Researching the Irish/Scottish connection and why my ggrandfather came from Ireland to Glasgow and Dalry, I came across the following in a book called Ayrshire Collections;- <At the same time the migrating Irish, pouring over the shortest sea route from Donaghadee to Portpatrick after the potato famine in the 1840s, gave Ayrshire a ready supply of cheap labour. In 1841 7% of the population was Irish born; in 1851,11%.> This is in a section about the Iron Industry in Ayshire. It began in the 1830's and began to decline in the 1870's but continued until the 1930's. The main places were Blair in Dalry and Glengarnock. There were many others but these were the biggest. Annie Sloan from Oxford