THE annual fishermen's service to mark the opening of the fishing season was held in Ballintoy Parish Church on Sunday afternoon, 20th March. Part of the church was decked with nets, oars and other emblems, of the sea. The address, which dealt with the history of this coastal parish, was delivered by Mr. Hugh Alexander Boyd, M.A., M.Litt., H.Dip.Ed., Hon. Diocesan Lay Reader, and is reprinted from the “Coleraine Chronicle.”
“Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations." —Deuteronomy, Chapter 32, verse 12.
It has been the custom for some years past to mark the opening of the fishing season by a fisherman’s service in the church of this coastal parish—a parish, which, as one might reasonably expect, has had many contacts with them that go down to the sea in ships and have their business in the great waters. It may not be inappropriate, too, in view of the circumstances that next Saturday, Ballintoy will have its twenty-first incumbent—the Rev. C. J. Rountree. M.A.—enter upon his duties here, to remember the days of old and consider the years of many generations. “Human history,” it has been said, “is a varied landscape, full of lights and shadows, with a background of great mountains and a foreground crowded with incident." Such is true of the history of practically all our rural parishes and it is particularly true of this one.
Dates From 1670
The parish of Ballintoy, with its wild and rocky sea coast, cannot, of itself, claim any great ecclesiastical antiquity. It dates from about the year 1670. so that it is almost 300 years old. When it was constituted a separate parochial unit out of the parent parish of Billy, it contained. in all, 61 townlands, but of these, 22 constituted the Rathlin portion of the parish. When Rathlin was separated from Ballintoy in 1722, the parish was thus left with 39, but in the polity of the Church of Ireland (as distinct from the civil arrangement, in which case the number is still 39) this has been further reduced to 27. The reduction in the number of townlands from 39 to 27 is accounted for by:--
(a) The formation in 1831 of the perpetual cure of Dunseverick, whereby seven townlands were transferred to form part of that parish, and
(b) The formation, 44 years later —in 1875—of the ecclesiastical parish of Drumtullagh. In that year Ballintoy surrendered a further five townlands. This left 27 and these now constitute the ecclesiastical parish. They are as follows: — Templastragh, Ballynastraid, Magheracastle, Magheraboy, Lemnaghmore, Cloughcorr, Lagavar, Lisbellnagroagh More, Craiganee, Clegnagh, Lisbellnagroagh Beg, Glenstaghey, Croaghmore, Whitepark, Coolmaghra, Toberkeigh, Lemnaghbeg, Knocksoghey, Broughgammon, Craigalappin, Ballintoy, Maghernahare, Knocknagarvin, Ballintoy Demesne, Ballinlea Lower, Ballinlea Upper, Prolusk.
“Town of the North”
The word Ballintoy means “town of the north," a meaning that, having regard to the situation of the parish, is particularly appropriate. Before the parish was formed, about three centuries ago, the parish church of this locality was, of course, Billy, and thither the adherents of the Established Church in the Ballintoy district, were expected somehow or other to wend their way—and that at a time when means of transport and communication were not what they are to-day. But it should be remembered that there also existed at the Ballintoy end of what was then the parish of Billy, an ancient religious foundation known as the church of Templastragh. That it would be more centrally situated for worshippers in the Ballintoy neighbourhood than the parish church of Billy goes without saying. The word Templastragh means “The church of the flame.” Exactly in what relation it stood to the parish church of Billy is rather difficult to determine.
Pre-Reformation Chapel
In its origin, Templastragh may have been a “keel” or burying-place at which, in pre-Reformation times a chapel was erected, like the “keels” of Magheradonnell, Mostragee and Gracehill in the parish of Derrykeighan, or the ruined chapel of Drumeeny in Glenshesk in the adjoining parish of Ramoan. Some of these churches and sites are very old and go back to the days of Celtic Christianity. Many, however, only date from mediaeval times and were erected as chapels of ease for the convenience of parishioners who lived far from the parish church, while others were found in close proximity to castles, and so must have been used as places of worship by their owners.The Ballintoy locality seems to furnish an example of each. Templastragh was very probably a chapel of ease to Billy, while this parish church was originally erected, early in the seventeenth century, as a chapel of ease, in close proximity to the Castle of Ballintoy, to serve the needs of its occupants.
Ballintoy Castle
Templastragh church may have served the Ballintoy neighbourhood until, or almost until, the erection of this church, sometime during the first quarter of the seventeenth century. Since the parish is not a very ancient one, it necessarily follows that this church cannot claim any great antiquity. That it existed as a chapel of ease in the parish of Billy and that it served particularly the needs of the adjacent Castle of Ballintoy for some time—about half a century—before it received parochial status are facts beyond all reasonable doubt. Ballintoy Castle, no longer in existence, was pleasantly situated at what is now a cluster of houses a short distance from the church in the townland known as Ballintoy Demesne. It occupied a site half-a-mile west of the village and a quarter-of-a-mile south of the sea shore. It must have been a building of considerable size, as the Hearth Money Rolls of 1669 state that It contained 12 hearths and that It was inhabited by Archibald Stewart, Esquire.
