PCA plot of Ireland by region (difficult to see)

[Sikeliot]

I may have posted this before but it is worth posting again.

Red = Leinster (east)
Green = Munster (south)
Blue = Connacht (west)
Yellow = Ulster (north)

To me it appears that the furthest genetically from the British -- likely the most native Irish with the least foreign input -- are the Ulster Catholic population and some of the people from Munster in the south. The most British part are Ulster Protestants, Leinster, and then Connacht.

The irony here is that the greatest disparity in Ireland are the Catholics and Protestants living side by side in the north.

http://i.imgur.com/humuSVW.jpg

[Sikeliot]

Here is a representation of Irish DNA in admixture... the first cluster from the left labeled Ulster should really say Leinster though.

http://i.imgur.com/ZCzfFyM.jpg

[Grace O'Malley]

Here is a representation of Irish DNA in admixture... the first cluster from the left labeled Ulster should really say Leinster though.

http://i.imgur.com/ZCzfFyM.jpg

Yes it shows that parts of Munster and parts of Ulster have the most 'western seaboard' and less of the other categories. I wish they would hurry up and publish this study.

[Sikeliot]

Yes it shows that parts of Munster and parts of Ulster have the most 'western seaboard' and less of the other categories. I wish they would hurry up and publish this study.

Did we ever determine why Connacht, supposedly said to be the most "pure Irish" region, is closer to Leinster (the most admixed except for the Protestants in the north) than to the isolated Ulster Catholics cluster and part of Munster? My guess is it has to do with Anglo-Norman ancestry in Connacht.

My guess is that the isolates from the far north and far south are likely Donegal and Kerry.

[Grace O'Malley]

Did we ever determine why Connacht, supposedly said to be the most "pure Irish" region, is closer to Leinster (the most admixed except for the Protestants in the north) than to the isolated Ulster Catholics cluster and part of Munster? My guess is it has to do with Anglo-Norman ancestry in Connacht.

My guess is that the isolates from the far north and far south are likely Donegal and Kerry.

Most probably Connacht was thought to be the most Irish because it was one of the poorest regions and also Cromwell sent a lot of the Irish there e.g. "To hell or to Connacht". I wasn't aware of the Norman presence there until recently. My father always thought Connacht was an Irish holdout. That's where he was from.

Anyway the Irish guy on Anthrogenica is very knowledgeable about Irish history.

[Sikeliot]

I wasn't aware of the Norman presence there until recently. My father always thought Connacht was an Irish holdout.

Looks more like that might have been the Catholics in the north as well as the Cork/Kerry area?

[Grace O'Malley]

Looks more like that might have been the Catholics in the north as well as the Cork/Kerry area?

I don't think Cork. Cork has quite a mixed history with a lot of English settling there. Possibly Kerry though. It should be interesting when they finally publish their results.

Donegal had a lot of Scots but they might have been more of the Highland kind who are very similar to the Gaelic Irish.

[Sikeliot]

I don't think Cork. Cork has quite a mixed history with a lot of English settling there. Possibly Kerry though. It should be interesting when they finally publish their results.

Donegal had a lot of Scots but they might have been more of the Highland kind who are very similar to the Gaelic Irish.

Maybe the two Munster clusters reflect this -- an area with more English settlement and another with almost none?

What happened in the inland regions?

[Grace O'Malley]

Maybe the two Munster clusters reflect this -- an area with more English settlement and another with almost none?

What happened in the inland regions?

Inland regions had some colonisation. Well really all of Ireland was colonised but not sure how much this affected the population. The most colonised after Ulster would have been the Leinster region. Surprisingly the Normans had quite a reach but really the Irish would outnumber them quite a bit unless the Normans did what the Irish Chieftains did and had a lot of wives which is a possibility. Some of the earlier Normans turned completely native.

I really don't think the Irish would be that different from the English, Scots and Welsh so it might be that these variations are ancient.

Here's a map of Norman settlement.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Ireland_1300.png

Here's some of the earlier plantations in Ireland

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DWW7OcJqqzo/Vhu7OoUcQ2I/AAAAAAAAADM/i-rpxFpt0FY/s1600/Munster.gif

Another map

https://www.irishorigenes.com/sites/default/files/field/image/Figure%203%20(Prominent%20Gallowglass%20and%20Scot s%20Clans).jpg

[Sikeliot]

Who were the Normans though? Were they people who had accumulated English and Welsh ancestry or were they, rather, French? Scandinavian?

Interesting how on one map there, Kerry had some English settlers.

[Grace O'Malley]

Who were the Normans though? Were they people who had accumulated English and Welsh ancestry or were they, rather, French? Scandinavian?

Interesting how on one map there, Kerry had some English settlers.

From my knowledge of the Normans that came to Ireland they were mostly Cambro-Normans so had been in Wales approx. 100 years before coming to Ireland. There was also some Welsh and Flemish that came with them. The most famous is of course Strongbow (Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke).

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/utk/ireland/conquest.htm