TICKMACREVAN
TICKMACREVAN, or GLENARM, a parish in the barony of UPPER GLENARM, county of ANTRIM, and province of ULSTER; containing, with the parish of Templeoughter, the post-town of Glenarm, and the village of Straidkelly (each separately described), 3859 inhabitants. It comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, an area of 20,506 ¾ statute acres; and is situated on the Glenarm water, which rises in Slemish mountain and discharges itself into the sea at the town, where it is of considerable size.
A very large portion of the parish is mountain, bog, and waste, but the remainder is in a high state of cultivation under the most improved system of agriculture, and produces wheat, beans and barley in great abundance and of excellent quality. Limestone of many varieties is found here; some kinds contain echenites, belemnites, and other similar fossils; and large masses of ponderous iron ore and decomposed basalt used in making Roman cement, are found imbedded among the limestone rocks; one species of it is remarkable for its quality of setting instantly when immersed in water. Great quantities of limestone are exported from Glenarm, the quay of which is much resorted to by Scotch vessels in this trade, which bring coal and general merchandise in exchange.
Close to the town of Glenarm is a coal mine, which has not been worked to advantage; there are also indications of that mineral in other parts of the parish. Glenarm Castle, the residence of Edward McDonnell, Esq., which is in this parish, is described in the account of the town. The glebe-house is the residence of the Rev. Ross Jebb; and there are several elegant bathing-lodges at Carn-lough, belonging to Alex. McManus, Esq., and others, which have tended much to induce visitors from the inland parts to resort hither during the summer months.
The living was a rectory and vicarage, the former annexed, in 1609, to the chancellorship of Connor, and the latter episcopally united, in 1768, to the rectory of Templeoughter, (which is completely enclosed within it); but on the death of Dr. Trail, the late chancellor, in 1830, the two parishes were consolidated under the provisions of Dr. Mant's act, into a single rectory, in the diocese of Connor, and placed under the patronage of the Bishop.
The tithes, including those of Templeoughter, amount to £240: the glebe-house, which is situated about l ½ mile from the church, near the seashore, was built in 1813 by aid of a gift of £450 and a loan of £46 from the late Board of First Fruits; the glebe of the union comprises 23a. 0r. 30p. valued at £46. 7. 6. per ann.: the total value of the benefice amounts to £286. 7. 6. The church, which occupies the site of an ancient monastery close to the shore near the town, was built in 1768, at the expense of the noble family of McDonnell, and was enlarged in 1822 by a loan of £300 from the late Board of First Fruits: it is a plain building with a tower and spire.
The R. C. parish, which is called Glenarm, is co-extensive with the consolidated rectory of Tickmacrevan, and has two chapels, one at Glenarm, and the other at Carnlough, about two miles north-west of it. There are places of worship for Presbyterians, one of which is in connection with the Remonstrant Synod and of the third class, and a meeting-house for Wesleyan Methodists. Besides the schools noticed in the account of Glenarm, there are those of Cornabarna, Carnlough, Longfalls, and the Park, for the gratuitous education of poor children, in all of which there are 200 boys and 114 girls; there are also 4 private and 4 Sunday schools. Some remains of the ancient monastery, built in 1465 by Robert Bisset, a Scotchman, for Franciscan friars of the third order, are still to be seen on the shore near the town; also those of the ancient church, a mile west of the town.