Carrickfergus (barony)

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Carrickfergus

Carrickfergus is a barony in County Antrim.[1][2] It is bounded on the south-east by Belfast Lough, and otherwise surrounded by the barony of Belfast Lower.[1][2] It is coextensive with the parish of Carrickfergus or St Nicholas[3][4][5][6] and corresponds to the historic county of the town of Carrickfergus, a county corporate encompassing Carrickfergus town.[7]

History

Carrickfergus Castle was the stronghold of the Earl of Ulster in the Anglo-Norman period, and Carrickfergus or Knockfergus was one of the mediæval counties into which the Earldom was divided. After the Tudor reconquest of Ireland, the east coast of Ulster was rationalised into the counties of Antrim and Down, but Carrickfergus retained its ancient status as a separate corporate county. Whereas most such counties comprised an urban municipal borough and surrounding rural liberties, the royal charter of James I made the borough of Carrickfergus coterminous with the county of the town.

Settlements

Below is a list of settlements in Carrickfergus:[8][9]

Towns

Villages

Population centres

  • Eden
  • Mile Bush
  • Woodburn

Parishes

Carrickfergus or St Nicholas is the only parish in the barony and has five townlands.[10]

Townlands

The county of the town of Carrickfergus in 1891 comprised five townlands: Carrickfergus (comprising the historic town, and most of the later urban district); Commons, Middle Division, and North East Division (in DED of Eden), and West Division (DED of Carrickfergus Rural; at 6,732 acres, the largest townland in Northern Ireland).[11] There was uncertainty as to whether the townlands of Ballymena Little and Straidland formed part of Carrickfergus; an 1810 court case decided they belonged to the Corporation but were not part of the county of the town.[12][13] The parish boundaries were also uncertain;[12] the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland website lists four townlands in the parish of "Carrickfergus or St Nicholas'", namely Carrickfergus, Commons, Green Island, and West Division. [14]

Railway

On the Belfast–Larne railway line, stations in Carrickfergus barony are Greenisland, Trooperslane, Clipperstown,Carrickfergus, and Downshire.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 PRONI Baronies of Northern Ireland
  2. 2.0 2.1 Baronies and parishes of County Antrim
  3. Commissioners 1835, §5
  4. Lewis, Samuel (1837). "Carrickfergus Parish in the 1830s". A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/C/Carrickfergus-Parish-In-The-1830s.php. Retrieved 8 February 2012. 
  5. PRONI Civil Parishes of County Antrim
  6. "Carrickfergus". The Parliamentary gazetteer of Ireland: adapted to the new poor-law, franchise, municipal and ecclesiastical arrangements, and compiled with a special reference to the lines of railroad and canal communication, as existing in 1814-45. III. A. Fullarton and co.. 1846. pp. 324–5. http://books.google.com/books?id=9rblf03SdkYC&pg=PA324. 
  7. "Carrickfergus". Municipal Boundaries Commission (Ireland): part III: report; minutes of evidence. Command papers. Cmd.3089. 1881. pp. 254–5. http://pdf.library.soton.ac.uk/EPPI/60-3.pdf#page=94. 
  8. "Carrickfergus". Placenames Database of Ireland. Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. http://www.logainm.ie/61249.aspx. Retrieved 5 February 2011. 
  9. Lewis, Samuel (1837). "Carrickfergus County in the 1830s". A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/C/Carrickfergus-County-In-The-1830s.php. Retrieved 8 February 2012. 
  10. "Carrickfergus". http://www.thecore.com/seanruad/. Retrieved 20 April 2015. 
  11. "Antrim". Census of Ireland 1891: Area, Population and Number of Houses; Occupations, Religion and Education volume III, Province of Ulster. Command Papers. C.6626-IX. Thom's. 1892. pp. 54, Table VII. http://eppi.dippam.ac.uk/documents/18814/eppi_pages/504645. 
  12. 12.0 12.1 Commissioners 1835, §§4,5
  13. Lewis, Samuel (1837). "Carrickfergus Government in the 1830s". A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/C/Carrickfergus-Government-In-The-1830s.php. Retrieved 8 February 2012. 
  14. "Parish of Carrickfergus or St Nicholas'". Parishes in Northern Ireland. Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. http://applications.proni.gov.uk/geogindx/parishes/par064.htm. Retrieved 8 February 2012.