The MacDonnells of Antrim were a Scottish clan based in Ireland, a branch of the powerful Clan MacDonald. The MacDonalds were one of the largest and most influential Highland clans, and their power-base in the Hebrides put them right next to northern Ireland, easily reachable with their many war-galleys.

In the thirteenth century, they began sending warriors to Ireland to serve as mercenary soldiers known as “gallowglasses.” Gallowglass mercenaries typically received payment in the form of land, and in some cases became the hereditary rulers of particular districts. Those members of the Clan MacDonald who settled in Antrim eventually developed into a separate clan known as the MacDonells of Antrim.

Despite being based in Ireland for centuries, they were always thought of as being Scottish Highlanders, and continued to be active participants in Scottish politics as well as Irish. During the Civil War of the 1640s, the MacDonnells of Antrim contributed the greater part of the “Highland” Royalist army that campaigned under Montrose and Alasdair MhicCholla Ghasda in its early stages, before clans from the Scottish Highlands began to flock to the cause.

Most of these MacDonnell warriors had been born and raised in Ireland among the Irish, and most of them had probably never even seen Scotland before. Nevertheless, they perceived themselves and were perceived by the Irish as being Scotsmen rather than Irishmen. Their story is an interesting example of the close connection between the Scottish and Irish Gaelic societies before the clan system was destroyed.