Coleraine Its COLERAINE 1613 Town Charter on 28 June 1613
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James I issued Coleraine its COLERAINE 1613 town charter on 28 June 1613. This gave the town the right to hold COLERAINE 400 markets and send representatives to Parliament. For centuries Coleraine has held a crucial place in Irish history. In the Four hundred years later in 2013, EXPLORING THE HISTORIC TOWN CENTRE early 17th century Coleraine was key the Coleraine 400 Heritage Trail to the Plantation and a fortified town supports exploration of the historic was built on this ancient site on the town centre, this significant period River Bann. Coleraine was connected, in Ireland’s past and the rich history through its port, with Britain, Europe of English, Scottish, Welsh and and America. Irish people here. 1 The Diamond 9 2 Abbey Street 10 3 Bridge Street 8 4 Customs House NORTH RAMPART 5 River Bann CHURCH ST 6 Fortified Coleraine PARK ST 17 7 The North Rampart 16 NEW ROW 11 8 St Patrick’s Church 7 BELLHOUSE LANE 15 9 Kingsgate 18 STONE ROW THE MALL 10 ‘The Ramparts’ 14 12 11 Outside the walls 12 Blindgate THE DIAMOND 6 QUEEN ST 1 13 Ferry Quay 2 ABBEY ST STABLE LANE 14 Stone Row 3 13 15 Jail Street 16 New Row Presbyterian Church 17 New Row BRIDGE ST 4 18 Bellhouse Lane FERRYQUAY PL 5 RIVER BANN Coleraine Borough Council gratefully acknowledges the generosity of: This Project is supported by the Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) Ulster-Scots Academy 17th-CENTURY PLANTATION Coleraine was believed by 1637 to have been the ‘port of the DID YOU KNOW? greatest consequence in the kingdom for coast business. The River Bann was the Report of the Surveyor General of Customs in Ireland 1637. gateway to the world. In 1613, British and European imports into Coleraine included tools, tobacco, coal, French wine, 03 seeds, silks, lace, spices, dried fruit, white sugar and more. Exports to as far away as Spain included salmon, timber, animal hides, cattle and grain. 01 Plantation brought settlers in to open up new markets and control trade. Here in Ulster, ‘Plantation’ meant English, Scottish and Welsh settlers, new laws, landowners and towns. In the early 17th century, under a unique scheme, 55 London merchant companies, known as guilds or livery companies, were obliged to invest in County Coleraine, renaming it County Londonderry. In 1613 King James I granted a Royal Charter to The Honourable The Irish Society, the governing body of the Londonderry Plantation. The Church and some Irish were also granted land. 04 Ownership in the early 17th century of the valuable River Bann salmon fishing rights was 01 Coleraine town and its fortifications were 02 Queen Anne mace of 1702 presented to the often disputed. Local clans, English and Scottish built over the existing medieval settlement. Coleraine Town Commissioners by The Honourable ‘entrepreneurs’ and the Church all made claims. Formal street patterns introduced then still The Irish Society as compensation for lands. The grant of the fishing rights in 1613 to remain to be explored today. The houses were The Honourable The Irish Society did not built of timber frames from logs floated down 03 The 1613-1913 stained-glass window presented the River Bann. The earthen ramparts to Coleraine by The Honourable The Irish Society. end the arguments. that surrounded the town quickly fell into disrepair however, the town and those who 04 The legacy of civic administration and connections Coleraine was key to the Plantation and a fortified took shelter there survived the 1642 seige. with the City of London introduced in the Plantation Outside the walls were mills, animal period continues today through the use of this town was built on this ancient site. In 1613 pounds and lime kilns. spectacular 1928 version of the mayor’s chain King James l granted Coleraine its town charter. 02 Illustration by Philip Armstrong. with its historic crests and symbols. 5 RIVER BANN 9 KINgsgatE 14 STONE ROW COLERAINE 400 It was only in 1835 that plans were The street is named after one of only two Named after the row of stone houses ‘INSIDE AND OUT’ drawn up for Hanover Gardens. Before this gates in the ramparts which controlled that stood here in the 17th century. the river edge ran along the Abbey lands. access in and out of the fortified town. Local tradition holds that the stones A citadel was built on Abbey lands between Here the road led to Dunluce, Bushmills used to build the houses were taken 1625 and 1630 but was demolished and Ballycastle. It is likely that the burial from the Cutts further up the River Bann. 1 THE DIAMOND around 1670. pits for 2000 victims of the plague in 1642 are not far from the gate. In the 17th century this was a busy hub Across the river, land was held by the as the town market. The Market House Church and the Clothworkers’ livery 15 JAIL STREET was built in 1743 by The Honourable The company. There has been a Church Irish Society, and replaced by Coleraine The town jail was located in this street. in Killowen since the 11th century. 