CONTENTS
 

From 1444 until 1605 the records are silent about Derriaghy. Consequently we do not know how our church fared in the troubled sixteenth century which saw the dissolution of the monasteries, the reformation and the passing of the old Gaelic order. What is certain is that by the beginning of the seventeenth century, like the great majority of Ulster churches, it had fallen into disrepair. This is made clear by the record of an Inquisition held in Antrim on July 12th, 1605, an abstract of which states: "There is also the parish church of Dirreraghie the presentation of the vicar of which belongs to the Crown. The vicar receives the thirdpart of the tithes of 14 townlands and all alterages. The premises being waste are worth yearly but 13/4."18 Apart from the information about the condition of the church this extract from the Inquisition reveals that in the long dispute between the Primate and other claimants to the rectorship of Derriaghy the former had suffered another setback, although according to Reeves19 the Crown eventually in 1639 admitted the Primate's rights in Derriaghy and the other appurtenances of the priory of St. Andrew. It is also apparent from the Inquisition that the parish had by 1605 achieved definite bounds. This is our earliest information on this point, unless we regard the ten carucates mentioned in Innocent III's letter as the nucleus of the parish; but since parishes with clearly defined territorial bounds did not begin to come into existence in Ireland until the 12th century reforms of ecclesiastical organisation, the year 1204 might be rather early for the establishment of a parish in the usual sense so far north as Derriaghy. In 1609 James I, still ignoring, or perhaps ignorant of the Primate's ancient claim to the rectory of Derriaghy, granted it and its vicarage together with Blaris and several other churches in Antrim to Milo Whale, newly created Dean of Connor by a royal charter remodelling the Cathedral of Connor.20 In the charter the place name is spelt "Deriakie' which, like the spelling "Dirreraghie" in the Inquisition of 1605, closely resembles the modern spelling and suggests a marked change in the first component of the name from the earlier forms; although with spelling so chronically inconsistent and always dependent on the ability of successive scribes to decipher spellings in the documents they used or to represent phonetically the sound of the possibly unfamiliar Irish names they heard it is unwise to read too much into variant spellings.

The year 1609 also saw the grant by the Crown of a large area of what is now south Antrim to Sir Fulke Conway as reward for his services in the Irish Wars.21 Although Derriaghy is not specifically mentioned in the grant Conway must have obtained possession of the Derriaghy district either in 1609 or soon afterwards since it is listed (spelt Deraghy) among his lands in the Inquisition held on his death in 1623.22 Some initial confusion may have arisen because part of the parish including Derriaghy itself had been in the old Irish territory of Derryvolgie whereas nearly all the Conway lands lay in the neighbouring territory of Killultagh. Sir Fulke Conway brought over settlers from England and Wales to service and farm his 60,000 acres,23 either because the previous occupants of the land had fled during the wars or because they remained faithful to their old loyalties and had been dispossessed. At any rate the Protestant inhabitants of the Derriaghy area must have been very few at the beginning of the century. Although the appointment of a vicar to Derriaghy is recorded in 1634,24 it is clear from the 1657 Inquisition on the parishes of Co. Antrim25 that the church premises were still in poor physical condition, as had been noted in the Inquisition of 1605, and that the parish of Derriaghy was united to Blaris (Lisburn)—at any rate they shared the one vicar; they would continue to do so until the beginning of the next century. It would appear that Derriaghy church had suffered yet more damage as a result of military action in the Civil Wars of the century. The local tradition that Cromwell bombarded the church from Dunmurry, only desisting at the request of a Roman Catholic priest called Hamill,26 is probably just one more example of the tendency to blame Cromwell for damage done by others. More plausible is the statement by Lewis27 that the church was caught in crossfire during an engagement in 1648 between Royalist forces under Coote and Venables and the Scottish army of Monroe.

The first half of the seventeenth century thus saw the church and parish at their nadir; and it was not until the end of the century that recovery set in, as will be described in the next section. Documentary references to the parish continue to be scanty until the end of the century, although it is clear from the Hearth Money Rolls of 1669 that a substantial population was building up in the area; no less than 245 owners of hearths are listed, and it is therefore not surprising that it was eventually decided that a population of this size was capable of maintaining an independent church and parish.
We have now reached a point in time at which we are ceasing to be dependent on incidental references to our parish interspersed between very lengthy periods of complete silence in the records. It will have been remarked that for the history of the church and parish before the seventeenth century we have had to rely exclusively on ecclesiastical documents, and as a result it has not been possible to give any account of the social, administrative and political situation in the Derriaghy area in those earlier centuries. Very little is known of the Gaelic people in Killultagh (Coill Ultach i.e. Ulster Wood), as south east Antrim was formerly called. The dominant family in the late medieval period were O'Neills and the territory was subject to Clann Aodha Buidhe (the O'Neills of Clannaboy or Clandeboy); just as Clann Aodha Buidhe itself was a subkingdom of Cenél Eoghain. The O'Clery Genealogies (see Appendix 4) identify a Muintir na Coille Ultaighe which had branched out from the parent stock of the O'Neills of Clannaboy, and the implication would seem to be that this "Family of Killultagh" was in the genealogist's view the ruling family of the territory. This may have been so at an earlier period, but the evidence from contemporary references suggests that it was not so at the end of the sixteenth century, as the next paragraph shows.

