LARNE

In 1868, the parish of Larne contained the following places:

"LARNE, a parish, post and market town, in the barony of Upper Glenarm, county Antrim, province of Ulster, Ireland, 10 miles S.E. of Glenarm, and 18 N.E. of Antrim. It is the terminus of the Belfast, Carrickfergus, and Larne branch of the Belfast and Northern Counties railway. The parish is 2 miles long, and its average breadth is 1½ mile. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Connor. The church is an old building. There are Presbyterian and Wesleyan meeting-houses, and a Roman Catholic chapel united to that of Carrickfergus. The town is a seaport lying partly within the parish of Inver. It is situated at the head of Lough Lame. It consists of an old and a new town. The latter has one principal and well-edificed street. The trade has become inconsiderable since the rise of Belfast, to which it is a subport. There is some traffic in the linen trade. Here are police and coast-guard stations. The principal buildings are, the poorhouse, fever hospital, gas works, bank, libraries, &c. Petty sessions are held once a fortnight. Numerous visitors resort to this town during the summer. The town was anciently called Inver, and it was here that Edward Bruce landed in 1315. On the peninsula called the Curran stand the ruins of Olderfleet Castle, founded by the Bissett family, and subsequently granted to the MacDonnell and Chichester families. It gives name to a Poor-law Union containing 11 electoral divisions in the county of Antrim. Fairs are held on the 31st July and 1st December."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2018