Carrickfergus Old Town Records 1600-1800 now online

A huge thanks to William Roulston who mentioned a new resource now available online in a talk that he gave on Zoom on Wednesday evening about churchyards in my home town of Carrickfergus in Co. Antrim. 

William mentioned that Carrickfergus Museum has now added online records from the former borough and county town of Carrickfergus from 1600-1800. Here is part of their description from the Carrickfergus Museum website at https://www.midandeastantrim.gov.uk/things-to-do/museums-arts/carrickfergus-museum-and-civic-centre/collections-and-research/carrickfergus-old-town-records-1600-1800 where you can also find the records in question:

Carrickfergus Old Town Records 1600-1800

A valuable digital resource freely available to researchers.

Carrickfergus Museum holds a number of archival records that can be of use to the family historian.

The town records are an invaluable historical resource for any researcher and having become artefacts in their own right.  They possess a fascinating insight into development of the town. 

This example (pictured on the site) was transcribed in 19th century and contains leases for property and land dating from the early 1600s through to the 1800s.  They are a unique resource, allowing us to trace the history of land ownership, building ownership and industry over a period of nearly 400 years. 

Family surnames such as Dobbin, Dalway, Faith, Bell and Davys are well represented in these records, and Sir Arthur Chichester is mentioned several times. In the 19th century, references to industrial companies such as Carrickfergus and Larne Railway and Belfast Water Commissioners, start to appear. These additions reflect the growth of the town and the need for modern amenities such as transport and an improved water supply. Developments on the maritime sea-border of Carrickfergus are recorded too, for example, Paul Rodger’s Shipbuilding yard has a record dated 1878.

We are delighted to be able to present this rare archive to the public in a free and accessible format.  The contents are available to view as a flipbook, showing the beautiful script of this record.  Sections relating to the leases have also been transcribed into typed text within a downloadable excel file, which will allow users to search for family names and property addresses in Carrickfergus.

* The digitisation of the Old Town Records has been made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Council, through the Carrickfergus Townscape Heritage Initative.  We are grateful to the Centre for Data Digisitation and Analysis, Queen’s University Belfast, for their expertise in digitising and presenting this document, which is held in the care of Carrickfergus Museum. 

COMMENT: Whilst my family were not directly based in Carrick in this period (my closest lot at this point were up the road in Islandmagee!), I have had a lot of fun exploring the contents! A map from 1821 is also available to view on the site, showing just how much Carrick has changed in the last two centuries.

William's talk on Carrick's churchyards was excellent, taking in Loughmourne and Kilroot, as well as the main churches of the town itself. A slightly poignant moment for me personally was to see an image of Joymount (2nd) Presbyterian Church at the top of Robinson's Row, where William discussed the monument to the founding of the first Irish presbytery in 1642. My father passed away on the 6th, and was cremated yesterday, and Joymount was where he and my mother married in 1969, whilst Robinson's Row was where he was raised as a kid by my gran, along with his siblings. It was also nice to learn a bit about the North Road churchyard, where I have a fond memory as a young student taking black and white images for an art project on a very cold Halloween night in the late 1980s!

I believe the talk is to be made available online, if I can find a link I will post it.

(With thanks to Carrickfergus Museum and to William Roulston)

Chris

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