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BALLYCASTLE,
COUNTY ANTRIM by HUGH A. BOYD |
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Ballycastle may be regarded as a fairly typical Irish township
which has grown up around two or three early settlements – Dunamallaght
‘the fort of the curse’, Dunrainey ‘the fort of the Queen’ and
Duineeny ‘the fort of the fairs or games’.
As
for the locality in which Ballycastle is situated it is difficult to form
an exact picture of it at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion in the
second half of the 12th Century. No particular map of
Ireland is known of earlier date than 1489, and only a few are to be found
between that date and 1572.
We can make certain deductions in the matter of the probable origin and
development of many of our Ulster towns. In the first half of the 12th
century when diocesan episcopacy in Ireland began to replace the largely
discredited monastic form we find reforming prelates like Malachy, Bishop
of Conor arranging for the adequate support of the clergy by the
introduction of the payment of tithe and the establishment of the
parochial system. The introduction of the parochial system in this
country was later than in England with the inevitable result that the town
or village, with its parish church, never became the focal unit of the
parochial system as was the case in England. It is true, generally
speaking, to say that when a parish in Ireland does not contain a town of
the same name as the parish in which it is situated, that town must be of
comparatively recent development. The best example in Co. Antrim of
which I have in mind would be the large provincial town of Ballymena,
which is in the parish of Kilconriola, there being no town of Kilconriola.
In
the Middle Ages the district now comprising the town of Ballycastle,
formed part of the Anglo-Norman County of Coulrath (origin Coleraine)
which included what is now North Antrim and that part of Co. Derry East of
the Bann. This Anglo-Norman settlement owed its origin to John de
Courcy in 1177. The Normans farmed the land on the demesne system
and it is interesting to note from the Ecclesiastical Taxation Rolls in
connection with taxes levied to help to defray the cost of the Crusades,
that the wealthy parts of the area included Loughguile, Portrush and
Coleraine, but not Ballycastle. In mediaeval times the English
language must have been but little spoken in this area. The
Anglo-Norman settlers spoke French, while Irish remained the language of
the natives but the Anglo-Norman hold over the area, particularly the
remote corner of it in what is now Ballycastle must have been rather
tenuous. It declined about 1400 with the withdrawal of the lords and
knights with the greater part of their retainers, to follow their feudal
lords in the Hundred Years’ War in France. Families like Savage or
De Mandeville of the Route or North Antrim, finding that they had been
abandoned by the Crown and left to their own resources, adopted Irish
manners and customs and acted as independent clans in every respect the
same as if they were Irish clans. In a word they became more Irish
than the Irish themselves. The eclipse of the Anglo-Norman power in
north east Ulster together with disasters that on certain occasions
overtook the Clandonnel South or MacDonnels in Cantire and the Western
Isles of Scotland caused the tide of immigration to flow very fully
towards the Antrim coast. No less than seven such immigration
periods may be noted between the 15th and 17th
centuries. To these fairly persistent immigrations rather than to
the Anglo-Norman power and influence must be attributed the development of
Ballycastle at least from mediaeval times onwards.
It was moreover, during the episcopate of Malachy as Bishop of Connor and
subsequently of Down that stone and lime began in some instances, to
replace wattle and daub in the erection of Churches in the North of
Ireland. But the fact remains that until the beginning of the 17th
century, when the history of modern Ulster may be said both officially and
practically to begin, the province had few towns. A substantial
proportion of the population no doubt led purely pastoral lives. Has
not Ulster, in the years preceding the Plantation, been described by the
historian Du Pin as “the most constant in maintaining its liberty and in
preserving Catholic Religion”, while at the same time that religion had
disappeared from many other parts of the Kingdom. The continual wars
of which Ulster had been the seat, prevented any settled form of communal
like and must inevitably have been detrimental to the establishment of
towns and villages. Yet by a curious irony of fate, the
province which at the beginning of the 17th century appeared to
be the most secure refuse of the old religion, was upon the eve of
becoming what it has ever since remained – the most permanent seat of
the reformed faith. But this is not all. There is probably no
part of the civilised world in which the science of town planning has
played a more important part in shaping the physical environment of a
people than has been the case in the Province of Ulster at the time of the
Plantation.
Of the characteristics of what is now the town of Ballycastle before the
17th Century little or nothing can be stated with any degree of
certainty. Presumably, the earliest inhabitants were fisher folk who
crossed from the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland, with Torr Head or Fair Head
as their objective and, on being confronted with unscalable cliffs, they
followed the direction of the prevailing east to west current, arriving
eventually at Ballycastle Bay, where reasonably safe landing facilities
and access inland were available. The Margy River afforded them
fresh water and the existence of abundant arable land in the vicinity
established Ballycastle as a natural venue for settlement. The old
name of the little boatslip is Port Brittas or British Port. It is
also worth noting that parish on the extreme north eastern corner of
Antrim (and the nearest part of the mainland of Ireland to Great Britain)
is the parish of Culfeightrin, which means “The Corner of Strangers”.