State Papers in the last decades of the reign of Elizabeth I name "Cormac M'Neale M'Brian" as "Captain of Killultagh", and this is partially confirmed by Fynes Moryson who writes that in 1599 "Cormack Mac O'Neill, Captain of Killultagh, had sixty Foote and ten Horse". The only Cormac O'Neill who could have been correctly described as "M'Neale M'Brian" at the end of the sixteenth century was the Cormac who was a grandson of Brian Faghartach O'Neill (the head of the Clannaboy O'Neills who died in 1548) and a brother of the unfortunate Conn O'Neill dispossessed by Hamilton and Montgomery. It would thus seem that the main branch of the Clannaboy O'Neills had at some time taken over the leadership of Killultagh from the O'Neills of Muintir na Coille Ultaighe. J. Hogan states that this transfer took place as early as 1515 (Irish law of kingship, P.R.I.A. vol. xl, p.243).28 Cormac's "sixty Foote and ten Horse" would presumably have been drawn from the principal families of Killultagh. (See Appendix 7).

In contrast the English landlords who replaced the O'Neills of Killultagh, first the Conways and after them the Seymours (the Marquises of Hertford), kept detailed maps and records which provide us with a mass of interesting information about the land and its occupiers. Many of these are freely accessible to the public in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

NOTES

Although later in the Middle Ages "villa", according to its context, takes on more specific meanings such as "village", "townland", etc., it would seem more prudent in this case to give it the more general meaning of "settlement" or "habitation"; especially because the application to the Pope by the grantees for confirmation of the grant is not, so far as is known, any longer in existence and so we do not know whether the Pope merely repeated the terms of the application or used "villa" as his equivalent of what he understood the application to mean. The same difficulty arises with the Latin word "carucata", which may have been the term used in the original application for confirmation or again may have been the papal interpretation. It has been translated here with deliberate caution as "carucate" but it is commonly rendered as "ploughland", a term whose meaning has not yet been satisfactorily defined. It is generally stated to represent the amount of land which could be ploughed by one plough in a year and is given the nominal area of 120 acres; but the fact that in Ireland the carucate or ploughland appears to have varied in extent from as little as 50 acres to more than 1,000 acres according to locality would seem to indicate that it was related to value rather than to mere acreage. This being so it is difficult to estimate the extent of Derriaghy's ten carucates in 1204.

 

THE CHURCH AND PARISH IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

The Church

It is far from certain at what precise date the ruinous parish church was rebuilt or replaced. For the greater part of the seventeenth century notices of deaths, marriages and baptisms of Derriaghy people are to be found in the Blaris parish registers, now in Lisburn Cathedral; but from 1696 they begin to be recorded in the oldest Derriaghy parish register. This would suggest that by 1696 Derriaghy church had been repaired or rebuilt and was suitable for the performance of at least some religious ceremonies; it is hard to believe that they would have been conducted in a still ruinous church, although Dean Carmody pointed out in his History of Lisburn Cathedral (Belfast 1926) that between 1704 and 1767 three bishops were enthroned in the ruined cathedral at Downpatrick. However it does not seem unreasonable to assume that from 1696 the parish of Derriaghy was once again in operation, though still under the Vicar of Blaris. He probably entrusted Derriaghy to a curate: this was certainly so in 1703 when Thomas Ashe in his Survey of The Archbishopric of Armagh has this oddly spelt note: "Dean Willkins who is Minister of Lysburne Is Vicar of the said Parish (i.e. Derriaghy). And the Viceariall Tythes belong to him which he gives to his Curate for serving the said Cure."

Leslie names a John Macqueen as curate in Derriaghy 1691 (see list of clergy in Part III). This would suggest that the parish of Derriaghy has been reactivated even before 1696, possibly in order to serve army personnel and their families stationed in the area; it will be noted in the article
. on the Churchyard in Part II that soldiers were buried there in 1689 and 1690. The spiritual needs of the troops would no doubt have reinforced the view expressed by George Lovell, Chancellor and Vicar-General of the diocese, after a visitation held by him and the Dean at Lisburn in July 1685. Lovell reported: Blaris alias Lisburne, Lambeg and Derriaghy are all united and served at Lisburn; but I am of opinion a curate should be placed in Derriaghy, could the parish beare it, and the Impropriater contribute out of his Tythes towards his maintenance. (Tanner letters edit. C. McNeill, Dublin, 1943 p.473). This period of, as it were, probation continued until 1707 when the Rev. John Gayer was appointed Vicar of a Derriaghy independent once more. We have assumed on circumstantial evidence that Dean Wilkins' curates had had a usable church building since at least 1696, and we know that John Gayer had one in 1709 since the vestry court minutes (the first in the registers) state that the vestry court of the parish of Derriaghy was held in the parish church in April 1709. But a firm date for the rebuilding of the church cannot be proposed until some documentary evidence is forthcoming; we certainly know of nothing to support the date given by Lavens Ewart in his Handbook of the United Diocese of Down, Connor and Dromore (Belfast 1886) in which he has this laconic note: "The old church, 1710, partially rebuilt on site of a still more ancient edifice". Our hesitancy about the date is echoed by the Commission on Ecclesiastical Revenue and Patronage which reported in 1837 that the date of the church was unknown.

