THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN | 1 THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN A rammel through North Antrim - the who, the what, the where. Edited by J Honeyford. © 2019 Dervock & District Community Association and Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council Museum Services. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without permission of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council Museum Services. Printed in Northern Ireland. ISBN 978-1-9161494-6-5 Cover design and book layout by White Arc Design. Front cover image: Dervock Bridge. Courtesy of Ballymoney Museum. This book was produced with the generous financial support of the Special EU Programmes Body as part of the European Union’s PEACE IV Programme. 2 | THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN A RAMMEL THROUGH NORTH ANTRIM THE WHO, THE WHAT, THE WHERE Dedicated to the memory of Mr William Peden (July 1926 - January 2020) Honorary President of Dervock & District Community Association THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN | 3 Dervock Market House. Courtesy of Ballymoney Museum. 4 | THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 04 INTRODUCTION 05 THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN 07 THE TOWNLANDS 11 DERVOCK VILLAGE 47 STORIES OF THE PEOPLE 53 APPENDICES 1669 HEARTH MONEY ROLLS 60 1796 FLAX GROWERS IN DERRYKEIGHAN 64 1803 AGRICULTURAL CENSUS 65 1827 TITHE APPLOTMENT BOOKS 77 1858 BELFAST & PROVINCE OF ULSTER DIRECTORY - DERVOCK 95 1861 GRIFFITH’S VALUATION FOR DERRYKEIGHAN 97 1897 BELFAST & PROVINCE OF ULSTER DIRECTORY - DERVOCK 106 1901 CENSUS 109 1901 CENSUS FOR DERVOCK VILLAGE 148 1909 O’FRIEL’S ALMANAC - DERVOCK 158 1911 CENSUS 160 1911 CENSUS FOR DERVOCK TOWN 196 1915 WW1 ROLL OF HONOUR FOR DERVOCK DISTRICT 204 TOWNLANDS WRITTEN PHONETICS AND PRONOUNCIATION 210 THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN | 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dervock & District Community Association would like to thank everyone whose support has made this book possible. • Peace IV; • CCGBC Museum Services; • Carol Hunter who assisted us with the orthographic spelling and phonetic transcription of townland names; • David Kane for his assistance with the audio recording of the townland names; • Nevin Taggart and Charlie Gillen for submitting articles for inclusion. 6 | THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN INTRODUCTION Welcome to the enchanted lands of the Scotti and their mythical friends from the underworld, the Good People - the Neighbours - or as we now call them, the Fairies. The townland names and the people who inhabited them are a clear indication of the building block of society of then and now. The pointers contained in this book will leave a clear trail for those who wish to investigate further; unfortunately, we just do not have the time or the space. The generations from early times rubbed uneasily with so called progress as they saw long held beliefs scattered, long established social structures eroded and life, in general, as they knew it mocked and discarded. In common with other societies there was the inherent belief that human existence, which had taken thousands of years to build and establish, was in the space of 50 or 60 years debunked, ridiculed and nearly forgotten. The gigantic scientific advancement of the human race from the Second World War is mind boggling. However, people should, and must, realise that the older people got us to where we are today. Funny old world isn’t it... Read on and enjoy... After the ice retreated at the end of the last Ice Age, the first people arrived in Ireland about 10,000 years ago. These hunter-gatherers lived a nomadic life, depending on the landscape to provide them with animals and plants to forge an existence, and evidence shows some of them were living in the Dervock area. Stone Age man was busy shaping and chipping his weapons and tools on the very ground we now walk on. Various finds, including porcellanite, greenstone and mudstone axe heads, arrow heads and other implements, confirm that our hardy ancestors were indeed an industrious bunch of early entrepreneurs. Hard volcanic granite and basalt rock pushes up through our ancient bogs to make the Antrim Plateau the shape that it is today. Limestone cliffs, sandpits and flint deposits mark the time when the sea covered most of the land mass. Old writings referred to the very ancient history of the high blue Antrim hills, where the people called the Scotti lived. The people who went on to inhabit what is now Scotland, formerly Albany, forever linking, both by blood and family, two parts of these islands, only thirteen miles apart at their closest point. The clan, sept and family names, having crossed the stormy sea back and forth many times, and having changed alliances many times in the process, remain in the sinew and bone of us all - all the one children