The Yola People

It was in the South east of Ireland, at Baginbun, on the 1st May 1169, that a small company of mercenaries led by a group of Anglo-Norman knights landed. They sailed from Wales at the invitation of Dermot McMurrough, the Irish King of Leinster*. These were soldiers not of the King of England but of the Earl of Pembroke, known as Stongbow, and were only in pursuit of wealth and land.

Strongbow married Dermot's daughter and intermarriage between the invaders and the indigenous Irish became common, as did the exchange and interchange of languages, laws and customs, until they became "more Irish than the Irish". Hence the Yola People with their own unique language and customs. Numerous attempts were made by successive kings of England to prohibit this, and in Kilkenny in 1366, the Irish parliament legislated against the invaders wearing the Irish dress, hairstyle, language and laws - but their efforts proved unsuccessful.

The Yola People have roots of French, Flemish, Danish, English and Welsh origin, mixed with indigenous Irish and have names such as:

* Leinster (in the East) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, the rest being Ulster (North), Munster (South) and Connaught (West). Co. Wexford is part of Leinster.