If you are on a tour of the Giants Causeway our extended Belfast tours will take you along the magnificent coast road and through Ballycarry. Its a little hidden gem on the North Coast.
Ballycarry (baile Cora, “townland of the causeway”) is the site of the first Presbyterian church ever built in Ireland , Templecorran , with a memorial to its first minister , who was ordained in 1613.
The church’s graveyard contains the tombs of some of the supporters of the 1798 Rebellion , including that of James Burns , whose cryptic gravestone can only be deciphered using the following key: the numbers 1,2,3 and 4 represent the vowels “a”, “e”, “i” and “o” respectively, and 5 and 6 the letter “w”.
Another United Irishman, James Orr – better known as the Bard of Ballycarry , Ulster’s answer to Robbie Burns – is also buried here , and some ringing verses in dialect are carved into his tombstone.
There’s also a grand Masonic memorial of 1831 , which bears a patriotic poem about Ireland: “Erin, loved land ! From age to age, Be thou more great, more famed and free”
Dont miss Ballycarry on any Ireland tours.
