Irish immigration to North Wales in the 1700s ?

[Gordon Hughes]

Having taken a DNA test with 23andMe I'm triangulating my results with apparent relatives, many of whom are in the USA who have Irish ancestry but no Welsh ancestry. The results of the triangulations are beginning to suggest a connection between Ireland and ancestors who lived in the Llanddwywe/Llaneneddwyn/Llanaber region of Merionethshire in the late 1700s with the surname Williams.

I can't prove any of this as yet, but I'd be interested in any comments or thoughts about Irish immigration to Wales in the late 1700s.

Many thanks, Gordon

[Maggsie]

Hi,
As Ireland was British at that time, no records for travel to wales, Scotland or England.
If you are a member of paid sites search for Williams Born Ireland lived in Wales 1700 to 1800.
There are 34 listed in familyseach.org
You should be able to pick something up in the 1841 Census as well.
In familysearch there is only one in Merionethshire in 1851 an Elizabeth, her husband was born in Wales.
Name Elizabeth Williams
Event Type Census
Event Date 1851
Event Place , Merionethshire, Wales
Registration District Bala
Gender Female
Age 56
Marital Status Married
Occupation Pensioner And Farmer'S Wife
Relationship to Head of Household Wife
Birth Year (Estimated) 1795
Birthplace Ireland

Maggsie

[Maiden Stone]

Going much farther back, wasn't Strongbow the Earl of Pembroke?   
Short sea crossings.
English armies which went to Ireland would have included Welshmen. Some would have married Irish women.

[Maggsie]

Yes, that's correct.
But he was Norman, fought the Welsh.
Maggsie

[Gadget]

There was increased travel between Ireland and Holyhead after the Act of Union, 1800. Around this time, improvements were started on the A5 London to Holyhead road. Also, and I'm not sure how significant this is, but in my part of Wales (Denbighshire-Shropshire borders)  many Irish labourers were employed in the construction of the Ellesmere canal and others in the network in the 1790s.

Gadget

Added - greatest concentration of the surname Williams was/is in Caernarfonshire.

[Mike Morrell (NL)]

Although large-scale Irish migration to Wales (and the US) took place from the mid-1830's onwards prompted by the 'great potato famine', Irish had migrated to Scotland, England and Wales for hundreds of years on a smaller scale. Either for seasonal agricultural work or for permanent settlement.

Many 18th century Irish migrants drifted towards large cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and London. But North Wales (Merionethshire)  had industry too, notably the Slate industry which grew significantly between 1760 and 1830. One of the destinations for Welsh slate was Ireland. There was also a North Welsh coal industry.
Sources: Wikipedia (Welsh Slate industry, Irish migration)
https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-immigration-to-Britain.html

[Gadget]

A quote from your link, Mike, which corroborates what I posted:

The elite of the labourers working in Britain were the Irish 'navvies'.

The first navvies were the men who had built the 3400 miles of canal that make up the British inland navigation system between 1745 and 1830. The term, which is still readily recognised today, later came to be used for any labourer working on large-scale civil engineering project.

One of my lines came over to Wales during this time and my 3 x grtg  became a coal miner in the Denbighshire coalfield.

Gadget

[Maiden Stone]

Yes, that's correct.
But he was Norman, fought the Welsh.
Maggsie

And the Irish. And probably anyone else who got in his way.

[Maiden Stone]

Mike, reply #5. The great potato famine began 1845, not 1830s. There were many previous crop failures leading to food shortages and "great distress" including 1830s. A reason for extending the English poor law system to Ireland in 1838 was because of fears of vast waves of poor Irish going to Britain.

There were 3000+ people with surname Williams on 1901 Irish census. 300+ were in County Cork.

This is from "The Guardian : Notes & Queries: Nooks & Crannies", a response in a thread about Welsh accent: "Many non-Cork Irish people find it difficult to differentiate between the Cork City accent and a Welsh accent. This is probably not linked to language as previous answers have suggested but rather to the degree of trade between Cork and Welsh ports down through the centuries."
https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-22283.html

First time I visited Cork City I thought it had been taken over by Welsh people.