DUNSEVERICK

DUNSEVERICK, or DOONSERE, a parish, partly in the barony of CAHEY, and partly in that of LOWER DUNLUCE, county of ANTRIM, and province of ULSTER, 3 ½ miles (N. E.) from Bushmills; containing 1813 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the northern coast, which is here characterised by features of grandeur and sublimity. It contains the noble promontories of Pleaskin and Bengore; the latter, situated in 55° 14' 50" (N. Lat.) and 6° 28' (W. Lon.), forms the commencement of that beautiful and majestic range of columnar basalt which is called the Giants' Causeway. The shore is indented with several interesting bays, of which that near Milltown is much frequented during the season; and the small creek of Portanna flows up to the village.

According to the Ordnance survey it comprises 4277 ½ statute acres: the land is fertile and the system of agriculture rapidly improving. There are several quarries of limestone and stone for building; fossil or wood coal, found beneath the basalt and between the strata, is worked to a considerable extent, but it is of very indifferent quality; and near Pleaskin is a very fine quarry of columnar basalt. A profitable salmon fishery is carried on at Port Moon bay, where the fish are taken in great abundance. At Port Ballintrae is a coast-guard station, forming one of the eight which constitute the district of Ballycastle.

The living is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Connor, and in the alternate patronage of the Rectors of Billy and Ballintoy, out of which parishes it was formed under the act of the 7th and 8th of George IV., 1830. It is endowed with the tithes of the townlands of Lisnaguniog, Feigh, and Carncolp, in the parish of Billy, amounting to £37. 9. 3., and with those of the townlands of Artimacormick, Drimnagee, and Drimnagesson, in the parish of Ballintoy, amounting to £29. 8. 3 ¾., making the total endowment £66. 17. 6 ¾.

The church, a neat edifice with a square tower, was erected in 1832, at the expense of the late Board of First Fruits. There is a place of worship for Presbyterians. Lochaber school, in which about 100 children are gratuitously instructed, was built in 1827 and is supported by subscription; and there is a pay school, in which are about 30 boys and 20 girls, and a Sunday school. In 1831, many thousand Roman coins of silver were found under a stone near Bengore Head, and fossils and minerals of every variety are found here in profusion. The venerable remains of Dunseverick castle are noticed in the account of Ballintoy, in which parish they are situated.