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Ballymena
Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the seventh largest town in Northern Ireland by population. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town was built on the Braid River, on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I in 1626, with a right to hold two annual fairs and a Saturday market in perpetuity. Surrounding villages are Cullybackey, Ahoghill, Broughshane, and Kells-Connor. History Early history The recorded history of the Ballymena area dates to the Early Christian period, from the fifth to the seventh centuries. Ringforts are found in the townland of Ballykeel, and a site known as Camphill Fort in the townland of Ballee may also have been of this type. There are a number of souterrains within a radius of the centre of Ballymena. north in the townland of Kirkinriola, the medieval parish church and graveyar ...
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Ballymena Town Hall
Ballymena Town Hall is a municipal structure in Bridge Street in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, is a Grade B1 listed building. History The first municipal building in the town was a market hall in Bridge Street which was completed in 1684. It featured a steeple which was high, and was later referred to by the local Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member of parliament, Robert Adair, 1st Baron Waveney, Sir Robert Adair, as one of the "Seven Towers" of Ballymena. On 7 June 1798, during the Irish Rebellion of 1798, 1798 rebellion, a force of about 10,000 Society of United Irishmen, United Irishmen led by James Dickey (United Irishmen), James Dickie, stormed and burned the market hall, killing three of its defenders and forcing the surrender of the local yeomanry forces commanded by Robert Davison. The market hall, which by then also contained the local post office as well as the coun ...
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Townland
A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and most have Irish-derived names. However, some townland names and boundaries come from Norman manors, plantation divisions, or later creations of the Ordnance Survey.Connolly, S. J., ''The Oxford Companion to Irish History, page 577. Oxford University Press, 2002. ''Maxwell, Ian, ''How to Trace Your Irish Ancestors'', page 16. howtobooks, 2009. Townlands cover the whole island of Ireland, and the total number of inhabited townlands in Ireland was 60,679 in 1911. The total number recognised by the Placenames Database of Ireland as of 2014 was 61,098, including uninhabited townlands. Etymology The term "townland" in English is derived from the Old English word ''tūn'', denoting an enclosure. The term describes the smallest unit of land di ...
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Plantation Of Ulster
The Plantation of Ulster (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ) was the organised Settler colonialism, colonisation (''Plantation (settlement or colony), plantation'') of Ulstera Provinces of Ireland, province of Irelandby people from Great Britain during the reign of King James VI and I. Small privately funded plantations by wealthy landowners began in 1606,... while the official plantation began in 1609. Most of the land had been confiscated from the native Irish nobility, Gaelic chiefs, several of whom Flight of the Earls, had fled Ireland for mainland Europe in 1607 following the Nine Years' War (Ireland), Nine Years' War against Kingdom of Ireland, English rule. The official plantation comprised an estimated half a million Irish acre, acres (2,000 km2) of arable land in counties County Armagh, Armagh, County Cavan, Cavan, County Fermanagh, Fermanagh, County Tyrone, Tyrone, County Donegal, Donegal, and County Londonderry, Londonderry. Land in counties County Antrim, ...
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Earl Of Ulster
The title of Earl of Ulster has been created six times in the Peerage of Ireland and twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since 1928, the title has been held by the Duke of Gloucester and is used as a courtesy title by the Duke's eldest son, currently Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster. The wife of the Earl of Ulster is known as the Countess of Ulster. Ulster, one of the four traditional provinces of Ireland, consists of nine counties: six of these make up Northern Ireland; the remainder are in the Republic of Ireland. History King Henry II of England granted three Palatinates or seigniories in Ireland to Norman nobles during the Norman invasion of Ireland, that are considered to be equivalents of either earldoms or lordships by modern historians. Richard de Clare, Count Striguil, a Norman-Welsh knight known as Strongbow, was created Earl of Leinster, and the Anglo-Norman Sir Hugh de Lacy was created Earl of Meath. In 1181, Sir John de Courcy was created Earl o ...
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Richard Óg De Burgh, 2nd Earl Of Ulster
Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster and 3rd Baron of Connaught ( ; Latinized to de Burgo; 1240 – 29 July 1326), called The Red Earl, was one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman nobles in Ireland during the late 13th and early 14th centuries and father of Elizabeth, wife of King Robert the Bruce of Scotland. Early life Richard's father was Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster (of the second creation) and Lord of Connacht, who was the second son of Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Lord of Connaught and Egidia de Lacy. Richard's mother was Aveline FitzJohn, daughter of Sir John FitzGeoffrey. "Richard Óg", means "Richard the Young", which may be a reference to his youth when he became earl in 1271, or to differentiate him from his grandfather, Richard Mór. Earl of Ulster Richard Óg was the most powerful of the de Burgh Earls of Ulster, succeeding his father in Ulster and Connacht upon reaching his majority in 1280. Richard fought in the conquest of Wales in the 1280s, ...
