Antrim A7

SHAKEY BRIDGE 3105
This is Mrs Adams standing above the Mill Race on the old Moylena bridge known fondly by Antrim folk as the Shakey Bridge.
Mrs Adams is pointing to three planks missing that could be dangerous at night time.
Now I know what you are all thinking and you would be wrong, this was not the reason the Antrim Borough Council took away our Beloved Bridge which was over 100 years old nor the reason they gave it away for nothing on the QT.

2nd. ANTRIM. BN. ULSTER HOME GUARD. TRANSPORT PLATOON 3146
This is the 2nd Antrim. Batt. Ulster Home Guard. Transport Platoon having having their photograph taken.
At the back on the left is John Montpord, then Jim McGregor, Jim Millar, Frank anderson, Andy Reid. Bob Hood, Wilfie Kennedy, Bobby Moore, James Moody, Jim McDowell, John Harrison and Cecil Rea.
In the middle row are Bertie Black (On the bike), John McCosh, Jack Wilson, Freddie Clarke, Jim Shaw, George Phillips, James O Kelly, Herbie Robinson, Dick Maybin, John McAuley, Sammy Lyttle, Tom Bakes and biker is Unknown.
The front row has bertie Reid, Jim Alexander, Herbie Harper, Jim Boyd, Captain Long, Andy Watt, Jack Adrain, Jim Lowry, Bobby Ross,Ron Houston and James Graham.

ANTRIM PARISH LADIES BOWLING CLUB 3188
This is the Antrim Parish Ladies Bowling Club back on the 6th October 1963 having their photograph taken.
Back Row: on the left we have Mrs Buckley, E.M. Killop, M. Flemming, M. Colter, Athompson, C. Carson, H. Wright, Joan McKee and Miss Anderson.
Middle Row: has Mrs Bradley, Mrs Pattison, M. Cuckson, M. Meerin, Mrs Hawkins, Mrs Curry, M. McIlrea, M. Wallace, N. McKee and B. Wallace.
Front Row: F. Neill, D. McKeown, B. McKee, Mrs Wilson, Unknown, E. McMaster, Mrs Taylor and finally L. Kenny.

ANTRIM HOME GUARD 3189
It's the 1940's during WWII and here in McCabe's butcher's back yard we have Antrim Home Guard having their photograph taken.
Sadly at the moment the only name known to me is that of William McKee Senior who is first on the left middle row.
These men who came from all walks of life were fully trained to a high standard in fact 16 of them had already served in WWI.
Now if you know any of these men please let me know for they deserve to have their names added for history.

ANTRIM ROYAL MAIL POSTAL STAFF 3194
This is Antrim Royal Mail Postal Staff in 1911 just three years away from the life changing events of World War I.
What the staff's jobs were is unknown to me except for the two small boys they were the telegram boys who soon people would dread to see coming up their street carrying a telegram to say a loved one had been killed in the war. Now the telegram boy on the left has all ready been working for the Royal Mail for a year, his name is William McKee and went on to serve 52 years with them so William would have the dreadful task of delivering the news.

ANTRIM CASTLE 3215
This postcard shows a South view of Antrim Castle and has been has been hand coloured for colour photography was expensive back then.
To the left is the Motte which has now been retored to a very high standard and you can see right down High Street from the top.
In from the left of the castle can be seen an arched doorway. This was where the tradesmen dropped off their deliveries and also the servants entrance.
In the foreground the pathway leads to the pleasure garden back then, now it has been restored I would say it's far better than it ever was.

BOB ADGER 3375
This Bob Adger of the royal Fusiliers having his photograph taken in a studio, they were then made into postcards so they could post them to loved ones. Where the photograph was taken is unknown but it was posted Slindon in West Sussex on the 15th August 1917 while WW1 was still raging in Europe by someone other than Bob to a "Mrs Hook - Mouth Road - Amberley - Arundel which was also in West Sussex. The last part of the message is missing for they cut the bottom of the photograph to fit it into a frame. So here is what we have of the message: " Dear Mother, I have just had these from Bob don't you think they are good of him. I do hope you are quite well, this wet weather, did he tell you he expects" rest of message cut off. Perhaps he was going to say where he was going to be stationed. Well we know that for he was stationed at Shane's Castle in Randalstown. Bob on his time off visited Antrim where he met a Maggie Clarke with whom he fell in love with and they were married at the Church of Ireland at Templpatrick. They lived at first in Belmont Park and then in later years moved to Firfields. Bob went home aged 86.

THE ALLENS 3455
All smiles for the camera we have the Rev. Derek Allen and his lovely wife Alice Allen.
Derek was the minister at Loanends Presbyterian Church in the 1950,s. They then imigrated to Canada and Derek was the minister at Oshawa and Ottawa.
Alice still lives in Ottawa alone now for her dear husband Derek has gone home.