No doubt the greatness and importance of the castle loomed over everything else in the locality. The Cromwellian Inquisitions of 1657 distinctly refer to what is now this parish church, as “the chapel of Ballintoy” in the parish of Billy. It was situated in a position which, taking the parish as a whole, could not be described as central for the purposes of a parish church. But for this, the immediate proximity of the Castle was largely, if not entirely, responsible.
Since Ballintoy Castle, for a great number of years must have been the largest building in what was then, as now, an entirely rural locality, a word must be said concerning it. From 1630 to the middle of the eighteenth century, it was inhabited by the Stewart family—a family usually referred to as "the Stewarts of Ballintoy.” There is every reason to suppose that it was this family that erected this church. The Stewarts were a branch of that ancient and noble line that had given Kings to the Scottish and English thrones; indeed, the motto of one branch of the family was “Not descended from kings; kings descended from us.” The family was descended from Sir John Stewart of Bute, son of Robert II, a descendant of the Dalriadic monarchs of Scotland and, therefore, of the old Irish royal line from winch the Dalriadic Kings of Scotland sprang and from whom Her present Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II is descended. The word Carrick-a-Rede may be the local and corrupt form of Carrig Riada, meaning, perhaps, the most noteworthy rock on the coast of Dalriada.
Sheriffs of Bute
From Sir John Stewart of Bute descends the long line of hereditary sheriffs of Bute, now represented by the Marquis of Bute. The fifth sheriff of the island, Archibald, had, among other issue, two sons. It is said that the Stewarts lost their estates in the Island of Bute in 1560 and that these two sons crossed over to Ireland and settled on the coast of North Antrim. Unlike the Norman conquerors of Ireland in the twelfth century, who were merely military leaders, the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century colonists were farmers, merchants, weavers, mechanics and labourers. They built towns and villages and substituted farm houses and homesteads for the wattled huts and mud cabins of the natives.
The original seat or residence of this Stewarts in Ballintoy was at Altmore, now known as the Deer Park, from which they removed to the castle. The deer park was enclosed by a wall, not to be confused with the very extensive walls built around the rectory property. The first Stewart occupant of Ballintoy Castle was Archibald Stewart, agent to the Earl of Antrim in 1630. It was he who very probably built a church on the site of this church in which we are assembled this afternoon. He was a son of Ninian Stewart, one of the two scions of the family who came to North Antrim about 1560. His appointment as agent to the Earl of Antrim in 1630, after the death of John Macnaghten, made him a personage of the greatest importance on the Antrim coast. He was the ancestor of the elder branch of the Stewarts of Ballintoy. The Stewart family was intimately associated with this parish and locality for two centuries from 1560 to 1760. Archibald Stewart presented this church with a bell (now disused) on which there is this inscription:
“Archibald Stewart gave me: Charles, his son, re-cast me, anno 1686 and Archibald, the son of Charles re-cast and augmented me. Anno 1718.”
Memorial Slab
Archibald Stewart’s family included one son and three daughters. One of bis daughters, Bemarda, married about 1660 her kinsman, James Stewart. son of John Stewart of Straid in this parish. This lady died in 1663: a red freestone slab beneath the Holy Table in this church is thus inscribed:
'Under this stone Bemarda Stewart doth lie
Whom pangful death o’ercame victoriously. 1663.”
Close beside this stone is another red freestone slab covering the grave of a child named Nicholas Stewart, who was, no doubt, her son. It is inscribed:
“Here lies Nicholas Stewart, who departed this life 10th of September, 1667.”
When tender plants
Such as this childe
By nature comely
Courteous, mild,
Have Christian like
Outrun their race
Not earth but heaven
Have for their place.
Let us behind
Implore His grace
That quickly we
May see His face.
Communion Plate
The solid silver Communion plate belonging to this church is believed to be about the third oldest in the diocese of Connor. It bears the date 1684 and consists of a chalice and paten. Both were presented by another of Archibald Stewart’s daughters — Sara. This interesting plate forms a link between the Communicants of to-day and those who knelt on the same spot almost three centuries ago. In addition to an inscription, the chalice bears the maker’s mark. This indicates that it was the work of James Vanderberg or Vanderbec:, a Dublin silversmith, who died in 1642. Until the existence of this chalice was brought to the notice of experts, the only piece of Vanderbeck known to them was the flagon in the possession of Dublin University. It is known to date from 1638—the first year in which an official hall mark was used in Ireland. The chalice and paten were very probably Archibald Stewart's private property. Having passed to his daughter Sara, they were presented by her to the church in 1684 —a time when there is reason to think that this church may have been undergoing some kind of restoration, as the bell was re-cast in 1686.
