Talk:County Antrim

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1911 Encyclopædia Britannica[edit]

It seems most of this article is a copy of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is fine, but it is presented as it is up to date information. See the following two;

  • Communications (The Railways no longer exist in that state, Translink operate all rail transportation in Northern Ireland at a somewhat smaller level.
  • Population and Administration (the General Synod of Ulster has not excised since 1840, it is now part of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. This section could probably mention the modern Administration through the Districts of Northern Ireland.

and to a lesser extent

  • Industries (most of which could be considered history)
  • History (ends at 1641)

Although I live in County Antrim, I was educated on the other side of the Bann, so only know the basics of its history. If anyone is able to rewrite this article please do so.

Removed Content (just in case)[edit]

Geology The first part was more up to date.[edit]

On entering the county at the south, a scarped barrier of hills is seen beyond the Lagan valley, marking the edge of the basaltic plateaus, and running almost continuously round the coast to Red Bay. Below it, Triassic beds are exposed from Lisburn to Island Magee, giving sections of red sands and marls. Above these, marine Rhaetic beds appear at intervals, notably near Larne, where they are succeeded by Lower Lias shales and limestones. At Portrush, the Lower Lias is seen on the shore, crowded with ammonites, but silicified and metamorphosed by invading dolerite. The next deposits, as the scarps are approached, are greensands of "Selbornian" age, succeeded by Cenomanian, and locally by Turonian, sands. The Senonian series is represented by the White Limestone, a hardened chalk with flints, which is often glauconitic and conglomeratic at the base. Denudation in earliest Eocene times has produced flint gravels above the chalk, and an ancient stream deposit of chalk pebbles occurs at Ballycastle. The volcanic fissures that allowed of the upwelling of basalt are represented by numerous dykes, many cutting the earlier lava-flows as well as all the beds below them. The accumulations of lava gave rise to the plateaus which form almost the whole interior of the county. In a quiet interval, the Lower Eocene plant-beds of Glenarm and Ballypalady were formed in lakes, where iron-ores also accumulated. Rhyolites were erupted locally near Tardree, Ballymena and Glenarm. The later basalts are especially marked by columnar jointing, which determines the famous structures of the Giant's Causeway and the coast near Bengore Head. Volcanic necks may be recognized at Carrick-a-rede, in the intrusive mass of dolerite at Slemish, at Carnmoney near Belfast, and a few other points. Fair Head is formed of intrusive dolerite, presenting a superb columnar seaward face. Faulting, probably in Pliocene times, lowered the basaltic plateaus to form the basin of Lough Neagh, leaving the eastern scarp at heights ranging up to 1800 feet. The glens of Antrim are deep notches cut by seaward-running streams through the basalt scarp, their floors being formed of Triassic or older rocks. Unlike most Irish counties, Antrim owes its principal features to rocks of Mesozoic and Cainozoic age. At Cushendun, however, a coarse conglomerate is believed to be Devonian, while Lower Carboniferous Sandstones, with several coal-seams, form a small productive basin at Ballycastle. The dolerite of Fair Head sends off sheets along the bedding-planes of these carboniferous strata. "Dalradian" schists and gneisses, with some dark limestones, come out in the north-east of the county, forming a moorland-region between Cushendun and Ballycastle. The dome of Knocklayd, capped by an outlier of chalk and basalt, consists mostly of this far more ancient series. Glacial gravels are well seen near Antrim town, and as drumlins between Ballymena and Ballycastle. The drift-phenomena connected with the flow of ice from Scotland are of special interest. Recently elevated marine clays, of post-glacial date, fringe the south-eastern coast, while gravels with marine shells, side by side with flint implements chipped by early man, have been lifted some 20 feet above sea-level near Larne.

Rock-salt some 80 feet thick is mined in the Trias near Carrickfergus. The Keuper clays yield material for bricks. Bauxite, probably derived from the decay of lavas, is found between Glenarm and Broughshane, associated with brown and red pisolitic iron-ores; both these materials are worked commercially. Bauxite occurs also near Ballintoy. The Ballycastle coal is raised and sold locally.