Very little is known of the appearance of the restored church. Thomas Fagan's Ordnance Survey Memoir completed in 1837 stated on the authority of local informants that at first the church had a roof of shingles, and this is confirmed by references in Vestry Court minutes, which also mention a steeple in constant need of repair and eventually sold to John Stuart in 1753 or 1759. Fagan further stated that the shingles were replaced with slates in 1750, but he must have either misunderstood or been misled by his informants; the Vestry Court minutes make no reference to a reroofing in 1750, whereas a number of receipted accounts detail a very extensive reroofing operation involving 10,000 slates in 1771/2, and there are accounts for new shingles in 1754 and 1757. The Vestry Court minutes are missing from 1759 to 1794 and so we cannot look to them for confirmation of the reroofing in 1771 /2.

The extent of the parish
The Hertford Estate map of 1726 shows that the newly independent parish contained the following townlands: Aghalislone, Ballycollin, Derriaghy, Killeaton, Kilmakee, Mullaghglass, Magheralave, Poleglass, Lagmore, Aghnahough, Ballymacoss, Clogher, Whitemountain or Carestoy, Slievenacloy, Slievenagravery, Tornagrough, Tornaroy, Island Kelly, Bovolcan, Drumankelly and Ballymacward Upper and Lower. The parish retained these townlands until the formation of the separate parish of Stoneyford, to be described in a later section. It is not known whether the 22 townlands of the eighteenth century parish represented a new arrangement or whether the parish had in earlier centuries been of the same extent. It will be recalled that the Pope's letter of 1204 mentioned ten carucates and that the extent of the parish had been described as containing 14 town-lands in the 1605 Inquisition and "nyne tounes" in the 1657 Inquisition; but as the names of the denominations of land were not given nor their extent defined, no precise comparison with the 22 eighteenth century townlands seems possible, although the boundaries of the parish stated in the 1657 Inquisition (see note 25 to preceding section) would suggest that the parish had already reached something like the area it would comprise in the eighteenth century. Townlands are named in the 1659 Census of Ireland (ed. S. Pender, Dublin 1939) and in the 1669 Hearth Money Rolls (Public Record Office of Northern Ireland) but other difficulties arise. The 1659 Census does not acknowledge the existence of Derriaghy Parish (presumably because it was already amalgamated with Blaris), and we have to infer that the following townlands represented the submerged parish: Killotin (i.e. Killeaton), Castlerobin, Maghrileave (i.e. Magheralave), Causey (i.e. Clogher?) and Ballymacosse. Ten years later in 1669 the Hearth Money Rolls acknowedge a parish of Derriaghy comprised as follows: Killety (Killeaton), BallymcCash (Ballymacoss), Old Parke, Clogher, BallymcElward (Ballymacward), Ballyvalgin (Bovolcan) and Island McKelley (Island Kelly). The 1669 list of townlands does not coincide with the 1659 list and neither contains anything like the eighteenth century total of 22 townlands. The explanation of the discrepancies may be that in both 1659 and 1669 the returns from a number of townlands were included under one head. For example in the 1659 Census, Castlerobin, which was not the name of a townland in later times, may have represented a number of townlands on that side of the parish; it seems certain that in the 1669 Hearth Money Rolls Killotin must have included other townlands since it accounts for 161 of the 245 hearths returned for the whole parish, although it was one of the smaller townlands. The same is probably true of Old Park.

The meanings of place names
As well as its extent, the name of the parish was finally stabilised in the eighteenth century as Derriaghy or Derryaghy with minor variations such as Dirriaghie, pointing to an original Irish form "Doire Achaidh" i.e. the oak-wood of the field. It will have been noticed that some of the earlier forms of the place name e.g. Ardrachi and Erderacheth appear to have a first component like Ard. But the documentation of these Ard-forms is so scanty that it would be imprudent to make anything of them at this stage of our knowledge. Meanings for the original Irish forms of all the townlands of the parish have been supplied by Mrs. D. Flanagan of the Celtic Department of Queen's University; they will be found in Appendix 2, with a proviso that some of the interpretations are offered only tentatively.

The people of the parish
As mentioned earlier the Hearth Money Rolls of 1669 list the names of 245 hearth owners in the parish. Lists of parish landholders for the years 1736 and 1772 preserved in the oldest parish register contain 233 and 257 names respectively. Comparison of the three sets of names is admittedly not a comparison of like with like, yet the figures surely suggest that there was no significant increase in the parish population over the hundred years. On the other hand when the names in the three lists are compared it is apparent that families came and went during the century in a manner which indicates no small degree of restlessness. This phenomenon of a population stable in mere numbers but shifting in composition generation by generation was perhaps due to the fact that fresh families kept moving into the parish to replace others which had emigrated in order to escape the consequences of the depressions and famines of the first half of the eighteenth century or had succumbed to hunger and disease (see L. M. Cullen, The Formation of the Irish Economy Dublin 1968; M. Drake, The Irish Demographic Crisis of 1740-1, in Historical Studies VI). A striking increase in population after 1772 is reflected in the Applotment list of 1844 printed in Part III which contains the names of 600 occupiers of land.
Not all families were on the move. Some names persisted throughout the century, for example, Abernethy, Boyes, Banister, Brown, Close, Cromie, Duncan, Grainger, Gribbon„ Hamill, Hastings, Hull, Johnston, King, Lewson, Lunn, Magee, Pearce, Mussen, Phillips, Robinson, Rice, Stewart, Smith, Thompson, Tate, Willis, Whiteside, Waring. It is significant that many of these familiies held large amounts of land. Other names which were to become well established in the parish appear in the early Vestry Court minutes and in the 1736 list of landholders: Alderdice, Bulmer (Boomer), Carmichael, Christian, Corken, Crommelin, Crone, McCall, Murray, Mcllrath, Partridge, Potts, Richardson, Rosbotham, Seeds, Skelton. Several of the names in this latter list figure in the Blaris records of baptisms, marriages and burials in the late 17th century, but not, for some reason, in the Hearth Money Rolls.

