We are very conscious of "the Anglo-Scottish plantation of Ulster and with it the establishment of a large Protestant community in the North-East of Ireland." That's from the editors of the Autumn issue of History Ireland (£3.95 quarterly). This issue is almost entirely on the Scots-Irish connection - the diaspora of both sections, the early Christianisation by Columba and, more touchy, the Scots-Irish Orange connection. At the nearest point, there is only 13 miles between the coast of Antrim and Scotland. A few lads in a small boat could come over of a Saturday for a lark with the girls. The Antrim coast could have been a bit like Temple Bar of today for a little jollification away from home. And it was to what is now Co Antrim, that people first crossed the North Channel; that would have been in skin and lath coracles: not unknown here today. And flint may have been one of the great attractions: for axeheads and other implements. Anyway, the many aspects of the connection were explored by scholars in a conference run by History Ireland in Belfast two years ago, under the heading "The North Channel: Ireland and Scotland Interactive" and we have the fascinating texts in this issue of the journal (some of it may be relatively familiar but two lectures are perhaps on subjects less often discussed). First: The Scotch-Irish and the 18th Century Irish Diaspora, then the Scottish-Irish Orange Connection.
As to the first subject, Estyn Evans long ago noted that there was much more intermarriage, with or without benefit of clergy, than conventional histories allows. Many planters became Catholics and many natives became Protestants. In other words, there was no pure Ulster Scots community. Different generations had their own reasons for emigration to the new world, the biggest wave being shortly before the American Revolutionary War. A recent writer, Billy Kennedy, on "The ScotsI-rish in the hills of Tennessee", claims that "strong Scots-Irish blood flows through the veins of Dolly Parton". On the Orange connection T. G. Fraser notes that the foundation of the first Scottish lodge after Loughgall, Co Armagh, in 1795, came three years later. He wonders how Orangeism will adapt to the new sense of Scottishness in politics and society at large.