Industries Not up to date[edit]

The climate is very temperate. The soil varies greatly according to the district, being in some cases a rich loam, in others a chalky marl, and elsewhere showing a coating of peat. The proportion of barren land to the total area is roughly as 1 to 9; and of tillage to pasture as 2 to 3. Tillage is therefore, relatively to other counties, well advanced, and oats and potatoes are largely, though decreasingly, cultivated. Flax is a less important crop than formerly. The numbers of cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry are generally increasing. Dutch, Ayrshire and other breeds are used to improve the breed of cattle by crossing. Little natural wood remains in the county, but plantations flourish on the great estates, and orchards have proved successful.

There are several paper-mills at Bushmills in the north; whisky-distilling is carried on; and there are valuable sea-fisheries divided between the district of Ballycastle and Carrickfergus, while the former is the headquarters of a salmon-fishery district. The workings at the Ballycastle collieries are probably the oldest in Ireland. In 1770 the miners accidentally discovered a complete gallery, which has been driven many hundred yards into the bed of coal, branching into thirty-six chambers dressed quite square, and in a workman-like manner. No tradition of the mine having been formerly worked remained in the neighbourhood. The coal of some of the beds is bituminous, and of others anthracite.

A Reference[edit]

Anyone think it'd be worth mentioning that the Antrim Rifles (a battalion featured in Garth Ennis's "D-Day Dodgers" comic book, set in Italy during World War II) were supposedly almost entirely formed of men from Antrim?

Arms[edit]

This is probably more related to all the counties of Northern Ireland/Ireland but there doesn't seem to be a single page for this. The arms displayed in the Co. Antrim page - are they the arms of the county or are they an invention of the GAA? I'd like to believe the former, but it seems the GAA are the only group to use them. beano 16:45, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Religion[edit]

Under religion it states that,

Presbyterianism is the largest religious denomination, followed by Catholicism and Anglicanism.

However, considering that most of Antrims population resides in greater Belfast and under Belfasts census section it states that

  1. 47.2% were from a Catholic background and 48.6% were from a Protestant background


Could it very well be possible that the largest denomination of Christianity is in fact Catholicisim not Presbyterianism?

Just throwing that out there, I could very well be wrong. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Cee em bee (talk • contribs) 01:08, 14 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]


I wouldn't be too sure. Most of the other big towns (Newtownabbey with about 80k people, Larne, Carrickfergus, Ballymena etc) are all very much predominantly Protestant, although I don't know about individual denominations. Most of the Catholics outside Belfast in Co. Antrim live in rural areas around the Glens and north coast (Ballycastle). North Antrim, South Antrim and East Antrim also tend to have large majorities voting for unionist parties in elections, for what that's worth. beano 20:48, 17 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It looked like someone was vandalising this section adding one religion was more important than another. I reverted the copy to an earlier version as it seemed to be correct by the last census (2001). Free free to alter - especially to remove any perceived religious bias or if you know the size of the non-practicing/atheist population. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.86.217.91 (talk) 21:02, 24 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's unlikely that the majority in Antrim would be Catholic as even in Belfast, the only major concentration of Catholics/Catholic-background-people in eastern NI, the Protestant-associated population is bigger even there and this is reflected in the votes for Nationalist parties as Sinn Fein have 2 (I believe) MPs there. The rest of Antrim is quite famously "Protestant", being the home of Ian Paisley's personal church.

