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The Azure
(blue) of the shield is
the ancient colour
representing Ireland.
The imagery evokes the
sounds and sights of the
island of Ireland as
encountered by our early
ancestors on their
arrival, the seagulls as
they approached land and
the sounds of the wolves
and the herds of wild
boar.
The
wolf (Irish: ‘Mac
tire’ literally ‘son
of the land’) was
the top predator,
preying on the boar
(Irish: Torc), deer and,
even livestock in an
Ireland that was
referred to as “Wolf
Land” in the
seventeenth century.
However, both wonderful
creatures were hunted
out of existence, noting
the fragility of nature
and our natural
heritage. Given the
importance of the
totemic or emblematic
symbolism, mythology and
folklore associated with
the wolf and the boar
for the armiger’s Gaelic
ancestors, the
disappearance of these
native species at the
hands of later invaders
unfortunately coincided
with the destruction of
the ancient Gaelic
civilisation in Ireland.
The wolf also alludes to
the ancient genealogies
of the tribes of
Leinster like the
clans/septs descending
from the Uí Fhaoláin
(‘faol’ = ‘wolf’) such
as the O’Byrnes of
Wicklow and associated
families, including the
Merrigans – Uí
Mhuireagáin.
It could also be
interpreted as a pun on
the sounding of the
surname ‘Merrigan’
and its similarity to
the ‘Morrigan’
(Irish Goddess of War)
and the reference in ‘Táin
Bó Chuailgne’ to
the ‘Morrigan’
changing into a “grey
she-wolf” (Wolf Argent
above) although, here
the wolf is male.
The
military pike represents
the Irish people’s
struggle for freedom,
defence of their
heritage and language
and, in particular, it
evokes the Great
Rebellion of 1798.
The
European Herring Gull (Larus
Argentatus)
represents the sea
bordering the homeland
of the armiger’s
ancestors – the province
of Leinster,
specifically counties
Wicklow and Dublin. The
seagull is associated
with the Celtic sea god,
Manannán Mac Lír,
and its inclusion here
represents the armiger’s
genetic ancestry in the
Irish Sea Haplogroup,
R1b-Z16434. Also,
the sound of the
seagulls in the
armiger’s hometown of
Dún Laoghaire greets its
residents every morning
and is ever present
during the day.
The imagery evokes the
natural and cultural
heritage of the
armiger’s ancestors in
Ireland and the Motto
alludes to his interest
in genealogical research
(co-founder of the
Genealogical Society of
Ireland) and genetic
genealogy (co-founder of
the Irish DNA Atlas).
The text of the ‘Letters
Patent’ is in both
the Irish and English
languages and records
the armiger’s genealogy
to his great
great-grandparents and
that, the grant extends
to the other descendants
of his father, observing
the appropriate heraldic
differencing as
determined by the ‘Laws
of Arms’ in
Ireland. The
document also mentions
the armiger’s long-time
partner, the late Andrew
Gerard Ball, originally
of Brisbane, Queensland,
Australia, who died May
16th 2021.
The armiger is the
General Secretary of the
Genealogical Society of
Ireland (including its
Specialist Branches – Heraldry
Ireland and
Vexillology Ireland)
and a member of the
Heraldry Society (UK),
the Association for the
Study of Ethnicity and
Nationalism (LSE, UK),
the Guild of One-Name
Studies (UK), and the
Society for the Study of
Nineteenth Century
Ireland.
The motto, ‘Fréamhacha
agus Craobhacha
Aontaithe’ is
Irish for Roots and
Branches United.
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