placenamesCarrickfergus
Carraig Fhearghais
The Local Government Act of 1898 distinguished the built-up town from the rural part of its historic county.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Carraig Fhearghais · Irish · main form
- Carrickfergus · English · main form
Place & story
The rural portion of the county of the town
Section 40 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 made special provision for Carrickfergus. Land within its county of the town but outside the urban sanitary district was to join the rural sanitary district of the surrounding Poor Law union. On election of a rural district council, the municipal commissioners’ business for that portion was to pass to the new council. [2]
Harbour duties in the urban district
Section 41 made the urban district council the successor to Carrickfergus’s municipal commissioners as harbour commissioners. The Act also provided for adjustment of rural claims to the former commissioners’ property. These provisions show why the historic county territory and the urban town cannot be treated as interchangeable administrative units. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Carrickfergus. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Local Government (Ireland) Act1898, sections40–41 · Parliament of the United Kingdom; official legislation.gov.uk reproduction
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-05-26. How this page was prepared.