ANTRIM GRAMMER SCHOOL OVERSEAS TRIP 3607
'SHIP AHOY' 17 pupils from Antrim Grammar School got ready set off on a western Mediterran cruise and on the 17th July 1975 they boarded the" S.S Unganda"
After they settled in in their dormitories they went back up on top to watch the anchor being lifted out of the sea at 5.30pm to head through through Bay of Biscay and on to their first port of call Gibaltar. A great time was had by all and that was Francis McVeigh, Trevor Service, Tony Harris, Paul Lowery,
Mr Lindsay, Stephen Becket, Wendy Borland, Jackie Cochrin, Rosie McNeilly, Maggie Burns, Cliff Lowery, Gereldine Beers, Ian Shaw, Dorothy Leslie, Sharon Lynn and Robin Buick.

ANTRIM GRAMMER SCHOOL GIRL SOLDIERS 3608
Now the only text on the photograph is:"Dulce Et Decorum Est" Written by by the Roman poet Horace: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. In English, this means "it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country".
Sadly I do not know any of their names and they deserved to be names so get your thinking caps on and if you know any of them let me know and I will send you a photograph

AIR DISPLAY 3123
Flying over the Antrim Forum during a flying display is a Fairey Swordfish with its torpedo and along side is a Chipmunk.
Now the Swordfish's nickname was Stringbag and looking at it you can see why, this plane was built of aluminiumand covered with fabric and there was no closed in cockpit. As you can imagine it was slow but these planes served in WWII. They were responsible for destroying 21 U Boats and helped in the sinking of the Bismark by damaging its rudder with a torpedo so it could only go round in circles.
Now the Swordfish in this photograph W5856 is the oldest surviving example left anywhere in the world. It was built in 1941 by the Blackburn Aircraft Company at Sherburn-in-Elmet. The aircraft was flown from Sherburn-in-Elmet to Lichfield on 21 October 1941, and was packed by 82MU (Maintenance Unit), ready for shipment overseas. It was delivered to Liverpool via Southport. for shipping. Her intended destination was Bermuda, but instead was sent
to Gibraltar aboard SS Empire Moon. It remained in the Mediterranean for the next twelve until returning to the UK for rerurbishment during the winter of 1942/43. It then became a training plane for pilots and eventually went to Canada to train pilots there.

AERO ENGINE FITTERS 3419
Here we are at Aldergrove in 1938 and these guys are Aero Engine Fitters who the following year would become very valuable as in September 1939 the following year the Second World - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - -War would start in Europe. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---- - - - - - - - -- - - - - -Back Row: on the left is Mr Armstrong then F. Breen and Mr. McAreauey. - - - -- - - - - - -- - - - - --Middle Row: is Mr. Cairnduff, Unknown and Mr. McCullough. - - - - -- - - -- - - - - - Front Row: are Mr. Murray and Mr McNeilly.

ANTRIM CASTLE 3304
Even as a burnt out shell Antrim Castle still stood then majestically and proud with all its facade back in 1953. Behind the children through the main entrance you can see a small arched doorway and through the window to the right you can see a large arched entrance perhaps a corridor. Through the window to the left you can see a small boy exploring the inside of the Castle. Now to the children sitting on the steps at the back we have Alan Gillespie and in front is Patricia Wilson and her cousin Caroline McCrea who was here on holiday. The young chap that took the photograph is Desmond Gillespie who used a Brownie wooden box camera and it took skill to use it.

CHILDHOOD DAYS 994
Isn't this nice, brother and Sister with their arms around each other instead of usually around each others necks!
This is Rita Agnew with her brother Jack Agnew in 1937 sitting in the field enjoying themselves and in the background a thing you would never see in a field nowadays, a Haystack! I used to love either sliding down them or burrowing into them to make a secret hideout and then the farmer chasing us.

ANTRIM POST OFFICE STAFF 3029
It's 1950 and it's 1.40pm here at the Antrim Sorting Post Office with the staff who are having their photograph taken.
From the left at the back is Robin Baird, Samuel Fleming, William (Willy or Billy) McKee, "Ching" Wallace and Billy Neill (from Randalstown)
Seated in front are from Head Office J.B. McRoberts, Olive McMaster, Mrs Baxter, Isa McQuillan and Eric Kyle Postmaster.
My thanks to Louise Jones, Betty Campbell and Milly Stapleton for most of the names.

ANTRIM POSTAL DRIVERS 1648
Pictured at the Antrim depot in 1956 these postal drivers who have received their Safe-driving certificates are Samuel Fleming, Robin Baird and Billy McKee.
On the left is Postmaster Eric Kyle and the other man who presented the certificates from head office is J.B. McRoberts.

