1783 Taylor & Skinner Glenarm, Cushendall, Ballymena, Broughshane, Clough Ireland Road Map
Published in 1783, this hand-coloured antique Ireland road map is Map 21 from the second revised edition of Taylor & Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland. The survey was undertaken in 1777, first published in 1778 and corrected for the 1783 edition.
The engraved headings, “From Dublin to Glenarm” and “From Dublin to Newtownglens,” identify the two related journeys represented on the sheet. The map is arranged as adjoining road strips and records routes through inland County Antrim towards the Antrim coast.
Prominent places shown include Glenarm, Cushendall, Ballymena, Broughshane and Clough. Cushendall is labelled on the engraving as “Newtownglens or Cushendall”, while Clough appears in the historic form “Clogh.”
The Glenarm route passes through Ballymena and Broughshane, following part of the River Braid through the surrounding countryside. Nearby estates and landmarks include Ballygarry, Craigbilly, Whitehall and Glenarm Castle, together with churches, bridges, country houses and the names of contemporary landowners.
The adjoining strip follows the road from Clough towards Cushendall through a more mountainous landscape. Named properties include Retreat, Mount Edward and Glenville, while the northern section records the coastline around Red Bay and roads connecting towards Ballycastle and Glenarm.
The combination of inland settlements, coastal routes, estates, rivers and named properties makes this map particularly interesting for County Antrim local history, Irish genealogy and family-history research.
Identified as Map 21 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.