The Parish and People of Billy
Gravestone Inscriptions at the old burying ground
beside Billy Parish Church in North Antrim
The Parish and People of Billy
The Parish.
The Parish of Billy is an ancient institution but like so many of such, its origins are
preserved only in mythology with few extant written records. There is no doubt that the
locale of the present Church building was an ecclesiastical site for at least 1500 years,
perhaps founded during or soon after Patrick’s mission to Ireland began in 433. It
was probably designated as a Parish following the Synod of Rath Bresail held in 1111.
In Pope Nicholas’s taxation of 1306, Ecclesia de Bile had a
valuation of �36 and was the largest parish in The Diocese of Connor although at that
time it encompassed a much more extensive geographical area than at present. In 1487
Bernard O’Hara is recorded as being Rector of Bile.
In the Ulster Visitation Book of 1622, the then Billy church building, built perhaps in
c1518, and in poor condition was given a curt description ‘the walls stand with an
old roof. The church has 20 acres of glebe land.’ Such was the condition of the
building that the Archdeacon had granted �10 stg for repairs. The church was renovated
1622.
Following the Plantation of Ulster in the early 1600s the Church of
Ireland became the Established Church and its Parish Vestries were appointed to act as the
Civil Administration in their areas. The responsibilities of the Parish Vestry included
provision for the burial of the dead for all denominations. Because of its Civil Function
the Parish Vestry consisted of members of other denominations in addition to members of
the Established Church.
Jeremiah O’Quinn , an Irishman who graduated from Glasgow University in 1644 was
Rector from 1646 until his death in 1657. He had been licensed by the Army Presbytery at
Carrickfergus and was called and ordained in Billy in 1646.
Dr William Petty’s survey of c1654 indicates that the
townlands of the Parish of Billy included what are now the modern Parishes of Rathlin,
Ballintoy, Dunseverick and Billy. This widespread parish lay partly in the Barony of Cary
and partly in the Barony of Dunluce. Petty indicated that the Earl of Antrim was the
proprietor of all the lands and named Arch. Stuartt, gent. of Ballantoy as Titulado of the
whole Parish. This Archibald Stewart succeeded John Dhu Macnaghten as Lord Antrim’s
agent in 1620, an appointment which he held until his death in c1657.
Building the Present Church
In his Short History of the Parish of Billy Rev Adam A Johns
indicates that the old Church building survived until around 1813 when the April Vestry of
that year empowered Mr Babington the Minister and three prominent members of the Vestry to
consult with builders for the construction of the new Church building. The new building
cost some �1300 financed by a gift of �800 and a loan of �500 from The Board of First
Fruits. The Vestry of August 1813 resolved to assess the Parish to repay the loan in the
amount of �30 per annum until the whole was repaid.
The new church building, completed in 1815, was sited 22’ to
the north of the old building only parts of the walls of which now remain. These presently
form part of the north wall of the Old Burying-ground which at one time was of greater
extent than evidenced today. Portion of a small gable still standing at the north-west end
of the burial-ground is probably that of the old Vestry House. It should be noted that
earliest gravestone (NW 11) located within the site of the old church is dated 1816. In
the OS Memoirs (1838) the internal dimensions of the old church are stated to have been
about 77’ long and 17’ 8’’ wide. This suggests that the eastern double
wall of the Wray Vault (CN 16), erected in the east end of the old church in 1837, is the
lower portion of the eastern gable of the old church. The burial-ground northern boundary
wall from this point towards the east shows a slight misalignment from the portion towards
the west which was the north wall of the old church. The remaining lower portion of the
western gable of the old church is in line with the western gable of the present church.
The Civil Parish
In time the early Ecclesiastical Parishes diverged geographically
from the ‘Civil’ Parishes designated in c1611. Following the restoration of 1660
the Diocese of Connor detached some 61 townlands from Billy to create Ballintoy Parish
(including Rathlin Island) but the extent of the Civil Parish of Billy apparently remained
unchanged. Rationalisation took place in 1722 when Rathlin, for long difficult to
administer because of its isolation, was created a separate Civil and
Ecclesiastical Parish,
comprising the 22 townlands of the Island. Also Ballintoy and Billy were classified as
separate Civil Parishes.
