Carrickfergus (barony)

{{about|the administrative unit|the peerage|Baron Carrickfergus}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

{{EngvarB|date=March 2020}}

{{coord|54.737|-5.849|display=title}}

{{Infobox settlement

| name = Carrickfergus

| native_name = Carraig Fhearghais (Irish)

| settlement_type =

| image_skyline =

| imagesize =

| image_alt =

| image_caption =

| image_map = Carrickfergus barony.png

| map_alt =

| map_caption = Location of the barony of Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

| subdivision_type = Sovereign state

| subdivision_name = United Kingdom

| subdivision_type1 = Country

| subdivision_name1 = Northern Ireland

| subdivision_type2 = County

| subdivision_name2 = Antrim

| area_magnitude =

| area_footnotes =

| area_total_km2 =

| area_total_sq_mi =

| area_land_km2 =

| area_land_sq_mi =

| area_water_km2 =

| area_water_sq_mi =

| area_water_percent =

| area_note =

| elevation_footnotes =

| elevation_m =

| elevation_ft =

}}

Carrickfergus is a barony in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is bounded on the south-east by Belfast Lough, and otherwise surrounded by the barony of Belfast Lower. It is coextensive with the civil parish of Carrickfergus or St NicholasCommissioners 1835, §5{{cite web|url=http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/C/Carrickfergus-Parish-In-The-1830s.php|title=Carrickfergus Parish in the 1830s|last=Lewis|first=Samuel|year=1837|work=A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland|access-date=8 February 2012}}{{cite book|title=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|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9rblf03SdkYC&pg=PA324|volume=III|year=1846|publisher=A. Fullarton and co.|pages=324–5|chapter=Carrickfergus}} and corresponds to the former county of the town of Carrickfergus, a county corporate encompassing Carrickfergus town.{{cite book|title=Municipal Boundaries Commission (Ireland): part III: report; minutes of evidence|url=http://pdf.library.soton.ac.uk/EPPI/60-3.pdf#page=94|series=Command papers|volume=Cmd.3089|year=1881|pages=254–5|chapter=Carrickfergus}}

History

Carrickfergus Castle was the stronghold of the Earl of Ulster in the Anglo-Norman period, and Carrickfergus or Knockfergus was one of the medieval counties into which the Earldom was divided. After the Tudor reconquest of Ireland, the east coast of Ulster was rationalised into counties 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. The Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 formally abolished the borough, and replaced its corporation with town commissioners. The grand jury of the county of the town of Carrickfergus was unchanged by the 1840 act. Till 1850, Carrickfergus was also county town of Antrim; the Town Gaol and Town Courthouse were for the county of the town, while the County Gaol and County Courthouse were separate buildings within the town regarded as exclaves of county Antrim, but from 1800 both counties used the same facilities.Commissioners 1835, §97{{cite web|url=http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/C/Carrickfergus-Corporation-In-The-1830s.php|title=Carrickfergus Corporation in the 1830s|last=Lewis|first=Samuel|year=1837|work=A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland|access-date=8 February 2012}} The parliamentary borough of Carrickfergus was coterminous with the county of the town from the Act 2 & 3 William IV c.89{{cite book |title=The law journal for the year 1832–1949 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3cDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA239 |chapter=An Act to settle and describe the Limits of Cities Towns and Boroughs in Ireland in so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament |series=Abridgment of statutes |volume=X |year=1832 |publisher=E. B. Ince }}{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Samuel |title=A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland|url=http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/appendix.php|volume=II|year=1837|chapter=Appendix}}{{cite book|title=Municipal Corporations Boundaries (Ireland) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VHFbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA30|series=Reports from Commissioners|volume=XXIX|date=10 May 1837|pages=30–32|chapter=Carrickfergus}} till it was abolished under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

In 1899, under the terms of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, the Local Government Board for Ireland combined the judicial county of the town of Carrickfergus and most of the judicial county of Antrim into the administrative county of Antrim. Thereafter the area was sometimes but not always considered as a barony. In the topographical index of the 1926 census, Carrickfergus is not in the list of baronies,[http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/PageBrowser?path=Browse/Census%20(by%20date)/1926/Northern%20Ireland&active=yes&mno=241&tocstate=expandnew&tocseq=400&display=sections&display=tables&display=pagetitles&pageseq=first-nonblank "List of Baronies"]: Topographical Index, p.vii and the "barony" value listed for the corresponding townlands is blank.e.g. [http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/PageBrowser?path=Browse/Census%20(by%20date)/1926/Northern%20Ireland&active=yes&mno=241&tocstate=expandnew&display=sections&display=tables&display=pagetitles&pageseq=59 "Carrickfergus"]: Topographical Index, p.51 However, notices in The Belfast Gazette from the same era refer to the "barony of Carrickfergus",e.g.

