Townlands in the Parish of Kilbride - A talk by Andrew Kane

Andrew Kane, a parishioner in the neighbouring parish of Templepatrick, works for the Ulster Historical Foundation and has recently completed a reference book entitled “Townland Atlas of Ulster.” He will be visiting Kilbride to give a talk on this new book, with a particular emphasis on the townlands in the parish of Kilbride.

Andrew works as a research consultant for the Ulster Historical Foundation, handling a wide range of tasks, mainly genealogical and specialist commissions as well as assisting in the delivery of the Foundation’s courses. He has published the well-received Town Book of Coleraine (2016) and has contributed to genealogical journals and magazines. He is a regular speaker on local history topics and has been a contributor to several television and radio programmes at home and abroad. Andrew is a Trustee of the North of Ireland Family History Society and takes an active role in several local history groups in the Coleraine area where his family has lived for at least 12 generations.

Parish of Kilbride

Cill Bhride is the Irish name for the parish of Kilbride, meaning the church of Brigid (or Bride as we use in the name of our church). It is known that there are ruins of a number of churches within the parish of Kilbride and it may be that one was dedicated to one of the most prominent Irish saints, i.e. St Brigid, to whom our present church is dedicated.

There are 17 townlands in Kilbride;

Ballybracken, Ballyhamage, Ballywee, Crawfordsland, Douglasland, Drumadarragh, Duncansland, Fifty Acres, Holestone, Kilbride, Loonburn, McVickersland, Moss Side, Owensland, Strawpark and Walkmill.

This new publication maps all 16,000 townlands in the 9 counties of Ulster and the administrative units of church and state into which they have been organised. In an attractive and easily understood layout, these units are shown in the context of land ownership in the 17th century, a pattern clearly recognisable until a century ago when the Land Purchase Acts broke up the estates and facilitated tenant farmers buying their own land. By using the maps and index, family and local historians can easily grasp the essentials of our ancestors’ lives – where they worked, paid their rent, went to church and market, etc.