Londonderry Antiquities

EDITED EXTRACTS FROM THE TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IRELAND, 1837

REMAINS of its ancient inhabitants of every period are scattered over the county.

There is a cromlech at Slaghtmanus, another at Lettershandoney, a third at Slaghtaverty, and others at Ballynascreen: some had been surrounded by a circle of upright stones.

There are remains of sepulchral mounts or tumuli at Mullagh Cross, and a vast tumulus is seen at Dovine [sic], between Limavady and Coleraine, besides several of smaller dimensions.

Numerous cairns are met with in every quarter, especially on the summits of the mountains.

Near Dungiven is a very remarkable sepulchral pillar.

Dungiven Standing Stone (Hogg Collection/NMNI)

Raths or Danish forts are likewise scattered in chains in every direction, each being generally within sight of two others: the most remarkable is that called the Giant's Sconce, between the districts of Limavady and Coleraine.

Ditches enclosing spaces of from half a rood to several acres are also discernible contiguous to these forts.

There is a curious mound surrounded with a moat on the road from Springhill to Lough Neagh; and another, of larger size, at Dungorkin.

Ancient entrenchments of different character are seen at Prospect, and between Gortnagasan [sic] and Cahery.

Various coins, pins, rings, and forks have been found about a moat near Lough Neagh, and, among other ancient instruments, quern stones have often been discovered.

Hatchets made of hard basalt, spears of grey granite, and barbed arrowheads of flint are very frequently found.

Sometimes gold and silver coins, fibulae, and gorgets, with other ornaments, are dug up, but these are rare.

There are many artificial caverns, which seem to have been designed for the concealment of goods, of for the refuge of families in case of sudden attack: the sides are built of common land stones without cement, and the roof is composed of flags, or long stones, but the vault is seldom high enough for the passage of a man in a stooping posture; they consist sometimes of different galleries, and the mouth was most usually concealed by a rock or grassy sod.

Besides the remains of monastic institutions in the city of Londonderry, 17 others appear to have existed within the limits of the county; there are still remains of those situated respectively at Camus, Errigal, Tamlaghtfinlagan, Donnybrewer, and Dungiven, at the last of which are the most interesting of all the ecclesiastical ruins.

Banagher Old Church (Wikipedia)

Near the old church of Banagher is a monastic building almost entire.

There are few castles of Irish erection.

Ballyreagh, on a rocky cliff overhanging the sea, is said to have belonged to one of the MacQuillans; and a castle which stood near the church of Ballyaghran [Agherton] is reported to have been the abode of the chief of that sept.

There were several English castles, with bawns and flankers, built by the London companies, one at least in every proportion of allotment, but they are all in ruins, except Bellaghy, which is still occupied.

Fermanagh Antiquities

EDITED EXTRACTS FROM THE TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IRELAND, 1837

The number of Danish raths in all parts is very great, but none of them are peculiarly singular in their construction.

Tumuli also occur, surrounded with circles of upright stones; when opened, urns and stone coffins have been found in them.

At Wattlebridge, three miles from Newtownbutler, on the banks of the Finn, are the remains of a Druid temple [Annaghmore Glebe].

There are but few remains of monastic institutions: those of Devenish and Gola are the only structures in which traces of the original buildings can be discovered: the abbeys of Inishmacsaint, Cleenish, Kilskeery, and Rossorry have been converted into parish churches: those of Aredmuilt, Derough, Domnachmore (Donagh?), Inniscasin [sic], Iniseo, Inisrocha, and Loughuva [Lough Nahoo] are now known only by name.

About a mile from Pettigo stand the ruins of Castle Magrath, the residence of the first Protestant Bishop of Clogher [Miler Magrath], from whom the building took its name.

Lisgoole, a castle on the bank of the Rale [sic] opposite to Enniskillen, also suffered during the civil war of 1641, being burnt by the Irish.

The ruins of Callowhill Castle are near Florencecourt.

Castle Hume is now a pile of ruins.

Enniskillen, which was little more than a fort in ELIZABETH I's time, has since completely changed its character.

First published in January, 2024.