ANTRIM CASTLE 24
This room in Antrim Castle was called the Oak room here the walls are covered from floor to ceiling with solid Irish Oak, most of it is dark oak but here and there you get a lighter shade of oak. To the left of the picture you can see one of the family paintings, next on your right is the fireplace which was the grate in one frame. Now on touching a secret spring the whole massive frame swung out to reveal a hidden recess. To the far right you can see a very large chair, this is in fact the " Speakers Chair " from the Irish House of Commons. Also in this room was the original oak door from "All Saints Parish Church" which was riddled with bullet holes from the Battle of Antrim. Sadly all that you see was destroyed including the Castle in a great fire which was started deliberately.
Date Unknown.

ANTRIM CASTLE WALLED GARDENS 3815
This is the walled gardens from the other end and you can see the closed gate in the distance while this one is open. Why oh why did Antrim council destroy these walled gardens there was no reason to do so, they only needed to corden it off then retore the walls and the land put back to planting and did the pathways. It would have been a massive attraction for visitors and bring in renevue badly needed for the town, you would also have had local people employed looking after the gardens.

ANTRIM CASTLE WALLED GARDENS 3814
Taken at least a decade after Antrim Castle was burned this shows how quickly nature starts to take over.
This is the start of the walled gardens, the idea was to be able to grow lots of plants in the ground near to the walls so that not only did it give shelter to them from harsh weathers but they also benefited from the heat coming off the walls due to the sun. Beyond the gated entrance were more walled gardens and you can see the greenhouses through the gate which were built up against the wall. Over the top of the wall you can catch a glimpse of the Castle. The walled gardens were destroyed along with the Castle by Antrim Council of that time.

ABBEYVIEW 3517
That's Abbeyview in Muckamore on the left and the presence of the horse and cart tells you it was taken quite a while ago! But long after the mills have faded away, the street itself is still going strong.In fact it is remarkably well preserved. This house in the foreground was called the Gaffer house and the row and the one behind belonged to York Street Flax Spinng mill who had a factory at Muckamore. The Gaffer house was redesigned and had a Post Office put into it, the other Gaffer house at the other end is were you could get groceries ect.

ANTRIM 3695
It's 3.35pm here in 1980 and we are looking up the spire of ' All Sanits' Presbyterian Church in Church Street Antrim were they are working on putting on a new top.
In my younger days I climbed up to the parapet where the clock is to take some photos of Antrim and I'm terrified of heights, you would have thought my back was glued to the spire.

ALEX AGNEW 998
Standing next to his 1936 Citroen big 15 on the strand at Portstewart is Alex Agnew from Templepatrick.
As it was 1941 and the Second World War was still ongoing you still had the blackout curfews at night. It you look closely at the headlight on the left
you will see it has a cover on it with slats that pointed downward to reflect the light, this meant not much light came out of them and so they then painted
a white strip on the mudguards of the car to help other motorists to see you.

ANTRIM CASTLE 3788
This photograph was taken long after October 1922 when during a great Ball when an arsonist (a servant at the castle) lit a fire underneath the grand staircase and deliberately made sure there was no water in the big holding tanks which where in the loft area. It did not take long for the whole Castle to be enveloped in flames when they heard screams coming from one of the first floor windows. It was Ethel one of the servants, they quickly got a ladder and very soon got Ethel to safety but by the time the ambulance arrived it was too late, Ethel had not been burned by the fire but sadly had died due to smoke inhalation. In the foreground you can see a gate and an entrance which most likely had steps and was probably used by the servants, further on part of the wall has collasped for the council at the time did nothing to secure the Castle. Even though in this sad state it was a great attraction for it had been magnificent. Just beyond the fallen wall is a main door for the upper class to come out through and take in the wonderful views including the Sixmilewater River. Eventually the Castle got into a dangerous state because it had not been looked after that Antrim Borough Council at the time own Archiect ordered it to be bulldozed down and all that remains is the Octagon Tower. To be fair the the Council of today have worked hard at turning the Castle grounds now called Antrim Gardens into a place of beauty and has won many awards and worth going to see.

ANTRIM CASTLE 3839
This is Antrim Castle many years after it was deliberately set on fire. Above the front door are the coats of arms of the Ferrard's and the Massereene's and even in this sad state it was still attracting many visitors as you can see by the car on the left. To the right is the Motte from where at the top the last cannon ball was fired fired during the Battle of Antrim in 1798.

A B D MEMORIAL PIPE BAND 475
This is Railway Street in 1952 with the A.B.D. Memorial Pipe band walking away from High Street.
In the background you can see the Protestant Hall and next to it two houses.At the first house you can see a little boy waving at the band.
The second one looks very imposing I wonder did someone of high esteem live in it.