Dunamallaght and Dunrainey may be regarded as the first example of human
habitation in the district. The third settlement, now represented by
the ruins of Dunineeny Castle, may not be quite as old as the other two.
Dunineeny stands on a promontory some 200 feet above sea level and
overhangs the seashore. The fact that the word Dunineeny means
“the fort of the fair or games” may be of some significance because it
is highly probable that the well known annual Ballycastle Lammas Fair had
its origin there. One of the chiefs of the Clandonnell South, or
Macdonnells of the Isles of Scotland – Sorley Boy Macdonnell – was
traditionally born and died at Dunineeny. The castle was probably
abandoned after his death in 1589. Later, another castle (which has
now entirely disappeared) was built at one side of what is now the square
or diamond of the town and around which the present town has largely grown
up. There is now no evidence available of the habitation of the
people of early times, apart from the sites or settlements I have
mentioned.
The name Ballycastle
originated from the castle erected at one side of what is now the focal
centre of the town. This building was erected by the first Earl of
Antrim, the youngest son of Sorley Boy, at the behest of James 1st,
who gave him a grant of land extending from Larne to Coleraine, on which
he was to erect 4 castles. One of these was the Castle of
Ballycastle. It was unquestionably the nucleus of the present modern
town. The castle was demolished well over one hundred years ago, as
the ruin was in a dangerous state. A house (which is still standing)
was built on the site, the ruin being used as a quarry. In as much
as the town grew up around the castle, it was natural to expect that the
fairs would tend to move from Dunineeny to Ballycastle and, as fairs form
an important element in the Irish economy, we must say a word about them
in so far as they concern Ballycastle. Most of the fairs here, as in
England and elsewhere, are of ancient origin, though it is a curious fact
that as yet little serious research – so far as I am aware – has been
undertaken in regard to them. The fairs unquestionably play a most
important part in the town’s economy. Ballycastle is not entirely
a market town; it is not entirely a seaside resort. It is both and
to that extent differs from Ballymoney on the one hand and Portrush on the
other. Ballymoney is primarily a market town. Portrush is
primarily a seaside resort. Ballycastle combines rather happily –
both aspects or features. There are 17 or 18 fairs in the town
annually and there is also a weekly market, Tuesday being the market day
ever since the first market was established about 1612. The Fairs
are those which fall on the last Tuesdays of May and November, (the hiring
fair); the last Tuesday of July (Gooseberry Fair); the last Tuesday of
October (Apple Fair) and the last Tuesday of August, the famous Lammas
Fair, concerning which the well known song “the Oul’ Lammas Fair”
was composed by the late Mr John H. McAuley. Easter Tuesday is
always a Fair Day in Ballycastle, whether Easter falls in March or April.
The new fairs that is those established comparatively recently – are
always held on the second Tuesday of the month. All the fairs are
now much smaller than they used to be owing to so many government schemes
for the sale of fat stock, pork and the like.
In any study of Ballycastle
five points should be borne in mind:-
1. Anterior to the Ulster Plantation in the early 17th Century the
town – it could even be called such – must have been little more than
a collection of thatched houses or perhaps mud cabins, with earthen
floors. These cabins were almost certainly located at Dunineeny,
Margietown, that is, the present quay or sea front and that part of the
town now known as the Milltown. The fact that there is no parish of
Ballycastle indicates that the town, as such, has no very great antiquity.
It is situated in the parish of Ramoan.
2. Seventeenth century Ballycastle was largely, of not entirely the outcome
of the settlement around the Castle erected about 1625 at the present
Diamond. It is on record that after the rebellion of 1641 the town
was practically deserted. The Hearth Money Rolls of 1669 return
Ballycastle in the Parish of Ramoan and as containing 31 hearths, four of
which were at the castle. In 1699 the tenements of the town occupied
only an extent of three acres. In 1793 Parliament abolished the
oppressive Hearth Tax and thus encouraged the peasant to build a
comfortable cottage in place of his hovel.
3.