County Antrim Antiquities

EDITED EXTRACTS FROM THE TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IRELAND, 1837

THE remains of antiquity of earliest date consist of cairns or barrows, cromlechs, raths or entrenchments, and mountains differing in magnitude and form.

The most remarkable of the cairns is on Colin mountain, about three miles north of Lisburn; there is also one on Slieve True, to the west of Carrickfergus, and two on Collinward.

Near Carngraney [or Carn Greine], to the north-east of the old road from Belfast to Templepatrick, is the cromlech most worthy of especial notice: it has several table stones resting on numerous upright ones; and near it isa large mount; also several fortified posts different from all others in the county.

There is likewise a large cromlech at Mount Druid, near Ballintoy; another at the northern extremity of Islandmagee; and the Holestone, to the east of the road from Antrim to Glenavy, appears to be a relic of the Druids.

Mount Druid dolmen, near Ballintoy (Welch Collection/NMNI)

Of mountains, forts, and entrenchments, there is every variety which exists in Ireland; and so numerous are they, that the parishes of Killead and Muckamore alone contain 230, defended by one or more ramparts; and Donalds Carn is a fine specimen of this kind of earthwork.

Among the most remarkable of the rest are, one at Donegore, one at Kilconway, one at the Doagh water, one at Dunethery [Dunadry?], the last of which is planted with trees; one with a square outwork at Dunmakelter, in the parish of Culfeightrin; Dunmaul Fort; one at Cushendall, having a castle within its defences, and probably a Danish relic; one at Drumfane, on the Braid; one at Camlent Old-Church; and another in a bog near Ballykennedy; one near Connor has outworks exactly resembling that at Dromore, and in another near Carrickfergus have been found several Danish trumpets.

Stone hatchets or celts of various sizes have been discovered in several places, but in the greatest numbers near Ballintoy; arrowheads of flint, spearheads of brass, and numerous miscellaneous relics have been found.

There have also been discovered a Roman torc, a coin of Valentinian, fibulae, and other Roman antiquities, supposed to be relics of the spoil obtained by the Irish Scots in their plunder of South Britain, in alliance with the Picts.

Armoy round tower (Welch Collection/NMNI)

Of the singular round towers, the original purpose has been a fertile source of almost innumerable conjectures, there are at present four in this county; viz., one at Antrim, one on Ram's Island in Lough Neagh, a fragment of one near the old church at Trummery (between Lisburn and Moira), and one in the churchyard of Armoy.

Mervyn Archdall enumerates 48 religious establishments as having existed in this county, but adds that 20 of them are now unknown, and scarcely can the existence of half the entire number be now established by positive evidence.

There are still interesting remain of those of Bonamargy, Kells, Glenarm, Glynn, Muckamore, and Whiteabbey; and extensive ruins of other religious edifices, in the several townlands of Dundesert, Ballykennedy, and Carmavy, in the parish of Killead.

OF ancient fortresses, that of Carrickfergus, which has always been the strongest and most important, is the only one in complete preservation: there are interesting ruins of Greencastle; Olderfleet Castle; Castle Chichester; Red Bay Castle; Court Martin, near Cushendall.

Near the northern coast are likewise several old castles, some of which are very difficult of access, and must have been fortresses of great strength prior to the use of artillery: of these the principal are Dunluce, Dunseverick, Kenbane, Doonaninny, and Castle Carra; in Rathlin Island are the remains of Bruce's Castle.

Inland there are also many remains of fortified residences, of which Shane's Castle, the venerable seat of the O'Neills, was destroyed by fore in 1816.

Castle Upton is the only mansion of this kind at present habitable.

Lissanoure, on the banks of Lough Guile, is so called from an old fort in the vicinity.

Near the summit of White Mountain, two miles north of Lisburn, are the extensive remains of Castle Robin; and at Portmore, near Ballinderry, are similar remains.

Among the mansions of the nobility and gentry, few are splendid, though many are of considerable elegance.

First published in December, 2023.

