Islandmagee

Islandmagee
Irish: Oileán Mhic Aodha

Near Browns Bay, Islandmagee, in 2006
CountyCounty Antrim
CountryNorthern Ireland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Postcode district BT40
Dialling code 028
EU Parliament Northern Ireland
List of places
UK
Northern Ireland
Antrim

Islandmagee (from Irish: Oileán Mhic Aodha, meaning "Magee’s island/peninsula")[1] is a peninsula and civil parish on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, located between the towns of Larne and Carrickfergus. It is part of the Larne Borough Council area and is a sparsely populated rural community with a long history since the mesolithic period.

As part of an agricultural crop rotation programme of old beans were grown to supply nitrogen to the soil. "Bean Eaters" became a nickname for the people of Islandmagee.

It is the site of Northern Ireland's main power station Ballylumford and is the terminating point of the Scotland-Northern Ireland gas pipeline.

History

The name comes from Mac Aodha (Magee) a prominent Irish family in the area. An earlier Irish name was Rinn Seimhne (peninsula of (the district of) Seimhne) from an original tribal name.[1]

The Bissett family held the tenancy of the peninsula in Elizabeth I's reign, their rent being an annual offering of goshawks, birds which bred on the rugged white chalk cliffs nearby. It was the site of a witch trial in 1710 where eight women were convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to a year's imprisonment.

Archaeology

Sport

Civil parish of Island Magee

The peninsula is part of the parish of Island Magee. The boundaries of the parish and the peninsula match.

Townlands

The civil parish contains the following townlands:[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Island Magee". Place Names NI. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  2. "Ballylumford Dolmen". Discover Northern Ireland. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  3. O'Sullivan, Aidan & Breen, Colin (2007). Maritime Ireland. An Archaeology of Coastal Communities. Stroud: Tempus. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-7524-2509-2.
  4. "Investigations at Ballyharry Farm, Ballyharry, County Antrim�" (PDF). Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork. Retrieved 5 December 2009. replacement character in |title= at position 61 (help)
  5. "Islandmagee". IreAtlas Townlands Database. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
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External links

Coordinates: 54°47′47″N 5°42′11″W / 54.79643°N 5.70304°W / 54.79643; -5.70304

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, February 29, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.