The Yola people were an ethnic group that formed in the baronies of Forth and Bargy in County Wexford after the Norman invasion of Ireland at Bannow Bay in 1169. They were descendants of the original Norman invaders and hence they were distinct from the rest of Ireland in their customs, manners and appearance. As time progressed, the Yola people became mixed with the diverse medieval ethnic mix which colonized County Wexford, including French, Norman, Danish, Welsh, English, Irish, Flemish and the original Old Norse settlers who colonized the area prior to the invasion.
Customs, dress and manners
The Yola people used a number of unique customs that were thought to have originated in the old Duchy of Normandy. These included mumming, patrons, and the tradition of placing funeral crosses on roadway trees, which still continue to this day. They were known to be extremely law-abiding; incidents of robbery, murder and the like were seldom recorded in the baronies. A woman's customary dress was a lilac kircher or bonnet with ribbons, and a large frock worn as the main garment, with ribbons of various colors tying them across the waist. A man wore a waistcoat, short trousers and long socks with a hat. Norman utensils such as a "peeler" were used for cooking bread. Many unique dishes such as buskés, a type of spiced corn bread, were common in the area. A local custom was to take a daily afternoon nap known as an enteete in the local tongue, similar to the Spanish siesta. It was common at this time of day to cross from one end of the baronies to the other and not to see a single person on the roads.
Language
The Yola language, also known as the Forth and Bargy dialect, was a unique dialect that formed in the baronies. It was mainly spoken in the structure of Old/Middle English but contained many loanwords from Irish, Norman-French and Old Norse. It was similar to the Dorset dialects of West England, but its many loanwords have made it a source of major research by many academics. The language crossed the lines between Old Frisian and Old English and contained many words found only in Old Frisian. This has led some researchers to believe that it may have originated in the Frisia region. There were also Flemish mercenaries who took part in the 1169 invasions who may have contributed to the some of the Flemish content, but Flemish influence on the dialect was very small. According to recently found documents at the national library the language and people originated in heege, Netherlands. The people were displaced after the All Saints' floods of 1170 when large storms and flooding destroyed the farms of the lowlands and they sought refuge across the water from King Henry of England. They stayed for some time in Dover, passed through Kent and the west countries and were eventually granted lands in Pembrokeshire by the King, 100 years after leaving their homeland groups of these settlers eventually found their way to Forth and Bargy and were used as farmers to populate the baronies during the Norman Invasions. There were also a small number of Spanish words found in the dialect such as mucha and capote, these were thought to have come from a small number of Spanish religious refugee families which settled in the baronies in the 15th century. It was spoken as the main language until the late 19th century and the Irish language never took precedence in the baronies.
Farming
The baronies of Forth and Bargy are quite unique in that they do not experience as harsh a climate as the rest of the country, which allows for many crops to thrive in their flat and fertile plains. The main crops grown by the Yola people were beans, peas and barley; potatoes were not relied upon as heavily as in the rest of Ireland. The farmers practised an advanced crop rotation and fertilizing system far ahead of the rest of the country. For that reason, the baronies did not experience the effects of the Great Famine and actually thrived during that period by simply relying on the bean crop.
Decline
The Yola people eventually merged into Irish culture. Many lands were confiscated during the plantations and modern English was introduced at this time. The Yola language eventually succumbed to the same factors that killed off the Irish language in the county, which was the stigmatization of the language and the introduction of English in schools. The language was officially declared extinct in the 1850s. Their lineal descendants still populate the majority of the baronies and many customs and words survive in the locality.
