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The first settlers
in Ireland probably came through Antrim from Scotland some 8,000
to 10,000 years ago. The Glens of Antrim formed part of the early
Gaelic kingdom of Dal Riada, who in the A.D. 400's established a
kingdom in Scotland.
The Vikings raided the shores of Antrim,
Antrim town has a round
tower dating from Viking times.
The O'Neill clan (Descended from Nial of
the Nine Hostages) held sway of Antrim and at times large areas
of Ulster until they were displaced by the Anglo Normans in the
late 1100's who conquered and settled the area making it part of
the earldom of Ulster.
On the 25th May 1315 Edward
Bruce brother of Robert Bruce king of Scotland landed with an
army of 7000 men, at Larne in county Antrim, intent on wresting
control of Ireland from the English, the following year on 1st May
he was crowned king of Ireland at Dundalk county Louth. His successes
however were short lived, in 1318 he met a superior force at Faughart
outside Dundalk, his army was routed and he slain. Ireland as a
whole suffered greatly from famine as a result the Bruce campaign.
By 1560 the O'Neill's had regained much of
their Territories, in that year it is said that Shane O'Neill was
undisputed ruler of Ulster from Droheda to the Erne, in 1562 he
attacked the Maguire's of Fermanagh. However over the next few years
the tide of good fortune turned against him. In 1566 ignoring an
oath of allegiance to Elizabeth I of England, he embarked on a campaign
to bring the whole of Ulster under his control. In 1569 he was defeated
and slain, his head was cut off, pickled and sent to Dublin. where
it was displayed on a pike in Dublin Castle. The English crown confiscated
all the O'Neill lands, and distributed them among supporters loyal
to them.
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The late 1500's were a particularly traumatic time
for Antrim, and indeed Ireland as a whole, in 1573 the arrival of the
earl of Essex at Carrickfergus, heralded the beginning of a bloody chapter
in the county's history. Essex was determined to gain absolute control,
England at war with Spain, feared an alliance between Spain and Catholic
Ireland one source states that he killed several hundred Irishmen at a
banquet in Belfast. Another that on 26th July 1575 Sir James Norrie and
Francis Drake acting on his orders massacred the entire population of
Rathlin Island, including the wife and children of Sorley Boy MacDonald.
In October 1588 one of the ships of the Spanish
Armada the Gerona was wrecked on the north Antrim Coast, close to Dunluce
castle, Sorley Boy is reputed to have refurbished Dunluce Castle with
booty salvaged from the wreck.
The end of the Irish O'Neill's came in 1607 with
the Flight of the Earl's, it was after this period the plantation of Ireland
began in earnest. Many Scots planters moved into the area during the 1600's.
Antrim town was the scene of a battle between Presbyterian
rebels led by Henry Joy
McCracken and the British Army in
1798. Later, many of the people who fought against the British became
supporters of the cause of Irish union with Britain. Today, Antrim is
regarded as the heartland of Ulster Unionism. The Glens
of Antrim, however, have remained Catholic and Nationalist.
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