Cargan

Cargan (from Irish: an Carraigín, meaning "the small rock")[1] is a small village and townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies at the foot of Slievenanee in Glenravel – locally known as "The Tenth Glen" along with the more widely known nine Glens of Antrim. It is part of Mid and East Antrim district. It had a population of 588 people (223 households) in the 2011 Census.[2] (2001 Census: 411 people)

The Legagrane Road in Cargan

History

One of the earliest anglicisations of the townland of Cargan is Carrigan.[1] In the late 1800s, the village of Cargan was known as Fisherstown after the man who, in 1866, opened the first iron ore mines near the village. The ore was shipped to Barrow-in-Furness, at first by horse and cart to the pier at Waterfoot where he had his own ships,[3] then from 1875 by railway to Ballymena and onwards. The railway closed in 1937.[4]

Transport

The Ballymena to Cargan railway line was opened in 1875 and extended to Parkmore and Retreat in 1876.[5] Cargan railway station opened on 1 June 1894, was closed for passenger traffic on 1 October 1930, and finally closed altogether on 12 April 1937.[6] It was on the Ballymena, Cushendall and Red Bay Railway which operated narrow gauge railway services from Ballymena to Parkmore from 1875 to 1940.[7]

2011 Census

On Census day in 2011:

  • 91.2% were from a Catholic background and 6.5% were from a Protestant background

See also

References
  1. Placenames NI Archived August 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Cargan". Census 2011 Results. NI Statistics and Research Agency. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  3. The Mountains of Iron, by K J O'Hagan, Mid-Antrim Part 2, 1991.
  4. "The Drum, County Antrim". Woodland Trust. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  5. JRB McMinn. "The Social and Political Structure of North Antrim in 1869". The Glens of Antrim Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  6. "Cargan station" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  7. Baker, Michael HC (1999). Irish Narrow Gauge Railways. A View from the Past. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 0-7110-2680-7.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.