Cooke's Larne & Kilwaughter

[kelw45]

Hi,
Can anyone out there tell me what the townland boundaries were for these two Presbyterian Churches in the early 1700s?  The records are showing names from Larne (Town), Browndod, Ballyrickard, and Carnduff, but I have looked these townlands up on the old map and they would have been a bit of a distance apart in those days.

Thanks.
Pat

[Elwyn Soutter]

Presbyterians in Ireland don’t use a parish system. Which church you attended was and is a matter of personal preference and not really influenced by parish or townland boundaries. People didn’t always attend the nearest church to where they lived. If your ancestors were Presbyterian it can be tricky finding out which church they attended. You really just have to search through all the churches in the area, using the list on the PRONI website:

http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/research_and_records_held/catalogues_guides_indexes_and_leaflets/online_guides_and_indexes.htm

[kelw45]

Thanks Elwyn.  I have all the records from the early times 1700 and 1800 from the 1st Presbyterian and Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Churches, transcribed by a great family historian in Larne, Leonard Sluman.  As many of the records are missing (thanks to the -troubles- , I wondered if there were any other churches in the area they may have attended.  I appreciated your information regarding the fact it is almost impossible to determine which church they attended unless you had a record.  I found one record of a marriage in 1868 at the Reformed Loughmorne Presbyterian Church but no other records were there - I believe the church is not old enough for the earlier records.  With all the differences between Presbyterian, Non-Subscribing and Reformed, I wondered where their religious travels took them.  Thanks again,

Pat