BBC Ulster, the Kist o' Wurds program

Barry R McCain on the Thacker Mt Trail

(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.

Celtic Life Internation Magazine

A note to one and all; there is a review of my new book Finding the McCains in the October 2015 edition of Celtic Life magazine. This magazine is the premier magazine for those of Celtic ancestry around the world. I encourage you all to pick up the October edition.  Their magazine is a joy to read.  It is an old fashioned magazine, done the right way.  Good articles, plenty of colour illustrations, items of interest for the casual reader and those who are after in-depth information on a variety of topics to all those of Irish, Scottish, Scots-Irish, Welsh, Manx, etc. ancestry and those that just love Celts, this history and lore.

Link to their website:  Celtic Life International Magazine.

Highlanders in West Ulster, 1569-1630

In the sixteenth century Scottish Highlanders settled in the Laggan district of east Donegal. They were called Redshanks. Their story is told in the book The Laggan 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 maneuvers, and the Redshanks themselves.

The Redshank settlement in the Laggan took place in the tumultuous years during the sixteenth century that were dominated by Elizabethan English attempts to bring Ulster firmly under the control of the Crown.  The Redshanks were vital players in the affairs of those times and indeed it was their military skills that delayed the conquest of Ulster until the beginning of the next century.

The Laggan Redshanks remained on their lands in Portlough precinct after the Plantaion began.  Their Campbell connections, Reformed faith, along with their reputation as elite fighting men, which made them not only acceptable to the incoming Stewarts, but a welcomed van guard.  The Redshanks could be considered British subjects in an ecumenical Scottish sense, complete with appropriate loyalties, and a version of the Protestant faith.  In the Portlough area, the incoming Planter Scots came from Ayrshire and Lennox.  Lennox included lands in the Scottish Gaeltacht and parts of Ayrshire were still Gaelic speaking in the early 1600s.  The Scots from these areas were familiar with Gaelic language and customs and were ethnically similar to the Campbell Redshanks.

Many of the descendants of the Laggan Redshanks migrated to the English Colonies during the Ulster Migration and became part of the Scots-Irish people. Of interest to the genealogist, the book includes appendices of the muster rolls and surnames of the Redshanks and notes on their point of origin in Scotland.

Link:  The Laggan Redshanks

Billy the Kid Update

This post in connection to my others on Billy the Kid.  I had posted before on the fact that Billy the Kid was a fluent Gaelic speaker and had even function as an interpreter for a young woman from Ireland in New Mexico who spoke only Gaelic.

This post another new piece of data on Billy the Kid.   A new photo of him has turned up.  A tintype and he is playing croquet in the photo.   Photo located in a shop in Clovis, New Mexico.   

Link to Billy the Kid new photo story:   Billy the Kid Photo