a chairde; The following may be of interest to the members of this group and it may shed some light on our common history. ============================================================ =========================== KIRWAN O Ciardubhain ( a fada should be placed over the O and the 2nd a) variants - Kirovani Kyrvan Kyrwan Kerwin Kirwin Quirovan The Kirwan lineage stretches back to before Christ, to the Milesians who came to Ireland from Spain. In Irish the name is O Ciardubhain (pace a fada over the beginning O and the 2nd a) Ciardhubh translated from the Irish means dark black. At first they settled in Louth, but it was when they came to Galway that they became rich and important. With the Darcy's, they were the only native Irish to be counted among the Fourteen Tribes of Galway. Their connection with the Church also goes back a long way. Their bishops, both Catholic and protestant, were numerous. A Kirwan Bishop of Killala in the seventeenth century rebuked a man who had left his wife, insisting that he was risking damnation. "I could bear the flames of hell better than my wife's company", complained the husband. But when the Bishop urged him to sample it by putting his hand over a candle flame, he returned to his less painful wife. The Kirwan's were prominent in France, in the Church, the army and the royal court, where one of their physicians looked after King Louis XV. Some were absorbed into the nobility, while another family produced the very wellknown Chateau Kirwan wine. The most eminent Kirwan, Richard Kirwan, came from Cregg Castle in Galway. Ordained a Jesuit priest, he left the Church and became a scientist, a philosopher and a wonderful eccentric who was the first president of the Royal Irish Academy. The Kirwan's have been explorers, from the North Pole to the Antipodes, and their abilities have been appreciated not only in the armies of Europe, but also in many other spheres. Their pedigrees are well recorded in the international archives and in Ireland, especially by their own descendants. Their patriotism was epitomized by a Dublin Kirwan who was executed with Robert Emmet in 1803. There are many reminders of the family to be found on the buildings and tombstones around Galway, where their unusual armorial bearings are easily recognizable. Three red legged ravens surrounding a black chevron on the shield, while another black raven forms the crest. Their motto is "Mo Dia, Mo Ri agus Mo Tir" (place a fada over the i in Tir) which translates from the Irish as "My God, My King and My Country". ============================================================ =========================== fan dilis don creideamh (Keep the Faith) Tadhg Kirwan Historian Conradh na Gaeilge