Maps showing townlands and boundaries of the Civil Parishes of
Billy and Ballintoy, virtually unchanged territorially since 1722, are shown at the Public Record Office of
Northern Ireland web site.
The Ecclesiastical Parish of Billy, co-terminus with the Civil Parish
of 1722, had a number of townlands detached because of changes made by the Church of
Ireland administration. These changes included the loss of nine townlands transferred to
Dunseverick Parish when it was created in 1831. Somewhat later several townlands
constituting the portion of Bushmills east of the River Bush were transferred to Dunluce
Parish. While these ecclesiastical alterations did not effect the extent of the Civil Parish
from the middle of the 19th century the responsibilities of all Civil Parishes were
gradually reduced. Finally in 1870, following the dis-establishment of the Church of
Ireland, the remaining Civil Functions of the Parishes were subsumed by the County Grand
Juries.
The People of the Parish
The 17th Century
The earliest record which actually names significant numbers of people who lived in the
Parish of Billy is quoted in Hill’s ‘Macdonnells of Antrim’ wherein it is
stated that in 1660 the holders of the lands on the Antrim Estate in the Parish were
Derrick Westener, Peter Beaghan, Esq., Thomas Pighill, Mr John Browne, George McLaghlin,
James Jackson, Thomas Goold, William Scott and Mr Hugh Edwards. These were either soldiers
who had settled in 1655 or their representatives. These landholders probably held large
acreage and undoubtedly would have had under-tenants.
In the Hearth Tax Rolls of 1666 and 1669 many of the then heads of
families are named; the 1669 Roll indicating townlands. This material has been published
by PRONI in 'Heads and Hearths' edited by Carleton. It should be noted that the
names listed cannot be regarded as being complete. Many householders managed to avoid
paying the tax, pleading poverty; some no doubt evaded the tax collectors and indeed some
of the tax collectors may have been too indolent to visit each and every household. It has
been calculated or estimated that the Rolls perhaps return some 70% of those heads of
household who lived in the Parish.
The 18th Century
Various other Irish records are available in the 18th Century which show names of heads of
household but no other members of the family. Usually, but not always, the townland of the
person named is indicated. Some of these records provide useful information for the
genealogist but many are somewhat disappointing. These records include the Registry of
Deeds, from 1707, Agricultural Census 1734, Rolls of Protestant Householders, 1740;
Religious Census 1766, Linen Bounty 1790, Electoral lists for 1796, Wills and
Administrations, Army and Navy lists and the archives of the Belfast Newsletter which has
been published from 1737. Some Estate records, Rent books, leases and Wills are available
in Record Offices and Archives.
I have found the names of various people of the Parish of Billy in all of these records.
Vestry records for Billy Parish Church are extant from 1787.
The 19th and 20th Centuries.
Unfortunately the Baptismal, Marriage and Burial records of Billy Parish, prior to the
early 1880s, perished in 1921. Records of Births and Marriages of Bushmills and Toberkeigh
Presbyterian Churches are extant from 1821 and 1829 respectively. Other sources of records
exist but many are in private custody and few are catalogued. These additional sources
include Estate Records, Rent books, leases, Wills, Family Bibles, personal letters, minute
books etc. of various organisations.
The later 19th and 20th Centuries are well endowed with records in the public domain, many
of these being held in the PRONI, Belfast and Central Archives in Dublin. Most of these
sources of records are well known, listed and readily available so I have not provided any
details of them.
Gravestone Inscriptions
As a supplement to the above various records the inscriptions on gravestones can provide
useful information for the 21st Century genealogist and family historian about those
people who lived and died in the Parish of Billy in bygone times. It is for that reason
the task of recording the inscriptions in the Old Burying-ground of Billy Parish was
undertaken.
Back
to main page