placenamesDunluce
Dún Libhse
Beyond the castle, Dunluce’s nineteenth-century parish economy connected farms, quarries, paper-making and a small harbour.
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
- Dún Libhse · Irish · main form
- Dunluce · English · main form
Place & story
Working the coastal landscape
Lewis’s 1837 account describes Dunluce parish as extensively cultivated, with good pasture and about 500 acres of bog. Limestone supported the White Rocks limeworks west of the castle, while basalt quarries and exported flint added to the district’s trade. The small port of Ballintra carried products from the quarries and limeworks as well as other merchandise. [2]
Paper-making and local funds
Paper manufacture employed 190 people in Lewis’s parish account, using machinery to produce finer papers for English, Scottish and Irish markets. He also recorded a loan fund established in 1828 with £100 from Hugh Montgomery, and a dispensary founded at Bushmills in 1830 for Dunluce, Billy and Dunseverick parishes. The dispensary served a wider district than Dunluce alone. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Antrim
- Barony
- Dunluce Lower
- Coordinates
- 55.18266, -6.54382 (approximate)
- Mapped area
- 36.91 km²
- Logainm ID
- 61303 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Dunluce. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Dunluce — A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis
- White Rocks at Benjamins Port west of Dunluce Castle, County Antrim, as photographed in June 2019 illustration: based on a White Rocks, W of Dunluce Castle, Co Antrim (Benjamins Port) by Colin Park. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-05-26. How this page was prepared.