Minutes of the Vestry Court 1709-1759
These minutes are contained in the oldest parish register and give a fascinating picture of local life at that period. The parish was the social and legal unit of the time and the parish officials were responsible for the well-being of the whole district. A vestry Court levied a yearly tax on the parishioners and this money was used for a great variety of local purposes—upkeep of roads, the relief of poor widows and orphans and the repair of Church property. The tax was assessed according to the area and quality of land held by each person. The officials of the parish included the clerk who led the responses in Church and kept records, the Director of the Highway responsible for roads with the assistance of a number of surveyors, and the sexton.

This book provides good examples of the 18th century attitude to the poor and of the working of the Poor Laws.

Vagrant beggars were a cause of great concern to the authorities and this oldest parish register contains a copy of a document issued by the Quarter Sessions meeting at Carrickfergus on 9th July 1707 which lays down in the greatest detail what steps were to be taken to deal with the problem of beggars. Each parish was to register the beggars permitted to beg in the parish and to issue a badge or ticket bearing the name of the parish. Any beggar found begging outside his authorised parish was to be apprehended and either "be Stripd Naked from the middle and openly whipd till their bodies shall be bloody. Or be putt into the Stocks 2 days & 2 Nights and there to have only Bread & Water".

At least three men were to be on watch every night in each parish and every parishioner was bound to bring before the authorities any unlicensed beggar in the parish "upon the penalty of 3 shillings & 4 pence for each impotent beggar. And 6 shillings & 8 pence for each Sturdy Beggar."
The copy of these ordinances preserved in the parish register is certified as a true copy by the Vicar, John Gayer, but he did not date his signature nor did the churchwardens sign their names in the space left for them to do so. It is possible that Gayer made the copy in 1707, the year in which he became vicar.

It would appear from the Vestry Minutes that the method used to give financial held to the poor of the parish was, in part at any rate, to lend to parishioners the endowments left to the parish for this purpose charging interest.

Thus we find the account of —
"the poors Mony in the parish of Dirriaghy as it stands this 22nd day of Aprill 1732"
 

Aprill 2nd 1716 George Swarbrick pd Ten Shillings and two pence in full of interest for the mony Murren Neal left to the poor of the parish of Dirriaghy.
Aprill 2nd 1717 He paid the same.
Aprill ye 2nd 1716 John Coyn pd fifteen Shills in full for ye interest of ye money Tho Simpson left for ye use of ye poor.
George Swarbrig apparently found the interest difficult to raise on one occasion:

It is ordered at ye vestry this 10th of Aprill 1721 George Swarbrig shall either pay ye money left by Marran Neil for ye use of ye poor of Derriaghy, or give security for the same at or before ye first day of May next ensuring ye above date. As witness of our hands.

However, he must have found the interest for we learn that in 1735 Widow Swarbrigd is still entrusted with the capital. But, like her late husband, she is in default and has been given three weeks to pay.

The parish's concern for foundling children is illustrated in a minute of April 15th, 1752.

"At a vestry held this day it was unanimously agreed that a foundling child called Elinor McMahon as appears by a paper left with it, left last night at the door of Rich^d Steed be taken care of by ye churchwardens at the expense of this parish and also that an advertisement be published in Belfast Newsletter promising a guinea reward to any person who shall discover who left the said child and also that notice be given by the public cryer in Lisburn."

The following extract from the minutes illustrates another responsibility of the vestry to the community in the 18th century.
Ph. of Dirriaghy Ober 4th 1743.

A court of Vestry held that day due notice being given the last Lord's Day it is agreed that Mr. John Peers be director of the repairs of the publick roads -

from Stonyford to Lisburn
from Castle Robbin to Lambeg from ye fishpond at Mr. Gayer's to
Wid^w Pogue's from John Glister's to Arch^d Johnsons

that Mr. James Hamilton and Mr. James Murray be surveyors of the road from Stonyford to Lisburn and that ye work of the inhabitants of the upper and lower old park be applyd to ye repair of the sd road-and that Thomas Mussen and John Murray the younger be surveyors of the road leading from Castlerobbin to Lambeg and that the work of all the inhabitants on the south side of ye sd highway be apply'd to ye repair of ye sd road-and that James MI" Wrath and Mathew Erwin be surveyors of ye road leading from the fishpond to widw Pogue's and that the work of the inhabitants on ye north side of the road from Castlerobbin to ye fishpond be applyd to the repair of the sd road-and that Mr. Nicholas Cromelin and Archd Johnson be surveyors of the road from Glister's to Archd Johnson's, and that the work of the inhabitants of ye East Corner below the fishpond and Mr. Cromelin's green be applyd to the repair of the sd road-it is also ordered that the sum of two pounds ster. be raised off this parish and paid to Mr. John Peers for his salary pursuant to ye statute of ye sd. vestry as adjourned to Saturday ye 15th inst.
 