Irish Rebellion
During the terrible Irish Rebellion of 1641 this church, or as it then was, chapel of ease, of Ballintoy was a place of refuge from the insurgent or rebel Irish. For the Plantation settlers to have remained in the open country would have been to court death at the hands of their fanatical, dispossessed and ill-used enemies. Two places in these parts were available for the refugees from the surrounding countryside—the town of Coleraine, with its defensive earthen ramparts and the Church and Castle of Ballintoy. While the Castle was besieged by the rebels, crowds of Protestant women and children, helpless and homeless refugees, fled inside this church for protection where, it is only fair to state, a kind hearted and compassionate Roman Catholic priest named M’Glaime, at great personal risk to himself, secretly supplied them daily with as much food as kept them alive, until relief came. It is to the credit of the vestry of Ballintoy that, about the end of the eighteenth century, it voted parochial relief to a poor man named M’Glaime because he was a relative of the priest.
The Stewart Family
The Rev. Archibald Stewart, D.D., grandson of the first Archibald, held the rectory of Ballintoy from 1718 to 1737. In early life he served as a Chaplain in the army and was sent in that capacity to Spain in the reign of Queen Anne, during the memorable War of the Spanish Succession. It was upon his return from the Continent that Stewart became Rector of Ballintoy. It was also during his incumbency—in 1722—that the island portion of Ballintoy—that is to say, Rathlin, was erected into a separate parochial unit. The Stewart family disposed of its property and interests in Ballintoy about 1760 and subsequently the estate passed by purchase into the family of Fullerton, later to become known as Downing Fullerton. This family is still possessed of some interests in the parish, including the Carrick-a-Rede salmon fishery. It was an ancestor of the Downing branch of the family of Downing Fullerton—Sir George Downing—who gave his name, as the owner of the property, to Downing Street in London, on which the Prime Minister’s official residence—the famous No. 10—and other Government buildings were subsequently erected. Dawson Downing, a collateral descendant of Sir George Downing, married a member of the Fullerton family, and it was the son of this marriage who assumed the name of Downing Fullerton. The present representative of the family, Mr. George Derek Downing Fullerton, who was baptised in this church, is the seventh generation of the family to be associated with the Ballintoy estate. When the castle of Ballintoy, for some reason or other, was dismantled in 1795, a fine oak staircase, rich panelling and beams belonging to it, were transferred to the University of Cambridge to embellish Sir George Downing's collegiate foundation there—Downing College, founded in 1717.
Some Former Rectors
A word concerning some of the former Rectors of this parish. The Rev. Doctor Archibald Stewart was succeeded in 1737 by the Rev. Edward Higginson, who held the incumbency until 1745. Higginson was succeeded by John Ryder (1745-1759), Edmund Lodge and Edward Trotter, LL.D. Of these it might be mentioned that Doctor Trotter, who died at the early age of 48, was buried in the well- known London church of St. James’s, Piccadilly. Doctor Trotter was succeeded by the Rev. Robert Traill, who held the parish for an uninterrupted period of sixty-five years. It was during his long incumbency that, in 1812, this church was rebuilt on the site of the ancient structure. The reconstructed church was complete with tower and spire, but a storm having carried away the spire, it was never re-erected. Mr. Traill was also responsible for the erection of the present rectory in 1788 and he left a very full and extremely fascinating account of the parish during the Napoleonic Wars. His great-nephew was the well- known Doctor Anthony Traill, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin.
Incumbent For 65 Years
Instituted on the 19th August, 1777, at the age of 22—while under canonical age—Mr. Traill In his 65 years’ incumbency must have seen the generations rise and fall in Ballintoy. His incumbency was spread over the reigns of four sovereigns—George III, George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria, and over the episcopates of four Primates of All Ireland and four Bishops of Down and Connor. There were no less than 25 holders of the office of Vicerory or Lord Lieutenant during his long incumbency. He witnessed such outstanding events in the history of the British Crown and Commonwealth as the recognition of the Independence of the American Colonies, the Union of the English and Irish Parliaments, Roman Catholic Emancipation, Parliamentary Reform and the multifarious legislative activity that succeeded it.In 1803 the population of the parish (which then included those townlands subsequently transferred to the parishes of Dunseverick and Drumtullagh) was 3,593, of whom 2,075 were members of the Established Church, 997 were Dissenters and the remainder 521 were Roman Catholics. In a list of employments in the parish in that year there were:
82 Fishermen 92 Hired Servants
288 Weavers 5 Millers
3 Boat Carpenters 118 Yeomen
21 Salmon Fishers 5 Thatchers
Salmon Fisheries
“We have three salmon fisheries in this parish,” says Mr. Traill: “That of Port Braddon lets for 60 guineas yearly; those of Carrick-a-Rede and Larrybann are jointly let for £410. The fish caught on this coast in the greatest plenty, are glashen, grey gurnet and cod. We have here a species of cod rarely got elsewhere, called rock or red cod. It Is found all the year through and always in season; its red colour is supposed to be occasioned from the particular nature of its food and is not reckoned to be a distinct species. We have also lythe, lyng, white or sea trout, mackerel, brazier (which I conjecture to be the same as sea bream), haddock, grey mullet, red gurnet and a very indifferent fish called murran roe, a small thick fish as red as scarlet. Of flat fish there are halibut, turbot, skate, flounder and sole: there are also crabs and lobsters. As to sand eels, periwinkles and limpets, they are seldom used, except for bait. We are occasionally visited by whales, sharks, porpoises and several others of the more remarkable inhabitants of the deep.”