10 ‘The RampaRTS’ Town Hall in 1859. During the rule of King James l, it came You had to be a freeman to practise under the Church of Ireland. Walking along Society Street allows your trade inside the town walls. you to follow the line of the ramparts as People found within the walls of the they were in the 17th century. Some local town who were not freemen could be 2 ABBEY STREET Illustration of Hanover Place, Book of Coleraine, 1816. people will still refer to this street as placed in the town jail. Coleraine Museum Collection Named after the Dominican Abbey built ‘the Ramparts’. in 1244, activity in this area dates back thousands of years with Mesolithic material 16 NEW ROW PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH being discovered by archaeologists. 11 OUTSIDE THE WALLS Scottish settlers introduced the Presbyterian The Presbyterian faith was brought to faith to Coleraine. The 1st Presbyterian Coleraine by Scottish settlers. It was being A lime kiln was thought to be found at Church was located near the present practised in the 1640s and a building Fair Hill, outside the walls. As well as Church on Abbey Street. The New Row near the current 1st Presbyterian Church the kiln and mill being outside the walls, Presbyterian Church building dates from on Abbey Street was used to worship in there was an animal pound for cattle in 1832 but it has been fundamental to the from the 1660s. the Long Commons area of Coleraine. witness and worship of the Presbyterian faith since the 1720s. 3 BRIDGE STREET 6 FORTIFIED COLERAINE 12 BLINdgatE The barracks of the garrison were located 17 NEW ROW The MacDonnells owned a substantial One of only two gates in the ramparts in Bridge Street in the 17th century. part of County Antrim. Two thousand which controlled access in and out The first row of English-style houses Wooden bridges across the Bann had acres of land, to be known as the of fortified Coleraine. The road led to was built on this street. The frames of existed in previous times but had been Liberties of Coleraine, were negotiated Ballymoney and beyond. An excavation the houses, constructed from local timber, destroyed. William Jackson erected a from Sir Randal MacDonnell for the at the Baptist Church revealed medieval were made on the ground before being bridge across in 1673. The current bridge Londonderry Plantation. He built a artefacts and gardens that extended hauled up into place. was built in 1844. town at Dunluce similar in size to, and beyond the fortified town boundary. designed to compete with, Coleraine. Illustration of New Row, from the Book of Coleraine, 1816. Coleraine Museum Collection Illustration of Bridge Street, Book of Coleraine, 1816. Coleraine Museum Collection 7 THE NORTH RampaRT 13 FERRY QuaY Using the natural landscape here for the There was no bridge across the fortified town, the Liberties of Coleraine River Bann for most of the 17th century; with their rich agricultural lands stretched instead ferries were used to transport out to the north and west. The mill with people across. This provided income its dam was located outside the ramparts. and a further way of controlling who was coming into the town. 4 8 Illustration of St Patrick’s Church, from the Book CustOMS HOUSE ST PatRICk’S CHURCH of Coleraine, 1816. Coleraine Museum Collection 18 BELLHOUSE LANE Coleraine’s importance as a port in the Legend tells that St Patrick founded the The curfew bell would have hung in 17th century brought trade with Britain church in Coleraine in the 5th century. the Corporation Hall and Courthouse and Europe. A customs house was opened Archaeologists uncovered the foundations on the corner. This bell was rung as to control and tax what was coming in of a medieval church, which can be seen a signal to anyone who should not be and going out. The Customs House was inside the church today. Memorials and inside the town walls to leave and as initially located in the middle of the town tombstones reveal the stories of the people a call to arms at turbulent times. but had been built here by the 1660s. who lived in and around Coleraine in the 17th century. A surviving 1611 timber which was part of a shop front removed from Moores, Church Street, N 9 Coleraine in 1985. Image courtesy of NIEA 10 8 NORTH RAMPART CHURCH ST CHURCH PARK ST 17 16 NEW ROW Demolition in Church Street in 1985 11 7 revealed the 17th-century timber structure buried in more recent brickwork.