At. Sd. adjournment it was unanimously agreed that ye sum of nine pounds ster. be levy'd and raised off this parish and paid to Philip Gayer Clerk to be by him applyd towards plain ceiling this parish Church and that Mr. Danl Cromelin and Roger Hodgkinson Esq. be joint overseers with him of the sd works.

Charge for the year 1748

In 1794 the four parish school-masters were given £4. 11s. Od. between them for keeping Sunday School (in which the R's were taught: not Sunday School as we know it today). It cost £3. 5s. 5d. to thatch Milltown Schoolhouse. 2s. 2d. was paid for keeping a Foundling Child. Fourteen loads of sand cost 9s. 4d. and eight barrels of lime 9s. 4d. In 1810 it cost £1. 5s. 11d. to send a foundling to Dublin.

The Parish was divided into Constablewicks-Derriaghy, Upper Old Park and Lower Old Park-and the cess to meet the parochial expenses was applotted according to their size and quality of land, Derriaghy at just £22, the others being about half that amount each for many years.

At a Vestry Court held in the Parish Church of Derriaghy, February the 2nd 1725 by the Rev. Mr. John Gayer, Vicar of said Parish, by the Churchwardens and other inhabitants there assembled, and by consent of those whose names are here subscribed, that Joseph Robinson and Jn. Bulmer is obliged to Hang the Bell in the Steeple with a sufficient head-stock and irons conformable for such a Bell. Also to mend the clapper, all which to be done without any damage to the sd. Bell. And also to make or raise her higher than former Bell, to the height as the Steeple will afford. They, the said Joseph Robinson and Jn. Bulmer having for the work one pound one shilling and eight pence—as witness our hands the day and year above written.

But it doesn't end there —

At a Vestry Court held in the Parish Church of Derriaghy July ye 25th 1725 by the Rev. Mr. John Gayer Vicar of the sd Parish . . . do order to send the Bell within the time appointed by the Bishop at the last visitation.

The next day, July ye 26 1725 another Vestry Court is held . . . that the sum of six pounds ste. be laid on the Inhabitants of the sd. parish, and land contained therein which sum being for the purchase of a Bell for the sd Parish Church, is ordered to be applotted and collected from each of the Constablewicks to their proportions, considering their several conditions and circumstances.

A further Vestry Court is held in the Parish Church, September the 8th 1725 . . . that Mr. Roger Willis shall be empowered by us to send for a Bell, into England one of about three hundred weight, and we do promise he shall be reimburs'd his money again, with any charges that may attend the same.

It would appear that Joseph Robinson and Jn. Bulmer broke the bell back in February and a second one had to be purchased.

The following extract suggests that the opposition to the payment of tithes which came to a head in the 1830s was already active.

1754 At a Vestry Court held in the Parish Church of Derriaghy It's unanimously agreed upon this 29th August, 1754 First It's Enacted that all persons who have not paid their fine of the rectoreal tyths and agree to pay, shall sign a bond payable the 1st of November to the Leasees of said Parish or any other person Deputed by them to receive the said fine, and that Mr. Mathew Rosbotham, and Mr. James Mussen, shall view the said Parish Tyths, and those who refuse to fine their said holdings, their leases shall be publickly sold at the Parish Church Door on Thursday the 12th of September 1754.

Secondly it's Enacted that Mrs. Duncan shall fine for ` all her Tenants otherwise Her fine shall be return'd her and not Intilled to any benefit according to a former rule dated 14th March 1754. Phil Gayer, Vicar

In the 1750's the name John Goodwin occurs several times and presents us with a puzzle.

At a Vestry Court held on 30th March 1757 by the Rev. Willm Lill for layng on the Clarks Salary this Unanomosly agreed that John Goodwins Salary for the Enshuing year shall be six pounds to John Goodwin also three pounds starling to Willm Seeds as Vestory Clark.

Previous to that, in March 1743, his salary was to be eight pounds.

As parish clerk his duties would have included the leading of the singing of the responses at the Church services.

But when we come to the Vestry Court held on Easter Monday 1759 we read

'Five pounds to be paid to John Goodwin, provided he does not sing to Interrup Wm. Seeds, and four pounds to be paid to Wm. Seed for doing the duty of Parish Clerk.'

1752 Know all men by Presence that I John Bulmer of the Parish of Dirriaghy and County Antrim am holder and firmly bound to the Minster and Church Wardens in the Parish. Some of twenty Pound Ster to which Payment will and truely be made I do bind me My heirs Exect administrators and assigns.

Witness my hand and Seal this 15 of April 1752

The Condition of the above oblagation is such that if Thomas Crone an orphant aged seven years shall never be any Charge or burthen to the said parish providing always that I receive the hire of the Loom and Said loom to be My Property till Richard Crone elder brother to the said orphan comes to age.

