LARNE,
a sea port, market and post-town, and a parish, in the barony of UPPER
GLENARM, county of ANTRIM,
and province of ULSTER, 11 miles (N.) from Carrickfergus,
and 97 (N. by E.) from Dublin city, on the road from Belfast
city to Ballycastle;
containing 3182 inhabitants, of which number, 2616 are in the town.
This
place is situated on the shore of Lough Larne, which was formerly
called Olderfleet, and gave name to a castle built on the extreme
point of the promontory of Curraan, which forms the small bay
adjacent to the town. This fortress, under the protection of which
the town arose, is supposed to have been erected by a Scottish family
named Bisset, to whom a settlement on this part of the coast
was granted by Hen. III., and to have been subsequently improved by
the English. Edward Bruce landed here in 1315 with an army
of 6000 men for the conquest of Ireland; and during the same reign,
Hugh Bisset forfeited his lands here by taking part in the
rebellion. These were subsequently claimed in right of the same family,
by James Mac Donnell, Lord of Canture, and after his death
were granted by Queen Elizabeth during her pleasure, to his son Angus,
on condition that he should carry arms only under the King of England,
and pay annually a certain number of hawks and cattle. Olderfleet
castle was at that time considered so important a defence against
the Scots that, in 1569, it was entrusted to Sir Moyses Hill,
but was dismantled in 1598. Jas. I., in 1603, granted the entire headland
to Sir Randal Mac Donnell, surnamed Sorley Boy; but
in 1612 gave the castle and lands to Sir Arthur Chichester together
with the right of ferry between this place and Island Magee.
During the disturbances of 1798 the town was attacked by the insurgent
army from Ballymena, but the assailants were repulsed by the
Tay fencibles, assisted by the yeomanry and inhabitants.
The
town is beautifully situated on the shore of Lough Larne, on
the eastern coast and is divided into the old and new towns, containing
together 482 houses, most of which are well built and of very neat
appearance; the street in the old town are narrow and indifferently
paved; the new town consists of one long and regular street, in which
the houses are of stone and handsomely built. There are two public
libraries, supported by subscription, both containing good collections.
During the last century a very extensive trade was carried on in salt,
of which large quantities prepared here from rock salt imported from
Liverpool were sent from this port to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia,
and Prussia; the duties paid thereon on the average amounted to £18,000
per annum. About the middle of the last century this was the only
port in the North of Ireland from which emigrant vessels sailed. The
present trade consists chiefly in the exportation of oats, beans,
flour, and, occasionally, black cattle and a very considerable quantity
of lime; and the importation of coal, slates, wheat, and North American
timber. The number of vessels that entered inwards during the year
ending Jan. 5th, 1835, was 340, of the aggregate burden of 13,517
tons, and of which 298 were from British ports and 42 employed in
the coasting trade; and during the same year, 113 vessels of the aggregate
burden of 4329 tons, cleared out from this port, of which 64 were
bound to British ports, and 49 were coasters. The port, which is a
member of that of Belfast, has an excellent harbour for small vessels,
for which there is a good anchorage between the Curraan, and
the peninsula of Island Magee, in 2 or 2½ fathoms, quite
land-locked; great numbers of vessels from Scotland anchor off this
place, while waiting for their cargoes of lime from the Maghramorne
works. There are some good quays on both sides of the lough about
a mile from the town, the water being too shallow to float vessels
further up.
The
royal military road along the coast passes through the town. The market
is on Tuesday; a great market is held on the first Monday of every
month, and there are fairs on Dec. 1st and July 31st, principally
for black cattle, a few inferior horses, and pigs. A constabulary
police force has been established in the town, and there is also a
coast guard station belonging to the Carrickfergus
district. A court for the manor of Glenarm is held here
every six weeks; and petty sessions are held every alternate week.
The
parish comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 2210 statute acres
of good arable and pasture land; the system of agriculture is slowly
improving, and there is neither waste land nor bog. Limestone abounds,
and is quarried both for building and agricultural purposes; at Ballycraigey,
about a mile to the north of the town, is a quarry of felspar, worked
occasionally for building; and at Bankhead a fine stratum of
coal has been discovered, but is not worked.
The
principal seats are Gardenmore, the elegant villa of S.
Darcus, Esq.; the Curraan, the residence of M. McNeill,
Esq.; and the glebe-house, of the Rev. H. Martin.
The
living is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese
of Connor, and in the patronage of the Dean; the tithes amount
to £136. 11s. 11d.; of which £123. 15s. 7d., is payable
to the curate, who receives also £23. 8d., from Primate Boulter's
fund. The glebe-house was built in 1824, by a gift of £450 and
a loan of £50 from the late Board of First Fruits; the glebe
comprises 3¼ acres. The church, previously to its alteration
in 1819, had some interesting details of ancient architecture.
In the
Roman Catholic divisions the parish forms part of the union
or district of Carrickfergus and
Larne; a chapel was erected here in 1832 by subscription.
There
are places of worship for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod
of Ulster and the Seceding Synod, each of the second class, and with
the Presbytery of Antrim of the first class, also for Weslyan Methodists.
About
150 children are taught in the national school of the parish, and
a dispensary is supported by subscription.
There
are some remains of the ancient castle of Olderfleet on the
promontory of Curraan; and on the sea side, about a mile north
of the town, is a cavern called the Black Cave, passing under
the projecting base of a huge rock; the length of the cave, which
is open at both ends, is 60 feet, and its height from 3 to 30 feet;
the sides are formed of basaltic columns of large dimensions. On the
shore of the lough, near the town, are some singular petrifactions,
of a blue colour, apparently the result of a spring issuing from a
bank at high water mark. In a short road leading from the east to
the north of the town is a chalybeate spring, at present little used.