Well may Ballintoy have its annual fisherman’s service when it is remembered that the salmon fisheries of Portbraddon and Larrybann are known beyond all shadow of doubt to have been in existence for at least 33 years—since 1630. An Inquisition taken at Carrickfergus in that year mentions these two fisheries.
Hamilton, writing in 1784, thus describes the Carrick-a-Rede Fishery: "Six fishers and one clerk reside on this rock during the fishing season: the fishers receive one-third of the fish taken for their wages; a third goes for the boats and nets, and the remainder to the proprietors.” “I am very happy,” says Mr Traill, “on having no attorney, nor any litigious, quarrelsome people in the parish; it is, therefore, but very seldom that I have occasion to resort to manor courts or sessions to enforce payments of tithes. Neither have we any resident physician in the parish, and as the people are in general healthy, perhaps we suffer nothing on that account. The situation of the greater part of the inhabitants is in the happy medium between wealth and poverty, and they may be said to be rather in easy circumstances. The principal food is oaten meal, potatoes and fish. In general they are healthy, although frequently epidemic diseases appear, but these are neither more violent nor lasting than in other parts of the country. Since the prejudice against inoculation has in a great measure been removed and that the people have become acquainted with the happy effect of the cow pock, that loathsome and deadly disease, the small pox, is but little known. In the propagation of the cow pock, I am the principal practitioner and have inoculated many hundreds with the greatest success.”
Mr. Traill was succeeded here in 1842 by the Rev. Doctor Henry Carter. He had previously been Curate of Carrickfergus with which office he combined the chaplaincy of the county jail in that ancient town. When a student at Trinity College, Dublin, it fell to him to present an address of welcome to Sir Walter Scott in the College Library. Mrs. Carter trained the young women of the parish in “satin stitch” embroidery, which became a source of considerable support to poor cottagers. She was an accomplished lady, full of sympathy and kindness for the poor, and rendered devoted services during the terrible famine years. Of Doctor and Mrs. Carter’s 12 children, one (a girl) died in infancy. The remaining 11 married and their issue included 25 boys and 27 girls, so that Doctor and Mrs. Carter had 52 grandchildren. Many of their descendants must be alive at the present day.
As Doctor Carter was the last rector of Ballintoy under the establishment (the patron being the Bishop of the diocese) the parish in 1872 proceeded to appoint a successor through the Board of Nomination. The choice of the Board fell on the Rev. Francis Dobbs, Rector of Loughguile. He died in 1879 and was the last incumbent of Ballintoy to die while holding the incumbency. All the succeeding incumbents were subsequently appointed to other charges. By a remarkable coincidence Mr. Dobbs was the representative and direct heir of the Stewart family of Ballintoy Castle.
This service very forcibly brings to our minds the thought of permanence associated with the material world, the realm of nature--
“The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.”
—an intricate and mysterious region which science, step by step, advancing, exploring, conquering, endeavoured to reduce to a fully known and ordered kingdom. And in the midst of all this it bids us pause and reflect upon the utter transitoriness of our earthly pilgrimage. It also brings to our minds, as we remember the days of old and consider the years of many generations—and not least at a time when the parish is about to begin yet another chapter in its eventful history—how times change, circumstances change, conditions change, men change. Yet in the midst of all the changes and chances of this mortal life, there is, above all else the thought of the greater permanence of God. “Before the mountains were brought forth or ever the earth and the world were made thou art God from everlasting.” In the beginning God ....
Wonderful Panorama
As one contemplates the wonderful panorama of land and sea and sky such as is comprehended in that four or five miles’ coastal stretch from Portbraddon at the western extremity of the parish, to Carrick-a-Rede, near the eastern extremity, one reflects on the thoughts contained in the prayer used daily in Her Majesty’s ships, of that Eternal God “Who alone spreadest out the heavens and rulest the raging of the sea, Who has compassed the waters with bounds until day and night come to an end.”
Of the diversified scenic charms of this coastal parish—its church—a sturdy structure in the Elizabethan style of architecture—which is such a familiar landmark both by land and sea, its relic of the old rundale system of cultivation, its grand physical features and the stupendous erosions, contortions and landslips indicating the vast disturbances of past geological ages, its magnificent cliff path at Carrick-a-Rede, which can easily rival the much vaunted Cornish coastal path, its picturesque harbour with its basaltic conical stacks, the outcome of faulting, its great semi-amphitheatre which backs the mile and a half of golden strand at Whitepark, now happily secured for all time by the National Trust—it might indeed be said:--
He who would know the depths off that old heart,
Must seek the silence of her purple moors,
Must know the fury of her mighty surf
Must mark the splendour of her sea born clouds,
And then, perchance, his quickened ear will catch
Some passing fragment of celestial strain
Some tuneful echo of the Infinite
Still vocal in the hollows of her hills
As Ocean’s song within the carved shell
For here his soul, by Nature’s soul absolved,
May see the imprint of the hand of God
Unmarred by man; may hear that tuneful voice
Bidding him cast out fear, for he is just
An emanation of his Maker’s breath
A sentient atom of his Deity
That must return to Him Who gave it birth
As do the rivers to the Ocean’s breast.
