For the diaspora - our separated brethren in foreign lands

If you are a McGroarty, or if you have Irish connections, you probably know the following - but just in case you don't ............. Anyway, it helps to fill up a page......

Ireland is made up of 32 counties. 26 of these comprise the Republic of Ireland; the remaining 6 are under British jurisdiction and known variously as "Northern Ireland", "the North of Ireland", "the 6 British-occupied counties of Ireland", "Ulster", " the 6 Counties" or "Norn Iron". Which term you use depends on your political viewpoint, your sense of humour or your state of intoxication.

The capital city of the Republic of Ireland is Dublin and the capital of Northern Ireland is Belfast.

In the extreme northwest of the 32 counties is County Donegal. Although it is part of the Irish Republic, it is quite isolated and actually lies closer to Belfast than to Dublin. It is one of the largest counties in Ireland but one of the poorest and least populated, partly because of its remoteness but also because of the bleak nature of the land and the lack of employment opportunities. Donegal is one of a small number of counties where Government-sponsored efforts have been made to retain and foster the traditional Irish language (called "Gaeilge" or "Gaelic") and other aspects of the old culture such as music and dance.

To view maps of the area click here

Further detail about the historical homeland is given in the letter from Fr John MacGroarty - see here

Ballymagroarty, ("the home or land of MacGroarty") in Donegal, was known for its orchards, agriculture, scribes, skilled metalworking artificers, and the creation of patens, used for the design of the great crosses. These skills were necessary in the enshrinement of the relics of saints and were passed down from generation to generation, eventually reaching their pinnacle at Slane and Kells. There is another Ballymagroarty in Derry that was also held by the family. It was known for its advanced learning, agriculture and its busy port having easy access to Iona, Scotland and Europe. The McGroartys also produced Abbots of Kells from the late 800's until 1098, the last being Domhnall McGroarty, who was from the Ballymagroarty monastery in Donegal. Kells at the time was second in status to Rome and is where The Book of Kells originates.

Many of the McGroarty families can be traced back to Inver / Mountcharles near Donegal Town. The following is an edited description from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.

INVER, a parish in the barony of BANNAGH, county of Donegal and province of ULSTER, 6 miles (W.) from Donegal town; containing, with the town of Mountcharles, 11,785 inhabitants. This parish, which is also called Invernayle, is situated on the river and bay of Inver, on the north-west coast ; and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 36,810¾ statute acres, of which 35,943 are applotted under the tithe act, and 205 1/3 are water.

St. Natalis, who died in 563, was abbot of a monastery here, on the site of which was founded, in the 15th century, a monastery for Franciscans of the third order, which after the dissolution was granted by Jas. I. to Viscount Clandeboy.

The bay of Inver lies between Doorin Point and St. John's Point, both of which are included in this parish; and within the bay is Port harbour, on the south of which, at Ballymacdonnell, vessels may anchor in from three to six fathoms of water during north-west or south-east winds.

In the bog of Drumkellin, in this parish, was found, in 1833, at a depth of 16 feet beneath the surface, a wooden house 12 feet square and 9 feet high, with a roof perfectly flat, completely framed and compactly joined; the frame-work consisted of large trunks of trees, the sides of cleft planks of oak about three inches thick, and the joints were cemented with a composition resembling tar and grease. The house rested on thick layers of sand and gravel spread on the bog, which was 15 feet deep beneath its foundation ; and traces of a paved road leading to it, and resting on sleepers of timber, with numerous vestiges of domestic utensils, were found in several places around the building.

Links with Northern Ireland - Co. Donegal is one of 5 counties in the Republic which share a land border with Northern Ireland. All of these counties have strong family connections with the North. My McGroarty connection came from Donegal to Co. Antrim in 1877.

Links with Scotland - Over the centuries many people from Co. Donegal migrated to Scotland, which was also a Gaelic-speaking country (at least in parts), in search of work. The majority of these settled in the West of the country, among them a few McGroartys; the McGroarty name can still be found there.

Links with England - In time, some of the Scottish McGroartys or their descendants moved south to "perfidious Albion" (otherwise England - look it up in Wikipedia), but they don't seem to have had much success in civilizing the natives.