The Spanish Armada and Ireland

[Elin Fowler]

On this subject, what I have learned so far is the following:

In gradate school I read a book called "The Spanish Armada in Ireland"  that
discussed 27 Spanish ships wrecked off the coast of Northern Ireland...some
facts, some legends, but very interesting. I believe the ships were
provisioned and sent off from ports in Galicia...maybe La Coruna?
So......Spanish sailors from Galicia would have been on board, right?  I
"made up" a romantic story  once for my students to "authenticate" my deep
and enduring love for Spain .....I told them my ancestor had been a Spanish
sailor who had been shipwrecked in Ireland and had fallenin love with an
Irish girl. .....years later I read that book  (read of Irish families who,
in mutual hatred and fear of the English, had hidden the sailors)and began
to wonder about it all.
On a brief tour of Ireland I visited an area in Galway called "The Spanish
Wall".....an area near the waterfront, very old stones and moss on the
wall....and in an antique shop there, I saw a beautiful old Spanish fan.
I wrote my uncle (Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania), the family historian, and
asked if there were any connection with Ireland that he knew of, and he said
that Thomas Scott had come from northern Ireland to study law in London, and
from there had emigrated to Virginia to oversee a plantation....sketchy
information.....but fascinating.

So, to bring this back to the Camino, Ana, you may very well be right.  I
know that the times I have visited Santiago de Compostela over the years
(the most recent being a month going to the University in the summer of
1999) I have been deeply moved in various places and at various
times....particularly when we visited the coast, along the Rias.

And my desire to walk the Camino, all the way, grows and grows and grows.

Elin Q. Fowler

> --- Mr Bernard Milford <s560543aSTUDENT.UQ.EDU.AU>
> wrote:
> When the
> > Spanish Amarda was chased away from England by Drake
> > (a little) and bad
> > weather (a lot), many of the boats sailed a big loop
> > across the North
> > Sea and then tried to sail south back to Spain.
> > Mum's story was that
> > many were wrecked on the west caost of Ireland,
> > which caused an influx
> > of Spanish genetic traits into that part of Ireland.
> >  One thig she
> > quoted was that there is something in the teeth that
> > is distinctly
> > Spanish - but which is common in the west of
> Ireland.
>
and Ana Young wrote:

> Oh my! If this is true, some of us Celtic lads and
> lassies could have Spanish heritage and not know it!
> For me, that's a very exciting thought ;-) I hope it's
> true..
>
> Saludos,
> Ana
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices.
> http://auctions.yahoo.com/