It was a pretty murky morning - a good day to catch up on washing as it has to go in the dryer. (No such thing as a tub, clothes line or even an airing rack. I'm developing very lazy habits!)
Our plan was to explore the remaining graveyards, then spend some time in the Coleraine library looking at Parish records.
Our first stop was at the very old Templastragh burial ground. We spotted the ruined church across a ploughed filed. The farmer was still ploughing so we asked about access.We found a complete ruin - a few tombstones were still readable from early 1800's but most were broken and worn smooth by the elements. The elements were still in fine form so I was glad of my hoodie.
The next ruin-of-call was further down the coast near Dunluce Castle. This particular church was abandoned about 1860 and the congregation 'moved' to Bushmills. There were lots of graves there too. It is neglected which is a shame. Once again we were unable to find any family graves. I'm pretty sure that this was probably the actual church that my ancestors attended. The one I went to on Sunday was too new. It was a few miles away though........
Coleraine library was very helpful - we intend to go back.We were able to search a microfilm of the Bushmills and Billy parish records.
2 comments:
Hello there, I was just searching the internet for family connections for McCallum in Bushmills and Portballintrae and your blog came up. How have you done with your geneology? I'm curious because my great aunt Katherine/Kitty/Kathleen's married name was Alexander so I wondered if there was a connection?
Hello there, I was just searching the internet for family connections for McCallum in Bushmills and Portballintrae and your blog came up. How have you done with your geneology? I'm curious because my great aunt Katherine/Kitty/Kathleen's married name was Alexander so I wondered if there was a connection?
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