Iona
Iona is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Gaelic monasticism for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination and a place for retreats. Its modern Gaelic name means Iona of Columba.
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CLAN MCSPARRON - Scottish Clan of Kintyre (Sept of the Clan Donald)
The name MacSporran seems to originate from the Kintyre penninsula in western Scotland and is commonplace there even today. The McSparran and McSparron variants can invariably be traced back to County Antrim in the north east of Ireland and they can also still be found there. In fact only a few miles of water separate the Antrim coast from Kintyre. The names McSparren, McSparen, McSparrin and McSparin occur today only in north America but are almost certainly also of Irish descent. The name McSpurren is found in Scotland and in Canada.
The Clan MacSporran Association was formed in 1975 and held a gathering in Scotland every year until it was dissolved in 2002.
Although the MacSporrans are not accepted as a distinct clan by the Lord Lyon, they are recognised as a sept of the Clan Donald. As a sept, there is an officially recognised tartan, based on the MacDonald design but with a distinctive gold stripe
It is said that Donald, first Lord of the Isles, appointed a court of 16 office bearers in the twelfth century. These were either close family members or persons of high position, and each was given a hereditary title, including Beth (physician), Murrich (bard), Lavery (speaker) and Sporran (pursebearer). Thus only one person at any one time held the name until 1497 when the Lordship was annexed by the Stuart King of Scotland. Today the title Lord of the Isles is nominally held by Prince Charles.
A 1910 edition of an early medieval chronicle The Annals of Man comments that Paul Sporain was a Prince of the Isles and a chief at the time of Somerled. A charter of 1168 refers to a reigning chief Paul O'Duine as Pol an Sporain. The legends of Kintyre record this Paul as leaving his daughter Eva as his heir and from her marriage with Gillespie Cambel came the founding of Clan Campbell.
The graves of Paul and Gilbred Sporain are reputed to lie amongst the tombs of ancient kings on the Isle of Iona off the west coast of Scotland. Martin in his book A Description of the Western Islands says of his visit to Iona in 1695, In the West End is the tombs of Gilbrid and Paul Sporan, ancient tribes of the Mack-Donalds.
The book Antiquities of Iona by Robert Graham of 1850 documents the position of the gravestone of Paul An Sporain in the north-east corner of St Orans chapel. In about 1926 a new floor was laid in the chapel and the stones were moved. The stone identified as Paul's can now be located in the left hand corner, third along, standing upright. The slab is 1.8m high and 0.6m wide and depicts a serpent entwined around a column of eleven discs, supposedly silver coins. There is no name or other inscription on the stone.
The earliest recorded person of the modern spelling was Duncan Roy McSpairand, a tacksman of the Twa Duchries in 1541. This farm area is near Carradale on the east coast of Kintyre. A tacksman was an administrator of lands for the landowner.
A coat of arms, though now faded, exists in Dungiven Priory in northern Ireland. It depicts a sheaf of wheat and reaping hook surmounted by a dove with an olive spray. At the left is a lion rampant, at the right an eagle with opening wings. The motto on a partially unrolled scroll is Pro Patria with four Scottish thistles. Legend states that two brothers came from Kintyre to Ireland about 1600 and around 1620 a Gilaspick (Archibald) McSparran is recorded in Coleraine.
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Illean Bithibh Sunndach Gaelic Song St Andrew's Day Perth Perthshire Scotland
Tour Scotland video of the Illean Bithibh Sunndach gaelic song by the Horsecross Gle' singers on St Andrew's Day on ancestry visit to Greyfriars Bar in Perth, Perthshire. Emigration occurred at various times from Scotland to places in North America, Australia and New Zealand. The destination in this song is Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada. This was at one time a popular destination for Gaels, and Cape Breton still has strong ties to Gaelic culture. The author of the song is looking forward to a new life in the new world but there’s also a hint of sadness about leaving the homeland
O 'illean bithibh sunndach
A-null air a bhòidse,
A' fàgail ar dùthcha
'S gun dùil ri tighinn beo innt'.
O ' illean bithibh sunndach
A-null air a bhòidse.
Gur mise tha fo ghruaimean
Bhith dol a shiubhal chuantan,
'S i soitheach dubh a' ghuail
Tha 'gam fhuadach thar m' eòlas.
Tha sinn dol dh' Aimeireaga
Far nach bi curam eil' oirnn'
Cho fad's a mhaireas coille dhuinn
An eilean Nòbha Scòtia.
'Illean cridheil togarrach
A nì an t-òl 's nach obadh e,
'S ann an Tobar Mhoire
Nì sinn coinneamh 's an tigh-òsta.
An gleann a' bharraich uaine
'S an lag am biodh an luachair,
Far 'm bi crodh-laoigh air bhuaile
'S na gruagaichean dol fòdhpa.
Tha sinn dol Cheap Breatainn
Gu taobh na h-abhainn Mhira,
Far am bi na smeòraich
A' seinn ruinn fad an t-samhraidh
Boys be in good spirits
Across on the voyage,
Leaving our country
Without hope of returning alive.
Boys be in good spirits
Across on the voyage.
I am despondent
To be about to travel oceans;
It is the black coal-fired vessel
That is banishing me from familiar territory.
We are going to America,
Where we shall have no more worry
As long as forests remain for us
In the isle of Nova Scotia.
Hearty enthusiastic lads
Who can take a drink and not refuse one,
It's in Tobermory
That we shall meet in the pub.
In the glen of the green branches,
In the hollow of the rushes,
Where dairy cows are in the fold
Being milked by young maidens.
We are going to Cape Breton,
Beside the Mira River
Where the thrushes will sing for us
All summer long.