Londonderry City Antiquities

EDITED EXTRACTS FROM THE TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IRELAND, 1837

IN addition to the ecclesiastical buildings was also a Franciscan mendicant friary of unknown foundation, with a churchyard containing about three acres, the site of which is now occupied by Abbey Street and others, and of which the foundations were discovered a few years ago by some workmen, but no vestiges of any of these buildings are now remaining.

The only religious house preserved on the erection of the new city was the church of St Augustine, which was repaired and used prior to the erection of the present cathedral, after which it was known as "the little church;" its site is now occupied by the Bishop's garden.

A small square tower was built by O'Doherty for O'Donnell in the 15th or 16th century.

Near the Roman Catholic chapel, outside the walls, are St Columba's wells, originally three in number and called by separate names, but of which one is dried up; but the water, though considered in remote parts of the island a specific for diseases of the eye, is here held in little repute.

In the centre of St Columba's Lane, adjacent to the wells, is St Columba's Stone, on each side of which are two oval hollows artificially formed, concerning which various legends are related; the water deposited by rain in these hollows is believed to possess a miraculous power in curing various diseases.

The shutting of the gates by the Apprentice Boys on December 7th, 1688, and the opening of them on August 12th following, have been annually commemorated, but the ceremony has been somewhat modified since 1832, in which year an Act was passed declaring such commemorations illegal; and have led to the establishment of three distinct clubs of Apprentice Boys, under different denominations.

George Farquhar, the dramatic poet, was born here in 1677; and the Rev William Hamilton, DD, author of "Letters concerning the North Coast of Antrim," and other productions of natural history, who was assassinated at the house of Dr Waller, at Sharon [Glebe], on March 2nd, 1797, was also a native of this place.

First published in December, 2023.

Belfast Antiquities

EDITED EXTRACTS FROM THE TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IRELAND, 1837

THERE are no remains of antiquity in the town, though some are scattered over the parish: near Stranmillis, on the Lagan, was an ancient chapel, called Capella de Kilpatrick; on the summit of a hill on Upper Malone was the Capella de Crookmuck.

Near Callender's Fort, on the Falls Road, about two miles from the town, was that of Cranock, of which traces of the foundations and a large cemetery are still remaining; and on the same road, the chapel of Kilwee, where numerous elegantly carved crosses and other sepulchral monuments have been found.

About three miles on the Carrickfergus road is a small fragment of an ancient fortress, called Greencastle; in Upper Malone was an extensive fort called Castle Cam, or Freeston Castle, on the site of which the elegant mansion of Malone House has been erected.

At a small distance on the left of the road to Shaw's Bridge are seen the foundations of a third fort; in the grounds of Malone, near Lismoyne, are the remains of a fourth; and in the burial ground at Friar's Bush are the remains of a fifth.

AMONG the most curious relics of antiquity are the caves in various places formed in the earth and in the hard limestone rock; of the former, three were discovered in 1792 at Wolf Hill.

On the side of a small hill on the townland of Ballymagarry is one of larger dimensions; and near Hannahstown is one still larger, which since 1798 has been closed, having at that time been a place of concealment for arms.

Three large caves, which give name to the mountain called Cavehill, are all formed in the perpendicular face of an immense range of basaltic rock.

THE large ramparts of earth, called raths, or forts, are also numerous: of these the most extensive is McArt's Fort, on the summit of Cavehill, protected on one side by a precipice, and on the others by a single ditch of great depth and a vallum of large dimensions.

Near the base of Squires Hill are many smaller raths, and two of large dimensions almost on the summit of Black Mountain; and near the shore, at Fortwilliam, is an encampment, 70 feet square, surrounded by a deep fosse and defended by a bastion at each angle, and said to have been thrown up by WILLIAM III in 1690; near it is another entrenchment of ruder construction.

There are two large cairns on Black Mountain, in one of which, in 1829, was found a large urn filled with calcined human bones, a spear head, and two ornaments of brass; there is also a cairn on Cavehill, and one on Squires Hill.

Great numbers of stone and flint hatchets, and arrow heads of flint, have been discovered; and brazen celts and quern-stones, or hand millstones, are occasionally found. 

Tyrone Antiquities

EDITED EXTRACTS FROM THE TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IRELAND, 1837

THE remains of antiquity are neither numerous nor particularly interesting.