Signed, someone whose father was baptised CoE and mother baptised a Catholic. Wee Jimmy (talk) 23:17, 27 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Map[edit]

I uploaded a newer county map on par with the county maps for counties of ireland. these maps highlights the position of the county within the island of Ireland as well as Northern Ireland thus satisfying the pattern shown for the other county maps. I am aware that the other maps was just of Northern Ireland counties, however the location of the county on an "island-wide" basis is more beneficial to tourists and is a compromise that should satisfy both Nationalists and Unionists. --  RÓNÁN   "Caint / Talk"  17:17, 11 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I'll try another map from 'Commons, with the same reach but in more context, and which doesn't show Galway under water! Howard Alexander (talk) 22:21, 26 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I see someone's put the old map back again. I think it is out of place. Apart from drowning the City of Galway in a bay that is not there, it isolates the island of Ireland where the coasts of Great Britain should appear.
I would propose an alternative. The locator map should not isolate NI as if an island and should not indeed isolate the island of Ireland; both miss the whole context. The alternatives would be:
  • Map centred on County Antrim itself with surrounding land of GB and of Eire; or
  • Map centred on NI with surrounding lands; or
  • Map showing Antrim within the whole of Ireland and the coasts of Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man where they naturally fall.
The same considerations apply to locator maps of the other five counties. I see that all are available on WikiMedia Commons already.
Howard Alexander (talk) 13:29, 6 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Scots[edit]

"Antrim was exposed to the inroads of the Danes, and also of the northern Scots, who ultimately effected permanent settlements.[dubious – discuss]"

(From a Medieval Munster perspective, a fellow Gael from Derry would be a "northern Scot" at least if they were writing in Latin as thats what Scot meant originally.) Scots and Gaels were the same people at the time of St Columba. (arguibly still at the time of Bruce!) There has been a movement to and fro of people from the earliest period of human habitation, but making a clear distinction between Scots and Gaels at a period of early medieval Gaelic trans-maritime Hiberno-British culture is misleading as it makes it sound as if the Scots were from Britain. they might have been indigenous Gaels to Ulster. Seamusalba (talk) 16:58, 12 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Northern Ireland county maps[edit]

There is a discussion ongoing about the locator maps for Northern Ireland counties — see here.
~Asarlaí 19:46, 11 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Irish Language[edit]

The in-line citation goes to a doc that is only in the Irish language to prove its point. Is this acceptable for the English language wiki? Should we insist on a version that has been translated into English? Laurel Lodged (talk) 19:59, 9 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Or maybe use Google Translate? Or ask for a section to be translated. Lots of options really... --HighKing (talk) 00:52, 10 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion has been brought to WikiProject Ireland. Laurel Lodged (talk) 14:04, 10 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

"Aontroim" is commonly used as the Standard Irish name for Antrim, but within the County Antrim dialects it is usually "Aondroim" reflecting the fact it is a composite noun of 'aon' (single) + 'droim' (ridge), and the 'd' is normally silent. This reflects the Scots pronunciation of Antrim often as "ahn-rim". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.159.12.172 (talk) 01:32, 12 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Population of County Antrim in the 2011 UK Census[edit]

Whilst one must be cautious when one speaks about population figures for any of Northern Ireland's counties (because data are no longer collected on a county basis), a relatively reliable estimate can be made using the figures and maps provided by the Ordnance Survey and the figures from the 2011 Census freely available from NISRA.gov.uk. As an overview, many Local Government Areas' boundaries (drawn up in the 1970s) fall into line with the old county structure (eg. Carrickfergus Borough Council area lies entirely within the bounds of County Antrim). Where this is not the case, Electoral Wards prove an invaluable agent to plug the gaps (eg. Lisburn City Council's population is mostly in County Antrim, but a large part of the rural southern Council area is in County Londonderry; Hillsborough is one such electoral ward - Hillsborough is in Co. Down but is administered as part of Lisburn City Council area). Sometimes the electoral ward boundaries were drawn (or in other cases redrawn) in such a way that they are split by counties. In this instance one can use the Census Output Areas (or their new 2011 equivalent: the Small Area which are almost always synonomous with one another) to break up the Electoral Ward into its constituent parts (eg. the Small Area N00002016 (previously known as Census Output Area 95JJ110005) is in County Antrim, but also forms part of Hopefield Electoral Ward, which one of the Electoral Wards of Coleraine Borough Council area which are split between County Antrim and County Londonderry). On the rare occassion that the borders of the Small Area/Census Output Area are not in line with the old County boundaries, I have either chosen or excluded any given area depending on where most of the Small Area lies and/or where most of the population of that given area live (eg. Small Area N00002171 (formerly Census Output Area 95LL010002) is (uniquely) split between Counties Antrim, Down and Armagh, but one can see on NISRA maps that the majority of the population lives in the northern third of the Small Area (in the immediate vicinity of Aghagallon village (including the village's main street and part of a housing development) - the other two counties' sections are far more sparsely populated thoroughly rural areas) on the County Antrim side of the old county boundary). Thus insofar as possible I have only included those statistical areas that lie within the County Boundaries in order to arrive at the figure of 618,108. I must stress that this is only an approximate figure as certain Small Areas have been included in the 618,108 figure which have small amounts of territory outside of the county, and some Small Areas which have portions of themselves within County Antrim have been excluded because most of the Small Area lies in another County. In all, these factors may well even each other out. Nonetheless, the actual figure could be out by a few dozen. If anyone has any queries or suggestions please get in contact. Cuirfear fáilte roimh chomhfhreagras i nGaeilge. Correspondance in Irish is welcomed.