[http://www.belfast-gazette.co.uk/issues/360/pages/460 No.360 p.460] (18 May 1928); No.483 [http://www.belfast-gazette.co.uk/issues/483/pages/1118 p.1118] and [http://www.belfast-gazette.co.uk/issues/483/pages/1125 p.1125] (26 Sep 1930); [http://www.belfast-gazette.co.uk/issues/543/pages/1201 No.543 p.1201] (20 Nov 1931)

and it is listed on the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland website.

The area subject to the town commissioners of Carrickfergus became an urban district; the rest of the county of the town became the Carrickfergus Rural district electoral division (DED) of Larne rural district. Eden DED was split out of Carrickfergus Rural DED from 1908.{{cite book|author=Local Government Board for Ireland|title=35th annual report|url=http://eppi.dippam.ac.uk/documents/21033|series=Command papers|volume=Cmd.3682|year=1907|chapter=No. 2,181 and No. 11,864.}}{{cite web|url=http://www.logainm.ie/eolas/Data/Brainse/ne-sheet.jpg|title=North-east sheet|year=1961 |orig-year=1935 |work=Boundaries of Administrative Counties, Co. Boroughs, Urban & Dispensary Districts & District Electoral Divisions|publisher=Ordnance Survey Ireland|access-date=8 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205185130/http://logainm.ie/eolas/Data/Brainse/ne-sheet.jpg|archive-date=5 February 2011|url-status=dead}} Since the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 the whole barony forms part of the jurisdiction of Carrickfergus Borough Council.

Settlements

Below is a list of settlements in Carrickfergus:{{cite web|url=http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/C/Carrickfergus-County-In-The-1830s.php|title=Carrickfergus County in the 1830s|last=Lewis|first=Samuel|year=1837|work=A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland|access-date=8 February 2012}}

=Towns=

=Villages=

=Population centres=

  • Eden
  • MileBush
  • Woodburn

=Civil parishes=

Carrickfergus or St Nicholas is the only civil parish in the barony and has 5 townlands.{{cite web|title=Carrickfergus|url=http://www.thecore.com/seanruad/|website=IreAtlas Townlands Database|access-date=20 April 2015}}

=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 6732 acres, the largest townland in Northern Ireland).{{cite book|title=Census of Ireland 1891: Area, Population and Number of Houses; Occupations, Religion and Education volume III, Province of Ulster|url=http://eppi.dippam.ac.uk/documents/18814/eppi_pages/504645|series=Command Papers|volume=C.6626-IX|year=1892|publisher=Thom's|pages=54, Table VII|chapter=Antrim}} 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.Commissioners 1835, §§4,5{{cite web|url=http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/C/Carrickfergus-Government-In-The-1830s.php|title=Carrickfergus Government in the 1830s|last=Lewis|first=Samuel|year=1837|work=A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland|access-date=8 February 2012}} The parish boundaries were also uncertain; 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.

{{cite web|url=http://applications.proni.gov.uk/geogindx/parishes/par064.htm|title=Parish of Carrickfergus or St. Nicholas'|work=Parishes in Northern Ireland|publisher=Public Record Office of Northern Ireland|access-date=8 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829102825/http://applications.proni.gov.uk/geogindx/parishes/par064.htm|archive-date=29 August 2011|url-status=dead}}

Railway

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

References

  • {{cite book|title=Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Appendix, part II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lksSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA741|access-date=8 February 2012|series=Reports from Commissioners |volume=8|year=1835|publisher=HMSO|pages=741–787|chapter=County of the Town of Carrickfergus}}
  • {{cite book |title=Topographical Index |series=Census of Northern Ireland, 1926 |year=1929 |publisher=HMSO |location=Belfast}}

{{reflist|

refs=

[http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/local_history/geographical_index/baronies_.htm PRONI Baronies of Northern Ireland]

{{cite web |url=http://applications.proni.gov.uk/geogindx/maps/barantr.gif |title=Baronies and parishes of County Antrim |access-date=5 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727084328/http://applications.proni.gov.uk/geogindx/maps/barantr.gif |archive-date=27 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}

{{cite web |url=http://applications.proni.gov.uk/geogindx/antr.htm |title=PRONI Civil Parishes of County Antrim |access-date=26 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727083828/http://applications.proni.gov.uk/geogindx/antr.htm |archive-date=27 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}

{{cite web |url=http://www.logainm.ie/61249.aspx |title=Carrickfergus |work=Placenames Database of Ireland |publisher=Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs |access-date=5 February 2011}}

}}

{{County Antrim}}

Barony

Category:Former counties of Ireland

Category:Clandeboye