Then the pale ego of his phantom pride
Will find the true Nirvana of the soul
By losing what he fondly calls himself
In the great anthem of the heart of God.
“Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations." —Deuteronomy, Chapter 32, verse 12.
It has been the custom for some years past to mark the opening of the fishing season by a fisherman’s service in the church of this coastal parish—a parish, which, as one might reasonably expect, has had many contacts with them that go down to the sea in ships and have their business in the great waters. It may not be inappropriate, too, in view of the circumstances that next Saturday, Ballintoy will have its twenty-first incumbent—the Rev. C. J. Rountree. M.A.—enter upon his duties here, to remember the days of old and consider the years of many generations. “Human history,” it has been said, “is a varied landscape, full of lights and shadows, with a background of great mountains and a foreground crowded with incident." Such is true of the history of practically all our rural parishes and it is particularly true of this one.
Dates From 1670
The parish of Ballintoy, with its wild and rocky sea coast, cannot, of itself, claim any great ecclesiastical antiquity. It dates from about the year 1670. so that it is almost 300 years old. When it was constituted a separate parochial unit out of the parent parish of Billy, it contained. in all, 61 townlands, but of these, 22 constituted the Rathlin portion of the parish. When Rathlin was separated from Ballintoy in 1722, the parish was thus left with 39, but in the polity of the Church of Ireland (as distinct from the civil arrangement, in which case the number is still 39) this has been further reduced to 27. The reduction in the number of townlands from 39 to 27 is accounted for by:--
(a) The formation in 1831 of the perpetual cure of Dunseverick, whereby seven townlands were transferred to form part of that parish, and
(b) The formation, 44 years later —in 1875—of the ecclesiastical parish of Drumtullagh. In that year Ballintoy surrendered a further five townlands. This left 27 and these now constitute the ecclesiastical parish. They are as follows: — Templastragh, Ballynastraid, Magheracastle, Magheraboy, Lemnaghmore, Cloughcorr, Lagavar, Lisbellnagroagh More, Craiganee, Clegnagh, Lisbellnagroagh Beg, Glenstaghey, Croaghmore, Whitepark, Coolmaghra, Toberkeigh, Lemnaghbeg, Knocksoghey, Broughgammon, Craigalappin, Ballintoy, Maghernahare, Knocknagarvin, Ballintoy Demesne, Ballinlea Lower, Ballinlea Upper, Prolusk.
“Town of the North”
The word Ballintoy means “town of the north," a meaning that, having regard to the situation of the parish, is particularly appropriate. Before the parish was formed, about three centuries ago, the parish church of this locality was, of course, Billy, and thither the adherents of the Established Church in the Ballintoy district, were expected somehow or other to wend their way—and that at a time when means of transport and communication were not what they are to-day. But it should be remembered that there also existed at the Ballintoy end of what was then the parish of Billy, an ancient religious foundation known as the church of Templastragh. That it would be more centrally situated for worshippers in the Ballintoy neighbourhood than the parish church of Billy goes without saying. The word Templastragh means “The church of the flame.” Exactly in what relation it stood to the parish church of Billy is rather difficult to determine.
Pre-Reformation Chapel
In its origin, Templastragh may have been a “keel” or burying-place at which, in pre-Reformation times a chapel was erected, like the “keels” of Magheradonnell, Mostragee and Gracehill in the parish of Derrykeighan, or the ruined chapel of Drumeeny in Glenshesk in the adjoining parish of Ramoan. Some of these churches and sites are very old and go back to the days of Celtic Christianity. Many, however, only date from mediaeval times and were erected as chapels of ease for the convenience of parishioners who lived far from the parish church, while others were found in close proximity to castles, and so must have been used as places of worship by their owners.The Ballintoy locality seems to furnish an example of each. Templastragh was very probably a chapel of ease to Billy, while this parish church was originally erected, early in the seventeenth century, as a chapel of ease, in close proximity to the Castle of Ballintoy, to serve the needs of its occupants.
Ballintoy Castle
Templastragh church may have served the Ballintoy neighbourhood until, or almost until, the erection of this church, sometime during the first quarter of the seventeenth century. Since the parish is not a very ancient one, it necessarily follows that this church cannot claim any great antiquity. That it existed as a chapel of ease in the parish of Billy and that it served particularly the needs of the adjacent Castle of Ballintoy for some time—about half a century—before it received parochial status are facts beyond all reasonable doubt. Ballintoy Castle, no longer in existence, was pleasantly situated at what is now a cluster of houses a short distance from the church in the townland known as Ballintoy Demesne. It occupied a site half-a-mile west of the village and a quarter-of-a-mile south of the sea shore. It must have been a building of considerable size, as the Hearth Money Rolls of 1669 state that It contained 12 hearths and that It was inhabited by Archibald Stewart, Esquire.
No doubt the greatness and importance of the castle loomed over everything else in the locality. The Cromwellian Inquisitions of 1657 distinctly refer to what is now this parish church, as “the chapel of Ballintoy” in the parish of Billy. It was situated in a position which, taking the parish as a whole, could not be described as central for the purposes of a parish church. But for this, the immediate proximity of the Castle was largely, if not entirely, responsible.