Witness my hand and Seal the day and year above written

 1750 £5 raised to send children to charter schools and poor houses.

Miscellaneous items 1759-1793
No vestry minutes can be found for the years between 1759 and 1794. The only documents in the parish records are of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials for some of those years. There are, however, in addition a number of loose accounts and receipts on fragments of paper concerning work done at the church between 1770 and 1773 and a few other items.

In 1771 and 1772 almost £120 was spent on the church roof. This represented major repairs and included ten thousand slates costing £9 5s 0d, rafters, flats, ridge pole, lead and labour. The Churchwarden or treasurer of the parish at the time was James Boyes jnr.

There are receipts for Communion wine; Jonathan Howard, the church sexton, paid Mrs. Mary Dempster £1 0s 6d for 12 bottles of claret in 1773 and £1 6s 8d for 16 bottles in 1774. Another receipt is for an advertisement for a Schoolmaster in 1773. That year also, it was advertised that the inhabitants of the parish at a Vestry resolved to provide for and badge their poor. Sarah Trinlavery was paid 11s 11d "for keeping an orphan for eleven weeks at 1s 10d per week and 11s 4d. was paid for careing the same child to Dublin."

A very indistinct receipt would seem to read 6th October 1753 or 1759 ^"received from John Stuart for the used Steeple of Dirriaghey Church the sum of One pound two shillings and nine pence sterlg". Signed Robert Skelton.

Pat. McDonald sent in "an Estmet of repers to the Chorch Stebel amountng to 13/6p" but no date is given. It included "a man to Peve the Stebell and find all belongen to Peven".

We conclude this account of the parish in this century with some notes on the arrival of the Huguenots in the parish and on three renowned eighteenth century clergymen—Philip Skelton, a native of the parish; Philip Johnson, vicar for 61 years; and John Wesley, an occasional visitor to the parish.

The Huguenots
This part of County Antrim, in common with other parts of Ireland, became a refuge for many French families towards the end of the seventeenth century. They were members of the Protestant Huguenot Church who were forced to flee because of the tyranny of Louis XIV who revoked the Act of Toleration, called the Edict of Nantes. Three-quarters of a million Huguenots fled and became scattered over most of the other nations of Europe.

About 6,000 came to Ireland and many settled in the Lisburn area. Most of them had been employed in the manufacture of silk and fine linen fabrics. Their skill quickly made itself felt in the Irish linen industry raising the quality and introducing new machinery.

A French Church was built in Castle Street in Lisburn for the refugees. The last ministerof the congregation, the Reverend Saumaurez ^IDubourdieu, was given the perpetual curacy of Lambeg and afterwards became vicar of Glenavy. He died in 1812. The members of the French Church gradually merged with the congregation of Lisburn Cathedral

(See Carmody: 'Lisburn Cathedral congregation and its Past Rectors').

Huguenot names are still to be found in the parish, and occur down the years in the Derriaghy Parish records. The surname Refausse remains in its French spelling but Bulmer, for example, is now Boomer.

There was a small Huguenot community at Poleglass engaged in the manufacture of linen. The old cobbled avenue to the mill buildings could be seen until a few years ago. The buildings have now been demolished.

Rev. Philip Skelton
Derriaghy can claim association with one of the most colurful and remarkable clergy of the Irish Church in the eighteenth century. He was Philip Skelton, described by Macaulay as one of the most able and best men in the Irish Church, and his biography, writen by S. Burdy, (Dublin, 1792), was called the finest in the English language.

He was born at Crone Cottage, Magheralave, (now the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. Somerville) in 1707, the youngest son of Richard Skelton, a gunsmith by trade.

When the wars of 1689-90 broke out Richard was conscripted with the forces of James II and compelled to serve against his will. After the war he turned his hand to farming and tanning to provide a living for his wife and ten children. His name appears in the parish records as Director of Roads, responsible for the maintenance of the highways in the parish.

Philip, at the age of ten, was sent to the Latin school in Lisburn. His father died shortly afterwards but his mother struggled to allow him to continue his studies. We are told that at his lodgings in Lisburn he would have to read in the evenings by the glimmering light of a dry furze thrown on the dying embers of his turf fire, for he had not the price of candles.

At Trinity College, Dublin, where he continued his studies, he gained a reputation not only as a scholar but at games, particularly boxing. He was useful with a cudgel and fought a duel with a fellow student who called him a Jacobite.

As a result of this quarrel the college authorities were considering witholding his degree. His biographer, Burdy, tells how he waited on the provost.

"Mr. Provost", said Skelton, "I am extremely obliged to you for stopping me of my degree last time, because it was what I wished for above all things, and I beg and beseech you may also stop me now, as my friends are forcing me to take it and quit the college, contrary to my desire."

"Ah, you dog,' replied the Provst, ^"What do you mean? Take your degree, Sirrah, and quit the college or I'll make you smart for it.'

He was awarded his degree with high honours.

During the long vacations he was a familiar figure in Derriaghy where he was an expert in bullet throwing; a game, now forbidden, in which a metal ball of two or three pounds was thrown along the road, the thrower whose ball in an equal number of throws went farthest past a fixed point being the winner. Skelton was in demand for the parish team.