Eighteenth century Ballycastle might be described as “industrial
Ballycastle” in as much as it was about the middle of this century that
there was some economic development, including the construction of a pier
and an outer and inner dock. Just before this industrial
development, which unfortunately was not long sustained, the householders
numbered sixty-two. As a consequence of the efforts of a native of
the district (Colonel Hugh Boyd), whose energy and enterprise were greatly
encouraged by liberal grants from the Irish Parliament, the village became
a prosperous centre, having manufactories of salt and soap, a glass house,
brewery and tan yards. In 1734 Boyd obtained a lease in perpetuity from
the 5th Earl of Antrim of the collieries near Ballycastle and
two years later he obtained a deed of the village itself. Aided by
the Irish Parliament to the extent of £23,000 he constructed an inner and
outer dock – the former is now occupied by the tennis courts – to
facilitate the export of coal for the supply of the city of Dublin.
About this time Ballycastle had twenty vessels actively employed in trade,
several thousands of tons of coal being annually exported. Colonel
Boyd died in 1765, aged 75. He was buried in the vaults of
Ballycastle Church, a pleasing building in the Graeco-Italian style, which
he erected at his own expense. Soon after his death the importance
of Ballycastle as a centre of industrial activity declined, almost as
swiftly as it had begun.
4 Nineteenth century Ballycastle witnessed the steady development of the
town principally as a seaside resort, the establishment of a ban in 1863,
the construction of a narrow gauge railway to Ballymoney and the erection
of a second pier from which limestone and sand were exported and coal and
timber imported. This pier ceased to function about the beginning of
the first world war and at present the town lacks suitable port or harbour
facilities, either for the accommodation of fishing boats or small
coasting vessels.
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Twentieth century Ballycastle might be described as a combination of two
types of town – market and seaside resort. In this respect, I
should say that it is rather lucky as the market aspect tends to give it
an “all the year round” trade such as one does not find in seaside
towns entirely dependent on the tourist traffic. I do not suggest
that the winter is not a slack time in Ballycastle, but the fact that the
town has a weekly market is an undoubted commercial and economic
advantage. Limeworks , forestry, saw mills, printing works, motor
garages and the building construction trades provide employment for well
over 100 persons but the local Council is anxious to encourage the setting
up of a light industry to provide further employment. The hotels and
boarding houses are well filled with visitors and tourists during the
summer months.
The market and seaside
resort features of Ballycastle occupy distinct precincts which, for
reference purposes, might be termed the Market Precinct and the Resort
Precinct respectively. As I have already indicated the market
precinct is centred around the square or diamond and contains marketing,
fair, shopping, general business, hospitalisation, dwelling,
entertainment, education and religious workshop facilities. It is in
the nature of a “permanent” social unit. The resort precinct
contains hotel, boarding house, residential, private and public open
space, boating, fishing and bathing facilities and may be classified as a
“semi-permanent” social unit. The market precinct is connected
with the resort precinct by the Quay Road, which contains some good
residential property.
The town is situated on the
northern slopes of the western portion of a valley at the foot of
Knocklayde Mountain, which fans out on reaching Ballycastle Bay.
Knocklayde rises steeply southwards to a height of 1,650 feet and the land
north, west and east of the town rises steeply to 200 feet contours.
The principal traffic arteries are the Coleraine, Bushmills, Ballintoy,
Armoy and Cushendall roads. The Coleraine and Armoy roads are the
most important at all times; the Cushendall and Coast Roads are subjected
to intensive tourist traffic in the summer. The Glenshesk Road is a
minor artery with fairly intensive traffic in the tourist season.
This is not to say that many
Irish towns are utterly devoid of interest. So far as Ballycastle is
concerned, its planning shows evidence of civic mindedness well in advance
of its time and of a high standard as compared with many other Irish towns
of similar size. The adaptability of the street pattern to the
topography was well conceived and the segregation of the market town from
the seaside resort, although probably accidental, is also a good feature.
Generally speaking the
locality has so far been spared the hideous shack dwelling that bids fair
to destroy much of the magnificent scenic properties of the Antrim coast
line. Ballycastle is to-day one of the most select seaside resorts
in Northern Ireland. It contains many fine residential properties;
its annual visitors representative of the learned professions and the
wealthy mercantile class. The district is almost completely
surrounded by vast areas of past which form a belt averaging three miles
in radius from the town centre, to what might be appropriately termed the
Ballycastle sphere of influence, in as much as it contains a number of
small villages and farms which naturally gravitate to the town marketing
centre. It is also the mainland port for Rathlin Island.
Ballycastle
is singularly fortunate to possess an almost endless variety of scenery
and good recreational facilities. It is an excellent centre for some
very pleasant excursions. The visitor may wander “o’er moor and
fen o’er crag and torrent” and, given favourable weather, may enjoy a
holiday in the most delightful of surroundings. Among the gifts of
character transmuted from the early settlers to their descendants at the
present day are the power to endure hardness, a gift for devising
economics, independence, proper pride, sympathy, mutual helpfulness,
discipline and piety, than which is in any country there are few qualities
that contribute more to success and happiness.
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