1783 Taylor & Skinner Larne, Glenarm, Ballygally and Glynn, Ireland Road Map
This hand-coloured antique Irish road map, published in 1783, is Map 14 from the second revised edition of Taylor & Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland. Surveyed in 1777 and corrected down to 1783, it records the historic road network through Larne, Glynn, Ballygally and Glenarm in County Antrim, together with connecting roads, estates and prominent landscape features.
The original heading “From Dublin to Glenarm by Belfast” identifies the wider journey represented by this section of the survey. The route passes through the countryside around Larne before following the County Antrim coast northwards towards Glenarm, with mile markers, waterways, hills, estates and country houses carefully engraved along the way.
Larne is prominently shown beside Lough Larne, with several roads meeting around the town and harbour. The surrounding countryside includes numerous named properties and estates, while Glynn appears along the coastal route between Larne and the continuing road towards Glenarm.
Further north, the engraving records Ballygally along the coastal route, together with neighbouring estates, country houses and local roads. The original map uses an older historical form of the place name, while the modern spelling Ballygally is used throughout this product description to make the location easier to identify.
Glenarm forms one of the major features of the sheet. The town is shown beside the sea with Glenarm Castle, identified with the Earl of Antrim, and the extensive Deer Park prominently depicted nearby. These features give the map particular interest beyond the road network itself and provide a detailed record of the late-18th-century landscape around Glenarm.
The surrounding countryside also includes Kilwaughter House, wooded estates, streams, hills and numerous properties associated with contemporary landowners. Roads towards places including Ballymena are marked, illustrating the wider network connected with the principal coastal route.
The combination of Larne, Glenarm, Ballygally, Glynn, Glenarm Castle and Lough Larne makes this an especially attractive record of the historic County Antrim landscape and road system during the late 18th century.
As throughout Taylor & Skinner’s survey, numerous named estates, country houses and contemporary landowners appear beside the roads, giving the engraving additional interest for Irish local history, genealogy and family-history research.
Identified as Map 14 in Taylor & Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland, it forms part of their extensive late-18th-century survey of Ireland’s principal roads.