Raths are scattered over almost every part: near the western border of the mountain called Mary Gray, more than 12 of them may be seen within the compass of a mile: they are generally in pairs; many are now scarcely discernible, in consequence of the farmers having drawn off the mould for manure.

The most perfect has a parapet six feet high, with stepping-stones projecting from the inner sides in an oblique direction to the top, like the winding of a staircase: its diameter is 33 yards.

Newtownstewart Cromlech (Green Collection/NMNI)

A very remarkable Druidical monument, called Cloghtogle, or the "lifted stone," stands on a hill a mile north of Newtownstewart: it consists of three large stones set upright in a triangular position, about seven feet high each, and covered with a broad horizontal flag, 11 feet long, 7 broad, and 15 inches thick.

On an opposite hill, at a distance of about 100 yards, was a similar relic of larger dimensions, now lying on the ground.

There is a large and very beautiful one, also called Cloghtogle, at Tamlaght, near Coagh; and there is another, but less perfect, in the demesne of Loughry, and a very noble one, a quarter of a mile above Castlederg.

At Kilmeillie [Beaghmore?], near Dungannon, are two circles of stones, in the form of the figure 8.

An urn was found in a little sandy hill near Cookstown.

Near Omagh, three small chests containing as many urns was found in 1712, under two heaps of stones.

In the parish of Errigal Keerogue is a flat stone set upright, having one side covered with carvings of a regular design, consisting of waving and circular lines: it had been the cover of a vault formed of flags set edgeways: in the vault were two earthen vessels containing ashes.

Near Dungannon were found several brazen trumpets of an uncommon construction, with a hole in the side, and the smaller end stopped, supposed to have been Danish.

The monastic institutions, od which traces yet remain, are those of Ardboe, Ardstraw, Dromore, Scarvagherin, Pubble, Grange, and Donaghmore.

Those of Clogher, Errigal Keerogue, Corickmore, Ballynasaggart, Dungannon, Omagh, Magheraglass, Strabane, and Trillick exist only in the records of history.

The remains of ancient castles are numerous, but few of them are of much importance: Benburb is the largest: near it are the ruins of one of the residences of Shane O'Neill; those of Newtownstewart, Dungannon, Strabane, and Ballygawley are noticed under their respective parishes.

First published in November, 2023.

County Armagh Antiquities

EDITED EXTRACTS FROM THE TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IRELAND, 1837

AMONG the relics of antiquity are the remains of the fortress of Emania [Navan Fort], near Armagh, once the royal seat of the kings of Ulster.

The Danes' Cast is an extensive line of fortification in the south-eastern part of the county, and stretching into County Down.

The Danes' Cast, Scarva, County Down (Green Collection/NMNI)

The tumulus said to mark the burial place of "Nial of the Hundred Battles" [sic]* is still visible on the banks of the Callan.  (*Niall of the Nine Hostages?)

The Vicar's Cairn is situated near the city of Armagh.

Cairn Bann is in Orior barony, near Newry.

A tumulus in Killeavy parish contains an artificial cavern.

Two ancient brazen weapons were found in a bog near Carrickblacker, where a battle is said to have been fought in 941.

Spears, battle-axes, skeyns, swords, the golden torcs, and collars, rings, amulets, and gold medals, also various ornaments of silver, jet, amber, etc, have been found in different places, and are mostly preserved.

Near Hamiltonsbawn, in 1816, was found the entire skeleton of an elk, of which the head and horns were placed in the hall of the infirmary at Armagh; and in the same year also the body of a trooper was discovered in a bog near Charlemont, of which the dress and armour appeared to be of the reign of ELIZABETH I.

The religious houses, besides those of the city of Armagh, of which any memorial has been handed down to us were Clonfeacle, Killeavy, Kilmore, Straidbail-Loyce, Ballymoyer.

The most remarkable military remains are Tyrone's Ditches, near Poyntzpass, Navan Fort, the castles of Creevekeeran and Ardgonnell, Moyry Castle, and Castle Raw.

First published in November, 2023.