Cavanboy

I was looking at some photos of my family and my Great Great grandad who was Irish was very dark skinned, and it was told that he was a descendant from a Spaniard who was in the Spanish Armada who landed in Ireland when the Spanish ships got wrecked off the coast towards Ireland.

Is that plausible? I dont see how else you could have such a dark skinned man in Ireland?

Davidius

It's not too wild an idea. There are other instances of black men in Ireland.

Cavanboy

Was that guy an immigrant tho? coz this photo was in the 1800's when there wasnt too much immigration of blacks into european countrys then.

zwolf1215

He isn't talking about black men in Ireland, he is talking about white people who have darker skin than your typical Irishman, which could have possible came from people of Southern European decent.

Anyways I have heard this rumor before. I don't know if it has any merit. I also heard a rumor about Romans who settled in England and Wales, who then migrated to Ireland, but I don't know if there is any truth to that either.

Your ancestor could be a full blooded Irishman that was naturally darker. I have never been to Ireland so I can't tell you the average skin tone. When someone tells you someone looks Irish that usually means pale skin, freckles, and red hair, but that is only 10% of the population and is a stereotype. Remember that the Irish share similar genetics with the people of the Iberian peninsula.

General Michael Collins

The Black Irish is a dark(er) skinned strain within the Irish population. They are said to have skin like continentals, hence the Spanish connection. The Spanish Armada myth is a corruption of an earlier myth that it was in fact the Milesians (The Celts or Gaels from Spain) who started the Black Irish strain within the population. I would suggest that the Black Irish trait does exist (I know some of them) but that it must be left to modern genetics to decipher.

Cavanboy

Interesting.. his son was blonde hair blues eyes, than the next son was red haired with blue eyes and my dad is blonde hair and blue eyes and im brown hair brown eyed.

PADDYBOY

Tacitus, the Roman historian described the Welsh as swarthy like the Spanish whilst describing Northern Britons (Scots) as being of Germanic origin.

The British Isles is made up of an assortment of tribes of shapes and shades.
Much like anywhere else in Europe.

Fire_Raven

I can not remember where I read it but came across one theory claiming the Black Irish were related to the peoples that resided in Ireland prior to the arrival of the Celts.

Iolo

If any ever arrived. There are plenty of very dark people in 'Wales' too. Throwbacks to a better climate, probably.

Lawnmowerman

I'd heard the Spainish Armarda myth as well. But I'd also heard that any sailors washed up on the shores from the Armada would've been killed by the local population.