Since Ballintoy Castle, for a great number of years must have been the largest building in what was then, as now, an entirely rural locality, a word must be said concerning it. From 1630 to the middle of the eighteenth century, it was inhabited by the Stewart family—a family usually referred to as "the Stewarts of Ballintoy.” There is every reason to suppose that it was this family that erected this church. The Stewarts were a branch of that ancient and noble line that had given Kings to the Scottish and English thrones; indeed, the motto of one branch of the family was “Not descended from kings; kings descended from us.” The family was descended from Sir John Stewart of Bute, son of Robert II, a descendant of the Dalriadic monarchs of Scotland and, therefore, of the old Irish royal line from winch the Dalriadic Kings of Scotland sprang and from whom Her present Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II is descended. The word Carrick-a-Rede may be the local and corrupt form of Carrig Riada, meaning, perhaps, the most noteworthy rock on the coast of Dalriada.
Sheriffs of Bute
From Sir John Stewart of Bute descends the long line of hereditary sheriffs of Bute, now represented by the Marquis of Bute. The fifth sheriff of the island, Archibald, had, among other issue, two sons. It is said that the Stewarts lost their estates in the Island of Bute in 1560 and that these two sons crossed over to Ireland and settled on the coast of North Antrim. Unlike the Norman conquerors of Ireland in the twelfth century, who were merely military leaders, the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century colonists were farmers, merchants, weavers, mechanics and labourers. They built towns and villages and substituted farm houses and homesteads for the wattled huts and mud cabins of the natives.
The original seat or residence of this Stewarts in Ballintoy was at Altmore, now known as the Deer Park, from which they removed to the castle. The deer park was enclosed by a wall, not to be confused with the very extensive walls built around the rectory property. The first Stewart occupant of Ballintoy Castle was Archibald Stewart, agent to the Earl of Antrim in 1630. It was he who very probably built a church on the site of this church in which we are assembled this afternoon. He was a son of Ninian Stewart, one of the two scions of the family who came to North Antrim about 1560. His appointment as agent to the Earl of Antrim in 1630, after the death of John Macnaghten, made him a personage of the greatest importance on the Antrim coast. He was the ancestor of the elder branch of the Stewarts of Ballintoy. The Stewart family was intimately associated with this parish and locality for two centuries from 1560 to 1760. Archibald Stewart presented this church with a bell (now disused) on which there is this inscription:
“Archibald Stewart gave me: Charles, his son, re-cast me, anno 1686 and Archibald, the son of Charles re-cast and augmented me. Anno 1718.”
Memorial Slab
Archibald Stewart’s family included one son and three daughters. One of bis daughters, Bemarda, married about 1660 her kinsman, James Stewart. son of John Stewart of Straid in this parish. This lady died in 1663: a red freestone slab beneath the Holy Table in this church is thus inscribed:
'Under this stone Bemarda Stewart doth lie
Whom pangful death o’ercame victoriously. 1663.”
Close beside this stone is another red freestone slab covering the grave of a child named Nicholas Stewart, who was, no doubt, her son. It is inscribed:
“Here lies Nicholas Stewart, who departed this life 10th of September, 1667.”
When tender plants
Such as this childe
By nature comely
Courteous, mild,
Have Christian like
Outrun their race
Not earth but heaven
Have for their place.
Let us behind
Implore His grace
That quickly we
May see His face.
Communion Plate
The solid silver Communion plate belonging to this church is believed to be about the third oldest in the diocese of Connor. It bears the date 1684 and consists of a chalice and paten. Both were presented by another of Archibald Stewart’s daughters — Sara. This interesting plate forms a link between the Communicants of to-day and those who knelt on the same spot almost three centuries ago. In addition to an inscription, the chalice bears the maker’s mark. This indicates that it was the work of James Vanderberg or Vanderbec:, a Dublin silversmith, who died in 1642. Until the existence of this chalice was brought to the notice of experts, the only piece of Vanderbeck known to them was the flagon in the possession of Dublin University. It is known to date from 1638—the first year in which an official hall mark was used in Ireland. The chalice and paten were very probably Archibald Stewart's private property. Having passed to his daughter Sara, they were presented by her to the church in 1684 —a time when there is reason to think that this church may have been undergoing some kind of restoration, as the bell was re-cast in 1686.
Irish Rebellion
During the terrible Irish Rebellion of 1641 this church, or as it then was, chapel of ease, of Ballintoy was a place of refuge from the insurgent or rebel Irish. For the Plantation settlers to have remained in the open country would have been to court death at the hands of their fanatical, dispossessed and ill-used enemies. Two places in these parts were available for the refugees from the surrounding countryside—the town of Coleraine, with its defensive earthen ramparts and the Church and Castle of Ballintoy. While the Castle was besieged by the rebels, crowds of Protestant women and children, helpless and homeless refugees, fled inside this church for protection where, it is only fair to state, a kind hearted and compassionate Roman Catholic priest named M’Glaime, at great personal risk to himself, secretly supplied them daily with as much food as kept them alive, until relief came. It is to the credit of the vestry of Ballintoy that, about the end of the eighteenth century, it voted parochial relief to a poor man named M’Glaime because he was a relative of the priest.
