Parkgate, County Antrim
| Parkgate | |
| County Antrim | |
|---|---|
 Parkgate | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | J229878 |
| Location: | 54°43’24"N, 6°5’35"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Ballyclare |
| Postcode: | BT39 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Antrim and Newtownabbey |
Parkgate is a small village in County Antrim, standing at the foot of Donegore Hill, near the Six Mile Water. It just north of the M2 motorway, about midway between Ballyclare and Antrim town. It had a population of 676 people at the 2011 Census.
The holestone
Near Parkgate is a holestone in which the hole is about two inches in diameter at its narrowest and at around waist height in the stone. It is associated with marriages, where the bride and groom would hold hands through the hole during the ceremony.
There is an old legend regarding a black horse that inhabits the field in which the holestone is found. According to this legend, a young couple were married at the stone, but the groom committed an act of adultery on their wedding night. For this act he was cursed by the stone to spend eternity as a horse, never dying, and never able to leave that field unless the gate is left open.
Literature
Parkgate was the site of the 'Cats For Peru' hoax in 1870, related in the 1998 book, The Man From Peru.[1] While McKeown's book is cast as a storybook, a primer for students of English as a second language, local historians attest to the truth of the story.[2]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Parkgate, County Antrim) |
References
- ↑ McKeown, Arthur: 'The Man From Peru' (1998)
- ↑ McKinney, Jack: 'Where the Six Mile Water Flows' (Friars Bush Press, 1991)