the time of Saint Patrick, Dál Riata kings thought they were descended from Celtic gods.
The Irish settled on the western coast of Scotland around 350 after frequent raids to the area. To the north were the Picts. To the south, the British kingdoms and further, in Northumbria, the Angles. Relations between the neighbors were not often friendly but in 573, Saint Columba crowned Aedan mac Gabhrain the over king of Dál Riata.
While attempting expansion, the kingdom suffered great defeats in the seventh century by the Angles and the Ui Neills from Ireland.
By the middle of the 8th century, the Picts were the predominant tribe in Dál Riata. Gaelic monks of Dalriada spread Christianity and Gaelic cultural influence across the country.
In the Ninth century, Viking invasions cut off contact between Ireland and the rest of Dál Riata. When Viking raiders killed the Pictish King Eoganan in 839, the country was thrown into turmoil. Kenneth McAlpin, a Scot with familial ties to the Pictish royalty, laid claim to the throne. McAlpin was the first Scot to rule both kingdoms and to rule them as one. Under McAlpin, Gaelic culture became the culture of the ruling class. Pictish ways began to disappear.
Kenneth McAlpin established Dunkeld as the religious center of the kingdom. Dungadr, a member of the royal family was made abbot of Dunkeld. According to Ralph Irwin ( Volume One, Number One of the Holly Leaf Chronicle, first quarter of 1976) Dugadr’s great-grandson, Crinan Eryvin also became abbot of Dunkeld. Crinan “gave his name to the lands which became the patrimony of the Clan and thus became the name by which the clan was known.”
Mr. Irwin, in the same publication goes on to say that “Duncan the brother of Crinan, became the progenitor of the Clan. Crinan Eryvin married a daughter of King Malcolm II and had a son, Duncan I who was murdered by Macbeth in 1040. The Royal family that now occupies the throne of England are descended from Crinan Eryvin and Beatrix, his wife and daughter of King Malcom II.”
So to answer the initial question, we are Irish, Pictish, Spanish and Briton with possibly some Viking thrown in the mix. As our ancestry progressed, we added Anglo, Saxon, Norman and may other minorities into the melting pot that we all became.
1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/scotland/western/article_1.shtml
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A1l_Riata
4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/scotland/western/article_6.shtml