Boneybefore ( ) is a village near

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It lies between the A2 road and

Belfast Lough Belfast Lough is a large, intertidal sea inlet on the east coast of Northern Ireland. At its head is the city and port of Belfast, which sits at the mouth of the River Lagan. The lough opens into the North Channel and connects Belfast to th ...

. It is home to the Andrew Jackson Centre (also known as the Andrew Jackson Cottage), the ancestral home of

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

, 7th

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

History

In some historical references the name of the village was originally Bonnybefore and given the English name of Fair Prospect before being changed to Boneybefore to reflect the local

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

pronunciation of the name. It is also claimed that the name came from a French commander who landed in Boneybefore prior to the Battle of Carrickfergus and is alleged to have said: "A niver seen sich a bonny place before". Though Boneybefore was not formally recognised as a village until the 1820s, in 1829 there were twenty-one houses in the area of Boneybefore including twelve identical cottages used as farmhouses.

United States associations

Boneybefore is the location of the ancestral home of the former President of the United States, Andrew Jackson. It was a thatched farmhouse constructed in the 1750s. Though the original had been demolished to make way for the construction of railway lines, it was eventually restored in detail. It was rebuilt by the Donaldson family who lived in it until 1979 when they sold it to

Carrickfergus Borough Council Carrickfergus Borough Council was a district council in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ballymena Borough Council and Larne Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Mid and ...

. It had been open to the public since 1984. It temporarily closed in 2018 and underwent a ten-month £250,000 renovation project to fix the thatched roof and repair damage from damp before reopening in 2019. Boneybefore also hosts a

United States Army Rangers United States Army Rangers, according to the US Army's definition, are personnel, past or present, in any unit that has the official designation "Ranger". The term is commonly used to include graduates of the US Army Ranger School, even if t ...

centre which was opened as a museum to pay tribute to the

1st Ranger Battalion The 1st Ranger Battalion, currently based at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia, United States, is the first of three ranger battalions belonging to the United States Army's 75th Ranger Regiment. It was originally formed shortly after ...

who were activated in Northern Ireland in 1942 and based in nearby

. The museum opened in 1994 following a reunion of Rangers veterans to commemorate 50 years since the battalion's foundation and is operated by

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is a local authority that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Ballymena Borough Council, Carrickfergus Borough Council and Larne Borough Council Larne Borough Council was a Local Council in County A ...

References

{{County Antrim Carrickfergus Villages in County Antrim