The Stewart Family
The Rev. Archibald Stewart, D.D., grandson of the first Archibald, held the rectory of Ballintoy from 1718 to 1737. In early life he served as a Chaplain in the army and was sent in that capacity to Spain in the reign of Queen Anne, during the memorable War of the Spanish Succession. It was upon his return from the Continent that Stewart became Rector of Ballintoy. It was also during his incumbency—in 1722—that the island portion of Ballintoy—that is to say, Rathlin, was erected into a separate parochial unit. The Stewart family disposed of its property and interests in Ballintoy about 1760 and subsequently the estate passed by purchase into the family of Fullerton, later to become known as Downing Fullerton. This family is still possessed of some interests in the parish, including the Carrick-a-Rede salmon fishery. It was an ancestor of the Downing branch of the family of Downing Fullerton—Sir George Downing—who gave his name, as the owner of the property, to Downing Street in London, on which the Prime Minister’s official residence—the famous No. 10—and other Government buildings were subsequently erected. Dawson Downing, a collateral descendant of Sir George Downing, married a member of the Fullerton family, and it was the son of this marriage who assumed the name of Downing Fullerton. The present representative of the family, Mr. George Derek Downing Fullerton, who was baptised in this church, is the seventh generation of the family to be associated with the Ballintoy estate. When the castle of Ballintoy, for some reason or other, was dismantled in 1795, a fine oak staircase, rich panelling and beams belonging to it, were transferred to the University of Cambridge to embellish Sir George Downing's collegiate foundation there—Downing College, founded in 1717.
Some Former Rectors
A word concerning some of the former Rectors of this parish. The Rev. Doctor Archibald Stewart was succeeded in 1737 by the Rev. Edward Higginson, who held the incumbency until 1745. Higginson was succeeded by John Ryder (1745-1759), Edmund Lodge and Edward Trotter, LL.D. Of these it might be mentioned that Doctor Trotter, who died at the early age of 48, was buried in the well- known London church of St. James’s, Piccadilly. Doctor Trotter was succeeded by the Rev. Robert Traill, who held the parish for an uninterrupted period of sixty-five years. It was during his long incumbency that, in 1812, this church was rebuilt on the site of the ancient structure. The reconstructed church was complete with tower and spire, but a storm having carried away the spire, it was never re-erected. Mr. Traill was also responsible for the erection of the present rectory in 1788 and he left a very full and extremely fascinating account of the parish during the Napoleonic Wars. His great-nephew was the well- known Doctor Anthony Traill, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin.
Incumbent For 65 Years
Instituted on the 19th August, 1777, at the age of 22—while under canonical age—Mr. Traill In his 65 years’ incumbency must have seen the generations rise and fall in Ballintoy. His incumbency was spread over the reigns of four sovereigns—George III, George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria, and over the episcopates of four Primates of All Ireland and four Bishops of Down and Connor. There were no less than 25 holders of the office of Vicerory or Lord Lieutenant during his long incumbency. He witnessed such outstanding events in the history of the British Crown and Commonwealth as the recognition of the Independence of the American Colonies, the Union of the English and Irish Parliaments, Roman Catholic Emancipation, Parliamentary Reform and the multifarious legislative activity that succeeded it.In 1803 the population of the parish (which then included those townlands subsequently transferred to the parishes of Dunseverick and Drumtullagh) was 3,593, of whom 2,075 were members of the Established Church, 997 were Dissenters and the remainder 521 were Roman Catholics. In a list of employments in the parish in that year there were:
82 Fishermen 92 Hired Servants
288 Weavers 5 Millers
3 Boat Carpenters 118 Yeomen
21 Salmon Fishers 5 Thatchers
Salmon Fisheries
“We have three salmon fisheries in this parish,” says Mr. Traill: “That of Port Braddon lets for 60 guineas yearly; those of Carrick-a-Rede and Larrybann are jointly let for £410. The fish caught on this coast in the greatest plenty, are glashen, grey gurnet and cod. We have here a species of cod rarely got elsewhere, called rock or red cod. It Is found all the year through and always in season; its red colour is supposed to be occasioned from the particular nature of its food and is not reckoned to be a distinct species. We have also lythe, lyng, white or sea trout, mackerel, brazier (which I conjecture to be the same as sea bream), haddock, grey mullet, red gurnet and a very indifferent fish called murran roe, a small thick fish as red as scarlet. Of flat fish there are halibut, turbot, skate, flounder and sole: there are also crabs and lobsters. As to sand eels, periwinkles and limpets, they are seldom used, except for bait. We are occasionally visited by whales, sharks, porpoises and several others of the more remarkable inhabitants of the deep.”
Well may Ballintoy have its annual fisherman’s service when it is remembered that the salmon fisheries of Portbraddon and Larrybann are known beyond all shadow of doubt to have been in existence for at least 33 years—since 1630. An Inquisition taken at Carrickfergus in that year mentions these two fisheries.