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Battle Of Connor
The Battle of Connor was fought on 10 September 1315, in the townland of Tannybrake just over a mile north of what is now the modern village of Connor, County Antrim. It was part of the Bruce campaign in Ireland. Background Edward Bruce landed in Larne, in modern-day County Antrim, on 26 May 1315. In early June, Donall Ó Néill of Tyrone and some twelve fellow northern Kings and lords met Edward Bruce at Carrickfergus and swore fealty to him as King of Ireland. Edward held the town of Carrickfergus, but was unable to take the Castle. His army continued to spread south, through the Moyry Pass to take Dundalk. Prelude Outside the town of Dundalk, Bruce encountered an army led by John FitzThomas FitzGerald, 4th Lord of Offaly, his son-in-law Edmund Butler, Earl of Carrick and Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Baron Desmond. The Scottish pushed them back towards Dundalk and on 29 June lay waste to the town and its inhabitants. By 22 July Edmund Butler, the Justicier in Dublin, assem ...
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Bruce Campaign In Ireland
The Bruce campaign was a three-year military campaign in Ireland by Edward Bruce, brother of the Scottish king Robert the Bruce. It lasted from his landing at Larne in 1315 to his defeat and death in 1318 at the Battle of Faughart in County Louth. It was part of the First War of Scottish Independence against England, and the conflict between the Irish and Anglo-Normans. After his victory at the Battle of Bannockburn, Robert the Bruce decided to expand his war against the English by sending an army under his younger brother Edward to invade Ireland. Some native Irish leaders also asked him to send an army to help drive the Anglo-Normans out of Ireland, offering to crown his brother High King of Ireland in return. Another reason for the expedition was that supporters of the exiled House of Balliol, rival competitors for the Crown of Scotland, had fled to Ireland. The campaign effectively ended with Edward's defeat and death in the Battle of Faughart in 1318. Historical ba ...
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Robert The Bruce
Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against Kingdom of England, England. He fought successfully during his reign to restore Scotland to an independent kingdom and is regarded in Scotland as a folk hero, national hero. Robert was a fourth-great-grandson of King David I, and his grandfather, Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale, was one of the claimants to the Scottish throne during the "Great Cause". As Earl of Carrick, Robert the Bruce supported his family's claim to the Scottish throne and took part in William Wallace's campaign against Edward I of England. Appointed in 1298 as a Guardian of Scotland alongside his chief rival for the throne, John Comyn of Badenoch, and William Lamberton, Bishop of St Andrews, Robert resigned in 1300 because of his quarrels with Comyn and the apparently imminen ...
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Edward Bruce
Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick (Norman French: ; ; Modern Scottish Gaelic: or ; 1280 – 14 October 1318), was a younger brother of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. He supported his brother in the 1306–1314 struggle for the Scottish crown, then pursued his own claims in Ireland. Proclaimed High King of Ireland in 1315 and crowned in 1316, he was eventually defeated and killed by Anglo-Irish forces of the Lordship of Ireland at the Battle of Faughart in County Louth in 1318. Early life Edward was one of five sons of Robert de Brus and Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, but the order is uncertain. Robert the Bruce was the eldest; in the past there was some dispute over whether Edward was second, or third behind Nigel, but one recent account has him fourth behind Nigel and Alexander. His date of birth is unknown, but it was probably not very long after Robert was born in 1274; he was old enough to be fighting in 1307 and to be given an independent command not long after. Th ...
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Motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to build with unskilled labour, but still militarily formidable, these castles were built across northern Europe from the 10th century onwards, spreading from Normandy and Anjou in France, into the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the Low Countries it controlled, in the 11th century, when these castles were popularized in the area that became the Netherlands. The Normans introduced the design into England and Wales. Motte-and-bailey castles were adopted in Scotland, Ireland, and Denmark in the 12th and 13th centuries. By the end of the 13th century, the design was largely superseded by alternative forms of fortification, but the earthworks remain a prominent feature in many countries. Architecture Structures A motte-and-bailey castle wa ...
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Earldom Of Ulster
The Earldom of Ulster was an Anglo-Norman lordship in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages, ruled by the Earls of Ulster and part of the Lordship of Ireland. The Norman knight John de Courcy invaded the Gaelic Irish kingdom of Ulaid in 1177 and conquered most of its territory over the following few years. In 1181 he was made earl palatine of Ulster by Henry II of England. The earldom was the most important Anglo-Norman lordship in the north of Ireland. It covered most of what are now the Ulster counties of Antrim and Down, and briefly extended west to Lough Foyle. Its capital was Carrickfergus Castle. The Earldom of Ulster suffered heavily from the Bruce campaign in Ireland in the 1310s, from which it never recovered. By the 15th century the earldom was restricted to coastal enclaves in County Down and around Carrickfergus, and the title of Earl of Ulster passed to the Crown in 1461. De Courcy's invasion of Ulaid In 1175, after a period of fighting between the N ...
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Anglo-Norman Invasion Of Ireland
The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land in Ireland over which the List of English monarchs, monarchs of England then claimed sovereignty. The Anglo-Normans claimed the invasion was sanctioned by the papal bull ''Laudabiliter''. At the time, Gaelic Ireland was made up of several kingdoms, with a High King of Ireland, High King claiming lordship over most of the other kings. The Anglo-Norman invasion was a watershed in Ireland's history, marking the beginning of 800 years of British rule in Ireland, British presence in Ireland. In May 1169, Anglo-Norman mercenaries landed in Ireland at the request of Diarmait mac Murchada (Dermot MacMurragh), the Deposition (politics), deposed List of kings of Leinster, King of Leinster, who sought their help in regaining his kingship. They achieved this within weeks and raided neighbouring kingdoms. This military intervention was san ...
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