Can someone help with place names in County Antrim, Ireland?

Question

I'm trying to identify three County Antrim places that do not turn up in any of the Irish place name websites I use.

1. Rev. Hill in his 1873 "An Historical Account of the MacDonnells of Antrim" stated that "Ballyblois was in the neighbourhood of Birr".  I can find neither Ballyblois nor Birr.

2. A 1724 deed memorial includes a place name in the barony of Kilconway that sort of looks like “Isles”. I can send a snippet of the deed to anyone who thinks they may be able to help.

Comments

Thank you to everyone who answered, especially Valerie, who went above and beyond. I'm only sorry I can't choose her answer as best because the greater part of her help came via email and not as an answer to the question. In the end, however, everyone's input was helpful to one degree or another, and I'm pretty confident I now know where all these places are.

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I know their nicknames of towns in Ireland.. crazy! Like Rev Adam White in his Billy Kirk in Billy Antrim Ireland.. lol Billy is short for Bushmills! This took a lot of research, and took me a while to find it.. Ballyboley  is in Ballycor..

Ballyboylands might have been called Ballyboi? they spell boy boi sometimes that is in Stranocum.

These are towns or subdivisions in town actually like housing complexes or subdivisions to us.Like he lives in Ocean Estates in Carolina Beach it is an area. This is the link to  County Antrim names of subdivisions/   housing tracks in that county! !. http://www.familyulster.com/Antrim_Parish_and_Townlands_Northern_Ireland.aspx

Answer 1

Birr, County Offaly - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birr,_County_Offaly

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Birr is a town in County Offaly, Ireland. Between 1620 and 1899 it was called Parsonstown, after the Parsons family who were local landowners and hereditary Earls of Rosse. The town lies within a parish of the same name in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe. Birr is a designated Irish Heritage Town with a carefully ...

County‎: ‎County Offaly

Telephone area code‎: ‎057

Population (2016)‎: ‎5,741

Elevation‎: ‎75 m (246 ft)

County Offaly - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Offaly

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Croghan Hill rises from the Bog of Allen and is located in northern Offaly. Although only 234 metres high, it is known for its view over the surrounding area and it stands out by itself. The floodplain of the River Shannon is in the north-western part of the county. The River Camcor runs through the town of Birrand is a Wild ...

‎Geography and political ... · ‎History · ‎Sport · ‎Transport

Birr, Co. Offaly - IrishTourist.com

www.irishtourist.com › Ireland Destination Guide › County Offaly

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Birr is one of Ireland's best examples of a Georgian Town. It is a virtually intact 18/19th century town, formal, spacious and well-planned, with Georgian houses along its tree-lined malls and avenues. BirrCastle has been the seat ot the P.

Comments

Thank you Frank. That answer does solve part of the puzzle.

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Ballyboy (Ballyboise) is not far from Birr Castle county Offaly; a little north-west

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I think "Isles" might be the Winkles, in the Skerries just off Portrush which isn't far from Dunluce.

No - I think now that it is more likely to it be Isles in Springfarm, Antrim, now an industrial estate beside the A26 - close to site of the original late 1590s town of Antrim and is close to The Steeple an Irish old round tower, so the area has antiquity.

Answer 2

https://www.townlands.ie/antrim/kilconway/

Comments

Thanks Valerie. That is one of the sites I use, and the Kilconway place name isn't there. The name is definitely just fives letters, and the last three are definitely "les". I appreciate the try though.

Answer 3

Try http://www.placenamesni.org for place names in Northern Ireland. It often has place names that you won't find in townlands.ie or loganim.ie.

I found three matches on "Isles" in the barony of Kilconway. One was "Isles of Mount Hamilton" in Mount Hamilton townland in Killagan parish. The other two were "The Isles" in Dunloy townland in Finvoy parish and the adjacent Caldanagh townland (spelled Galdanagh in townlands.ie) in Finvoy parish. Unfortunately there is no description for these place names so the origin is unknown and I didn't see any features on the map named Isles.

My guess is Isles might just refer to higher ground in bog land.

Comments

Thanks Ray, I've added it to https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Sources-Ireland-Province-County#Maps

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Thank you Ray. Much to think about.

Answer 4

This is the county lists of all the subdivisions.. Antrim housing subdivisions is listed in here! Click on an area like Ballycor or Antrim and see the names of the housing tracks!

link: http://www.familyulster.com/Antrim_Parish_and_Townlands_Northern_Ireland.aspx

 

This is the main page with all the counties for others later too! Good resource tool!

Comments

Thanks very much M. for both your comment and your answer.

Answer 5

Here's another source:County Antrim Villages, Towns and Civil Parishes