Hamilton, writing in 1784, thus describes the Carrick-a-Rede Fishery: "Six fishers and one clerk reside on this rock during the fishing season: the fishers receive one-third of the fish taken for their wages; a third goes for the boats and nets, and the remainder to the proprietors.” “I am very happy,” says Mr Traill, “on having no attorney, nor any litigious, quarrelsome people in the parish; it is, therefore, but very seldom that I have occasion to resort to manor courts or sessions to enforce payments of tithes. Neither have we any resident physician in the parish, and as the people are in general healthy, perhaps we suffer nothing on that account. The situation of the greater part of the inhabitants is in the happy medium between wealth and poverty, and they may be said to be rather in easy circumstances. The principal food is oaten meal, potatoes and fish. In general they are healthy, although frequently epidemic diseases appear, but these are neither more violent nor lasting than in other parts of the country. Since the prejudice against inoculation has in a great measure been removed and that the people have become acquainted with the happy effect of the cow pock, that loathsome and deadly disease, the small pox, is but little known. In the propagation of the cow pock, I am the principal practitioner and have inoculated many hundreds with the greatest success.”
Mr. Traill was succeeded here in 1842 by the Rev. Doctor Henry Carter. He had previously been Curate of Carrickfergus with which office he combined the chaplaincy of the county jail in that ancient town. When a student at Trinity College, Dublin, it fell to him to present an address of welcome to Sir Walter Scott in the College Library. Mrs. Carter trained the young women of the parish in “satin stitch” embroidery, which became a source of considerable support to poor cottagers. She was an accomplished lady, full of sympathy and kindness for the poor, and rendered devoted services during the terrible famine years. Of Doctor and Mrs. Carter’s 12 children, one (a girl) died in infancy. The remaining 11 married and their issue included 25 boys and 27 girls, so that Doctor and Mrs. Carter had 52 grandchildren. Many of their descendants must be alive at the present day.
As Doctor Carter was the last rector of Ballintoy under the establishment (the patron being the Bishop of the diocese) the parish in 1872 proceeded to appoint a successor through the Board of Nomination. The choice of the Board fell on the Rev. Francis Dobbs, Rector of Loughguile. He died in 1879 and was the last incumbent of Ballintoy to die while holding the incumbency. All the succeeding incumbents were subsequently appointed to other charges. By a remarkable coincidence Mr. Dobbs was the representative and direct heir of the Stewart family of Ballintoy Castle.
This service very forcibly brings to our minds the thought of permanence associated with the material world, the realm of nature--
“The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.”
—an intricate and mysterious region which science, step by step, advancing, exploring, conquering, endeavoured to reduce to a fully known and ordered kingdom. And in the midst of all this it bids us pause and reflect upon the utter transitoriness of our earthly pilgrimage. It also brings to our minds, as we remember the days of old and consider the years of many generations—and not least at a time when the parish is about to begin yet another chapter in its eventful history—how times change, circumstances change, conditions change, men change. Yet in the midst of all the changes and chances of this mortal life, there is, above all else the thought of the greater permanence of God. “Before the mountains were brought forth or ever the earth and the world were made thou art God from everlasting.” In the beginning God ....
Wonderful Panorama
As one contemplates the wonderful panorama of land and sea and sky such as is comprehended in that four or five miles’ coastal stretch from Portbraddon at the western extremity of the parish, to Carrick-a-Rede, near the eastern extremity, one reflects on the thoughts contained in the prayer used daily in Her Majesty’s ships, of that Eternal God “Who alone spreadest out the heavens and rulest the raging of the sea, Who has compassed the waters with bounds until day and night come to an end.”
Of the diversified scenic charms of this coastal parish—its church—a sturdy structure in the Elizabethan style of architecture—which is such a familiar landmark both by land and sea, its relic of the old rundale system of cultivation, its grand physical features and the stupendous erosions, contortions and landslips indicating the vast disturbances of past geological ages, its magnificent cliff path at Carrick-a-Rede, which can easily rival the much vaunted Cornish coastal path, its picturesque harbour with its basaltic conical stacks, the outcome of faulting, its great semi-amphitheatre which backs the mile and a half of golden strand at Whitepark, now happily secured for all time by the National Trust—it might indeed be said:--
He who would know the depths off that old heart,
Must seek the silence of her purple moors,
Must know the fury of her mighty surf
Must mark the splendour of her sea born clouds,
And then, perchance, his quickened ear will catch
Some passing fragment of celestial strain
Some tuneful echo of the Infinite
Still vocal in the hollows of her hills
As Ocean’s song within the carved shell
For here his soul, by Nature’s soul absolved,
May see the imprint of the hand of God
Unmarred by man; may hear that tuneful voice
Bidding him cast out fear, for he is just
An emanation of his Maker’s breath
A sentient atom of his Deity
That must return to Him Who gave it birth
As do the rivers to the Ocean’s breast.
Then the pale ego of his phantom pride
Will find the true Nirvana of the soul
By losing what he fondly calls himself
In the great anthem of the heart of God.