  • Local Government Areas included in their entirity:
  • Antrim 53428
  • Carrickfergus 39114
  • Larne 32180
  • Newtownabbey 85139
  • Moyle 17050
  • Ballymena 64044
  • Ballymoney 31224
  • And parts of the following local government areas:
  • Belfast 280962 except the County Down portion thereof (83836)
    • Ballyhackamore -5939
    • Ballymacarrett -4908
    • Ballynafeigh -5928
    • Belmont -6165
    • Bloomfield -5453
    • Cherryvalley -5920
    • Island -5014
    • Knock -4827
    • Orangefield -5619
    • Ravenhill -6041
    • Rosetta -6564
    • Stormont -5548
    • Sydenham -4874
    • The Mount -5591
    • Wookstock -5445
  • Lisburn 120165 except the County Down portion thereof (30291)
    • Ballymacbrennan -3372
    • Blairis -3375
    • Dromara -4698
    • Drombo -3364
    • Hillhall -2905
    • Hillsborough -3758
    • Maghaberry
      • N00003448 (formerly 95SS210002) -540
      • N00003449 (formerly 95SS210003) -431
    • Maze -3816 except
      • N00003469 (formerly 95SS230001) 373
    • Moira -5139 except
      • N00003476 (formerly 95SS240009) 734
  • Craigavon: only
    • Aghagallon 4931 except the County Armagh and Down portions thereof (3143)
      • N00002173 (formerly 95LL010004) -476
      • N00002175 (formerly 95LL010005) -742
      • N00002176 (formerly 95LL010006) -570
  • Coleraine: only (5786)
    • Royal Portrush 2032
    • Atlantic: only
      • N00001948 (formerly 95JJ020001) 216
      • N00001950 (formerly 95JJ020003) 230
      • N00001955 (formerly 95JJ020009) 285
    • Dunluce 1990 except the County Antrim portion thereof
      • N00002001 (formerly 95JJ090001) -376
    • Hopefield 3770 except the County Antrim portion thereof
      • N00002014 (formerly 95JJ110002 & 95JJ110009) -974
      • N00002018 (formerly 95JJ110001, 95JJ110003 & 95JJ110010) -1,387

TOTAL: 618108 D.de.loinsigh (talk) 16:27, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A lot of work has obviously gone into this and I commend you for it. However if any of these figures where to used in an article it must include a hatnote/citation stating that these are approximate figures with the possibility for quite a large degree of error. It may be better to wait and see whether some Stormont or another established entity produce a more accurate (maybe more inaccurate) figure with their legion of overpaid researchers. Mabuska (talk) 23:08, 5 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Sport[edit]

Please also consider the Ulster Grand Prix. A traditional motorcycle road race that is still extremely popular among Irish and British motorcycle fans. 176.199.133.6 (talk) 22:12, 5 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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