placenamesAntrim
Aontroim
School grants, family memorials and a donor’s communion silver preserve named contributions to Antrim parish life.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Aontroim · Irish · main form
- Antrim · English · main form
Place & story
An Erasmus Smith school
Antrim's free school on the Erasmus Smith foundation opened in 1812. Samuel Lewis recorded annual support from the foundation's trustees and the rector, and a £200 contribution by Lord Ferrard towards its £800 schoolhouse. The same foundation supported a girls' school, adding another institution to the parish's educational provision. [2]
The Massereene family pew
All Saints' parish records that the Massereene family's private pew became a chapel in the 1950s. Their burial vault lies beneath it. Among its memorials is one to the eleventh viscount, who died in 1905 and was a keen musician. An alabaster violin with a broken string represents the instrument's silence after its owner's death. A window bearing the family's arms had been presented in 1897. [3]
Abigail Parnell’s gifts
Abigail Parnell, a friend of the Massereene family, provided All Saints' communion plate in 1701. Her 1713 will added £15 towards a flagon. The parish's architectural record identifies different makers for the vessels: Adair Sowt for the chalice, David King for the paten, and Edmond Johnston of Dublin for the flagon. These gifts connect a named woman's patronage with the church's silver and its makers. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Antrim
- Barony
- Antrim Upper
- Barony
- Toome Upper
- Coordinates
- 54.71780, -6.21519 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 61266 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Antrim. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Antrim, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland1837 · Samuel Lewis
- Architectural Heritage · All Saints Parish, Antrim
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-05-26. How this page was prepared.