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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Antrim => Topic started by: paulcrewe on Friday 01 April 11 22:39 BST (UK)
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Good morning everyone,
In Google Books, I found a book called "Ireland Exhibited to England, In a Political and Moral Survey of Her Population, and in a Statistical and Scenographic Tour of Certain Districts etc., London, Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, London, 1823. Vol. II".
At the end of this book is a list entitled "Alphabetical Directory to the Seats of the County of Antrim with their respective Post Towns", and this list includes a reference to Alexander WHITFORD, resident in Cross whose Post Town is Ballycastle. I assume this means Cross Townland in the Parish of Culfeightrin.
Can anyone help me with what the term "Seat" refers to in this context at this time. I've tried googling it but as you can imagine it brings up too many unrelated references. Does it mean that Alexander WHITFORD was the landlord of the Cross Townland?
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Paul
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Looks like the same list here-
http://www.irishgenealogy.net/cp/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=127
Looking at the names/places I know it would seem to be a list of gentry or well-to-do gentlemen and their residences.
According to my dictionary one definition of a seat is "the principal residence of a dignitary, family, esp. a great country house."
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Thank you very much Aghadowey. That makes sense and clears it up, I think. Alexander WHITEFORD was said to live in the "Big House" in Cross townland. Now I just need to find out where that "Big House" is, or was.
Paul
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Bighouse is a townland near Murlough Bay and can be located on Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland map I G 9
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Thank you for that Sandal. I have considered the townland Bighouse, but every reference I have for where Alexander lived (and died) says the Cross townland, so I think it must be referring to a large house, or a "great country house" located in the Cross townland as Aghadowey suggested.
Are the NI Ordnance Survey maps available anywhere online?
Regards, Paul
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Hi Paul,
You can find Cross in the online Griffiths Valuation of 1864.
Use Place Name = "Cross"; County = "Antrim"; Parish = "Culfeightrin"
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=placeSearch
Use the Map Views option to see both the Ordnance Survey map data (dating from the 1830s, accompanying the Memoirs) as well as modern-day satellite images.
Zoom in 3 times to see the townland of Cross (a substantial area, the entire top of the headland);
Zoom in another 2 times to see Cross as a hamlet in the 1830s (like nearby Doon or Crockancarragh).
[Note the "a" and "b" designations for the buildings, lying in geographical area "2".]
The satellite view shows it as a substantial industrial facility nowadays.
Use the Original Page option to see the Valuation of the Tenements in 1864, together with ownship data.
[Right Click to Zoom In.]
The ultimate owner would be the Earl of Antrim (McDONNELL) probably subletting directly to the BOYD family.
[They came over to the Ballycastle area following King James deal with Antrim in 1605. Their homelands were on Bute and Argyll (as a a subclan of the STEWARTs).]
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In the list your man has "Esq." after his name. This indicates he was a magistrate.
He was probably simply renting the house, and perhaps some lands as per the later 1864 data.]
[c.f. Stafford WHITTLE who owned Thistleborough, but lent it to his brother Farncis WHITTLE - who was also looking after Castle Upton while the Lords Templetown lived in London.]
Capt. Jock
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Thank you very much for that Capt Jock, those maps are really useful. And thank you also for that information about Alexander being a magistrate. The replies I've had to this post have been incredibly helpful and added significantly to my knowledge of where they and related families lived.
Best regards, Paul
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The satellite view shows it as a substantial industrial facility nowadays.
If you look at Google Maps satellite view and Street View it shows agricultural buildings not industrial ones.
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I don't think we can assume that a man described as "Esquire" was necessarily a magistrate. Basically it meant someone who did not have to earn a living because he had inherited his wealth. Very often that was in the form of land, and the larger landlords tended to be magistrates, but it doesn't always follow. A magistrate had JP (justice of the peace) after his name.
I also think we can't assume that the ultimate owner was necessarily the Earl of Antrim. The holder of that title in about 1590 was short of ready cash and invited over some wealthy families from Bute, notably the Stewarts of Ballintoy, to whom he sold considerable tracts of land. For example, several townlands in the northern part of Culfeightrin parish.
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Thank you for that Hugh.
It's all starting to fall into place now as I have just found a reference to this Alexander Whiteford by his granddaughter who says that he "was born at Cross House, Antrim where his ancestors had lived for many generations" and that it was "his hospitable mansion". He is described as a "noble hearted, loyal old country gentleman, who marched bravely in command of a company of militia, at the early age of 17 years, and rendered his country good service in the Rebellion of 1798".
So now I just need to pinpoint where exactly Cross House was, although I am assuming it was part of the Cross Hamlet in the Cross Townland that Capt Jock pointed me towards. It would also be good to find out more about Alexander's participation in the 1798 Rebellion and his membership of the militia.
From what I've found so far, it seems that Alexander or his father, who was also Alexander, leased about 700 acres in the Cross Townland (which must have been just about the whole of Cross Townland) from Col Hugh Boyd who had purchased the village of Ballycastle from the 5th Earl of Antrim in 1727.
Thank you very much again for taking the time to reply to my post.
Paul
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Paul,
784 acres, according to the Seanruad web site.
Are we talking about Cross on Fair Head? Marked on the map between Lough Doo (which spills over the edge of the cliff) and Lough na Cranagh.
There are a couple of farms up there, including the one at Coolanlough where the NT car park is, but I don't recall seeing a "big house" or hearing of a family of gentry there. Of course, quite a lot could have happened since the '98.
I'll ask my brother whether he knows: he lives just the other side of Ballyvoy. Our family has been there since 1790-ish, but unfortunately memories don't get passed down from father to son.
There are two other (larger) townlands called Cross in Co. Antrim, but I don't think they would have been Boyd territory. Not just different parishes but also different baronies and poor-law unions.
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All the information I've found so far is that my Whitefords (and McBrides) were from the Cross Townland on Fair Head. On that map, there is a farm or hamlet just to the west of the lower part of Lough Na Cranagh called Cross, and then a bit further west is the Crackancarragh Clachan. I think my McBrides came from Crackancarragh (pretty sure about this) and my Whitefords next door in the Cross farm. I may quite possibly be wrong but that is my best guess from Australia!
Any local knowledge you or your brother could add would be really welcome.
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Paul,
My brother reports that the townland of Cross covers most of the top of Fair Head, and there are only two houses of any size in it (plus a couple of clachans = hamlets of cottages), but he's not aware of either of them being called Cross House. They now belong to the McBrides and the Darraghs. He has never heard of anyone called Whiteford in the area (Ballycastle and northern part of Culfeightrin parish), so I assume they've died out or moved away in the past couple of centuries.
We're both sorry we can't be more help. I would ask in the Ballycastle museum (assuming it still exists) but 60 miles is a bit far to bicycle ...
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Hugh,
Many thanks for that and to your brother as well. I think the last Whitefords in the area would have been about 1850 when the last one (I think) migrated to Newfoundland.
You have both been a huge help.
Best regards, Paul