In due course he was ordained, his first curacy being to the parish of Newtownbutler. There he began to show that zealousness for his work and charitable conduct which were to characterise his whole life.

His salary was £40 per year. He gave half of it away allowing himself scarcely enough for food and clothing.

In 1732 he was appointed curate of Monaghan where he was welcome in the houses and cabins of every creed. While there he made the journey to Dublin, where the Privy Council was sitting, to get a reprieve for a Monaghan man due to be hanged and who Skelton was convinced was innocent. His eloquent pleading was successful. With a stout bludgeon he was known to guard carts of provisions coming to the town from Cavan, lest the people of the adjoining parishes should steal them for themselves. He could rout a band of poteen makers.

His concern was for the physical as well as the spiritual welfare of the parishioners, caring for the famine stricken and the sick and for this purpose he studied medicine. Burdy says, "He cured many and killed none, which but few of our doctors can boast of".

His methods could be unusual. When called to cure a woman subject to delusions, he left his medicine bag at home but took a long pole with him. ^"What ails you, my good woman?" he asked. "Oh, sir," he said, "there is a little woman with a red cloak on the bed-post".

Ordering the people who were watching to stand back he struck the bed-post a terrific blow with his pole. "Where is she now?^" he asked. "On the corner of the roof," said the patient, as his pole went up and brought part of the roof given the same treatment and brought part of the roof down. "And now?" "On the dresser". The dresser was given the same treatment and most of the contents smashed.

"Oh, sir," screamed the woman, as she saw her house being demolished, "she has flown out of the window". The woman^'s cure was complete.

He was criticised for being over-zealous in the cause of religion. Here, too, his approach could be unorthodox. He was known to lock the church door before catechising his parishioners^. We might excuse his concern, for religion was at a low ebb in Ulster in those days! He excelled in describing hell fire and his gestures and shouts emphasised the meaning of his preaching.

After serving for eighteen years in Monaghan he was appointed rector of Pettigo, an extremely poor parish due to years of war and famine, where the people were "rough, uncultivated, disorderly and fond of drinking and quarrelling."

Here he had opportunity for his enthusiasm and energy and for the use of his stick as well. He called it Siberia. His home was the simplest, being one room, where he worked, ate, slept and entertained his friends. His table had two long legs and two short to suit the uneven mud floor. He wore a rusty wig as he went about the parish from cabin to cabin, his cloak bound up with a hay band.

His only holiday was six months spent in London where he went to arrange for the publishing of his book "Deism Revealed". It was a great success at the time. He had other books to his credit also but it was said of his writings: "had his taste been equal to his learning and imagination, or had he employed more care in polishing his compositions, they would have been more agreeable and consequently more durable".

His published works included twenty-one volumes, among them a Book of Hymns. He never married, but one of his sermons is on the subject "How to be Happy Though Married".

Several times he sold all his books to relieve the needs of the poor in his parishes.

The story is told that on one occasion as the bishop was about to visit the parish Skelton became concerned about the few people attending church and consulted his friend the Roman Catholic priest. When the day of the visitation came, the congregation, after Mass, went straight over to the Parish Church. The bishop was delighted at the numbers attending and went home none the wiser.

He suffered from melancholia. Many times, he thought he was going to die. One of his parishioners said to him: "Make a day, sir, to die and keep it and don't be always disappointing us".

Eventually he did make the day-4th May 1787, and was buried in St. Peter's Churchyard_, Dublin.

His biographer describes him as "one of the most extraordinary persons that Ireland ever produced". Certainly Derriaghy can look back with pride on this son of the parish —preacher, fighter, author, and eccentric genius who did so much for the cause of true religion in his day.

The Rev. Philip Johnson
At the time of the 1798 Rebellion, Derriaghy had its most famous incumbent, the Rev. Philip Johnson. As well as vicar (for 61 years) he was a Justice of the Peace and a Deputy Governor for County Antrim. He was a noted Orangeman, being Grand Master for Co. Antrim, and this, together with the leadership he gave in the community, before and during the Rebellion, was responsible for a number of attempts on his life. The sequence of events was set out in a booklet published in 1814 written "to clear the rector's good name and to give a true account of the facts". Extracts from the document show the '98 rebellion as not just an Irish rising but as part of a much larger international movement, the most noted result of which was the French Revolution culminating in the storming of the Bastille in July 1789 and the setting up of the French Republic. Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen drew much inspiration from France and were able to foster a similar spirit of revolt in Ireland.

A newcomer to the Parish of Derriaghy (not named in the booklet), obviously influenced by events abroad, proposed that the parish should follow the example of neighbouring parishes and send delegates to Ballymena to a Representative Assembly, to ^`new-model the Constitution'.

Mr. Johnson objected but gave permission for a meeting of parishioners to be held in the Parish Church at which he determined to oppose the appointment of delegates. A large meeting was held on the 12th January, 1793, when certain resolutions, prepared by Mr. Johnson, were passed:

Resolved unanimously, that at this awful crisis, when the public mind is so much agitated, and principles subversive of our happy constituion are openly avowed, and industriously propagated, we conceive it to be the duty of every good and loyal subject, to stand forward and avow his sentiments.