of the mists of time. This is the land that forged our people into a hardy race of determined and resourceful folk. Dervock, like so many other clachans, has the river to thank for early and continued colonisation. The rivers, and now drained and forgotten lakes, of the area also provided for transport and security, while the heavily wooded land gave fuel and shelter. Wild game and fish were noted for their plenteousness. The old tongue and the old ways, though burned by fire and sword, whether you are mindful of this or not, still remain, hence, the curious mixture of language that is now called, somewhat loosely, Ulster-Scots. THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN | 7 The old townlands and tribal boundaries are still here, and every effort must be made to record these, and whether practical or not, they should still be used. Look for a moment at some of the old words, scunnered, sheugh, wersh, hullabaloo, and many more; where would you find words so descriptive in any other language? Townlands, with names so romantic and descriptive, that sound so natural to the soul, names that leave you wondering who, in those so-called primitive times, had the ability to come up with names which sound so right. Some early family names recorded in the area are heard no longer, with some being lost to the scourge of emigration, some others dying out through entirely natural causes while others now found have been added through inter-marriage with folk from other areas. Townland names on the other hand are thankfully documented, although, thanks supposedly to better postal systems, nearly all are not spoken of as they used to be; and therein lies a great shame. When one talked of a Grey, a Simpson, a Hamilton, a Huey, or a Jameson, to help the folk to understand just who you were referring to, the townland name was often added. For example, a Simpson of say Mosside, though maybe genetically the same breeding, was not the Simpson’s o’ Chathamhall, or o’ the Cloontys. Townland names, combined with surnames, linked that family to a particular place in people’s minds, and in the local infrastructure of the area plan. Just as importantly, they also built a family tree of kinsfolk and relations, or if you like, a collection o’ connections, which was handed down orally through the ages - for future generations to add to, or subtract from, as conditions dictated. While the ‘great and the good’ had the means, and the scribes on hand, to write down history as they saw it, the history of the common people was recorded orally, and nearly every village had their local sage “who minded the time well.” Though, it would be very wrong to believe their version any more than that of their masters, or the ministers and priests who did little to change what pleased their respective landlords when collating the passing times. Whilst remaining mindful of all these pitfalls, there is still a fantastic and colourful history about our areas and people to be recorded. Organisations, such as the B.B.C. with their Storytellers initiative, have started to do what should have been done years ago, while the old folk, with their stories, were plentiful. They have provided the training, and the means, for teams to collect, and record for posterity, the people’s own stories. Dervock and District Community Association, set up in 1984, has through the years, with the help of many volunteers, worked tirelessly to make their area a cleaner, happier place in which families can raise children and the older generation can live their well-earned rest in peace. This book is not intended to be an academic publication, but rather, a repository of names associated with the area over the years, snippets of history, a flavour of the language and a smattering of North Antrim humour. We have drawn heavily on the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Volume 16, written in the 1830s to accompany the 6” Ordnance Survey. The Memoirs provide us with an amazing insight into the history of the area, in addition to being an additional source of local people’s names. We have drawn names from various sources and have collated them into one publication and it is our hope that this booklet will provide a useful resource for anyone interested in the parish of Derrykeighan and the people who have lived here. 8 | THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN CHAPTER 1 THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN | 9 THE PARISH OF DERRYKEIGHAN Baronies, Parishes and Townlands, are divisions of land often referred to in Ireland’s history. Baronies are sub-divided into smaller areas known as Parishes, which are further broken down into Townlands. The largest of these, baronies, were created during the Tudor period in the 16th century and replaced the earlier system of cantreds formed in the 12th century by the Anglo-Normans. Civil parishes are units of land that have their origins in the old Gaelic territorial divisions of land.