Ulster Scots

I am the ethno-cultural group known as the Ulster Scots.

I am descended from Scottish settlers who settled Ireland, mainly in the Irish province of Ulster. The first wave came in the 1400s. They were known as Gallóglaigh, or gallowglasses, meaning foreign born soldiers. They were were Gaelic-Norse mercenary warriors from the Western Isles of Scotland and the Highlands, who were hired by Irish warlords and nobles, the first being when Prince Aed O'Connor of Connaught in 1259.

The second, and bigger wave was that of the Plantation of Ulster in the early 17th century, when thousands of Scottish planters, mainly Lowland Protestants, settled the north of Ireland at the wish of King James of Scotland and England. They were joined by some English settlers. They mainly settled Cavan, Armagh, Down, Donegal, Tyrone, Fermangh and Derry, building farms and settling towns.

We came from the Galloway, Ayrshire and Borderlands districts of Scotland, though others came from the Southern Uplands and the Highlands as well.

In Ulster, we lost some of our Scottish traditions, picked up some Irish ones and, to a certain extent, intermarried with our Irish and English neighbors, mainly the former. In Ulster for the next four hundred years, we would suffer wars, violence, and upheaval. Yet we would continue to build and strenthen Ulster, Ireland, Great Britain and the world.

This is our story.