Resolved unanimously . . . that we will cheerfully, and at all times, and at the risk of everything dear to us, be ready to support and defend his Royal Person, Crown and Dignity against all his enemies and opposers whatsoever.

Resolved, that we love the present Constitution . . . whatever defects have crept into it . . . we trust may be corrected by peacable legal and constitutional means.

Resolved unanimously, that we bear sincere and hearty goodwill toward our Roman Catholic Brethren, and we trust that Parliament will lend an ear to the prayer of their petition, and extend to them a participation of every franchise consistent with the general welfare of the Nation, so as to conciliate all good subjects.

Resolved, that we consider it inexpedient, and improper to send Delegates to represent this Parish at a county meeting to be held in Ballymena on Monday next.

This last resolution caused a considerable degree of animosity against Mr. Johnson. The ill-will continued until 1796 when the attempts were made on his life.

Meanwhile the plans for the Rebellion were well advanced and he felt it his duty to adopt vigorous active measures against the conspirators. He organised the 'Loyal part of his own parish' and the extensive estate of the Marquis of Hertford into an effective body of 'Loyalists' ready to assist the civil magistrates, when called upon, as a 'Posse Comitatus', to enforce the execution of the Laws. The force came to almost 1,600 men; Derriaghy had 7 sergeants, 1 drum and 150 rank and file. Ballymacash had two companies totalling 212 men. The result was that when the rebellion broke out the area thus organised by the Rector of Derriaghy remained peaceful and secure and was a powerful barrier between the rebels assembled at Antrim and those at Ballynahinch. He was also so active in bringing conspirators to trial that the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Castlereagh, came from Dublin to Lisburn to superintend the execution of the warrants.

A conspiracy was formed to assassinate him. After several unsuccessful attempts, one nearly proved fatal. On the 8th October 1796 between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. in Lisburn, where he had been issuing warrants, two men, armed with pistols and bayonets, lay in wait for him and one of them fired as he was mounting his horse; the ball entered the back of his shoulder and came out through his chest.

A reward of £300, later raised by another £1,000, was offered for information leading to the arrest of those responsible but the culprits were never found.

Two further extracts from the above mentioned booklet illustrate the standing of the Rev. Philip Johnson in the eyes of both Protestants and Roman Catholics.

The first is a resolution passed at a large gathering of Orangemen held in Derriaghy Church on Sunday, 5th November 1797.

It was unanimously resolved—That the Thanks of this Meeting be presented to the Rev. Philip Johnson, for his very excellent and well adapted Sermon . . . Rev. Sir,

Permit us, who have viewed your unremitting labours for the public good ... to address you.

That this once peaceful and happy land, was on the eve of murder and pillage, through the machinations of that rebellious and detestable set of conspirators, the United Irishmen, is a fact notorious to all who live in the country. To such a degree had their informal schemes arrived, that few, very few, had the courage to attempt to stop them. You, sir, were one of those few ... and as a Minister of the Gospel, took care to inculcate in your hearers, that reverence for the laws of God, and respect for the laws of our country . . . No wonder their black assassins, should in the dark lift up their cowardly hands to deprive you of life.

We cannot, Sir, conclude, as we address you as Orangemen, without assuring you ... that those base scandalous and wicked charges, so often thrown out against us, as being enemies of our Roman Catholic fellow subjects, are totally groundless. We appeal to them in whose neighbourhood we live—have we at any time injured them—No, the loyal and peacable Roman Catholic will always find in us protection—We will strictly adhere to our motto, Fear God; honour the King; and love your neighbour as yourself.'

Despite what the Orangemen had to say about his sermon, he assured the Lord Lieutenant that he could reduce the strength of the Orange Order—if he were given the rectorship of Ahoghill, then the 'plum' parish in the Diocese. The Lord Lieutenant did not appoint him but kept his letter 'as a record of his merits.' (The Viceroy's Postbag) .

Finally some extracts from a letter written by Father Dennis Magreevy, Roman Catholic Priest of Derriaghy, to Mr. Johnson.

Reverend Sir, In compliance with your wish, I have made it my business ... to take the opinion of some of the oldest and most respectable of my hearers in the parish of Derriaghy, respecting the charges made against you. . . . Their unanimous opinion that the charges are unfounded . . . Upwards of forty years you have acted as an impartial Friend . giving equal justice to all . . . without fear or affection.

You and the Protestants of your Parish, Derriaghy, in general, particularly during the unfortunate troubles which took place in this kingdom, showed themselves in the most friendly manner to the Catholics of the place and rendered them every protection . . . as good neighbours and friends.

. . . that Presbyterians and others were outraged by Orangemen, for befriending the persecuted Catholics, such a charge they never heard of before.

The Catholics justly admit they were guarded and protected at the instance of the Rev. Mr. Johnson, and his parishioners, and by a Yeomanry guard provided and paid by Government, which he had the goodness to apply for, by which means they were preserved in security and peace.

And also to show, further, the good intention of the Rev. Johnson, to do essential services to the Roman Catholics he commenced and promoted a subscription among the Orangemen and friends of that institution to assist in repairing the Roman Catholic Chapels which had been burned during the Rebellion, of which subscription, Mr. Devlin, then parish Priest of said parish, received twelve guineas, to assist in repairing the Rock Chapel of Derriaghy.

These assertions, I think but a just tribute due to y