placenamesGlenwhirry
Gleann an Choire
Surveyors’ accounts, a congregation’s bicentenary and an agricultural training farm trace the history of this Antrim valley.
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
- Gleann an Choire · Irish · main form · validated name
- Glenwhirry · English · main form
- Glenwherry · English · main form · local name
Place & story
A surveyor’s view in 1832
Lieutenant Robert Boteler’s October 1832 account describes Glenwhirry as a district of mountain pasture where cattle breeding and rearing mattered to its inhabitants. The Kells–Larne road crossed it from west to east, with branches towards Ballymena, Broughshane and Ballyclare. Boteler criticised the roads’ condition, recording a bridge on the main route that had remained broken for several years. His observations preserve the practical difficulties of movement through an agricultural valley. [2]
Two centuries of Presbyterian worship
Glenwherry Presbyterian congregation marked its bicentenary in 2023, tracing its formation to 1823. Former ministers returned during the celebrations. Reporting in January 2024, The Churchpage published minister Trevor Kane’s account of a concluding visit by General Assembly Moderator Sam Mawhinney. The anniversary concerned the congregation’s foundation, rather than establishing a construction date for every part of its present buildings. [3]
The Hill Farm’s teaching role
In 1963 the Ministry of Agriculture bought the Hill Farm at Glenwherry from the Antrim Estates Company for £39,100. It became a place for demonstration and training, a role continued by CAFRE. The college’s account connects livestock management with work on upland habitats. It records curlews successfully fledging chicks in 2017 after a twenty-year absence of successful breeding at the farm, one result associated with the Glenwherry Hill Regeneration Project. [4]
An angling club takes the river’s name
The Kells and Connor Angling Club began in 1948 with eighteen members. In 2002 it added Glenwherry to its name, recognising the river that rises near Agnews Hill and joins neighbouring streams before becoming the Kells Water. The club established a hatchery in 2005 and opened a larger replacement in 2014. Its account links fishing with stocking work, river monitoring and educational relationships with local schools across the river system. [5]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Antrim
- Barony
- Antrim Lower
- Civil parish
- Glenwhirry
- Coordinates
- 54.82341, -6.07047 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 61394 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Glenwhirry. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Glenwhirry statistical account,6 October 1832, reproduced in Graham family history · Lieutenant Robert Boteler / Ordnance Survey Memoirs
- PCI Moderator celebrates 200th Anniversary of Glenwherry Presbyterian Church,January 2024 · Joe Boyd / The Churchpage
- Hill Farm Centre, Glenwherry · College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise
- About Us: club history and the Glenwherry River · Kells, Connor and Glenwherry Angling Club
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-05-26. How this page was prepared.