Genealogy Chat

I am trying to find out about what was at RAF Aldergrove, Co Antrim, before the RAF arrived but when I search all i seem to be able to find is info about when the raf arrived.
I want to be able to find out about what houses or buildings were on the site around 100 years ago, where would be best to search?
thank you for any advice anyone can give me

Try local library or record office for old maps. Irish census for 1901 and 1911 is free to view on line if you can indentify the correct area.

Andy

trying to avoid local library's as long as possible as were in northern ireland and my husband is a serving soldier and were basically meant to avoid revealing where we live, constant tourists lol

There does seem to be very little material readily available on the internet - and what there is, phrased in such similar wording that one wonders about the original source(s?)....

It seems that prior to the RAF period (technically from 1918, operational from 1925), Aldergrove was used as a training airfield by the Royal Flying Corps, but that only takes you a few years back to 1917.

There is a brief paragraph about Aldergrove from this website:

http://www.ulsteraviationsociety.org/#/aviation-in-ulster-1909-1939/4538899968

which says:

"Assembly-line production of aircraft in Ulster commenced in 1917, when Belfast shipbuilders Harland & Wolff were awarded a series of contracts for a combined total of 1,000 aircraft for the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air service. In response, during the period 1917-20, the company produced at least 600 aeroplanes, mostly DH.6 and Avro 504 types plus a comparatively small number of Handley-Page V1500 bombers. To facilitate the test-flying of the V1500s, an airfield was constructed at Aldergrove in County Antrim and became No 16 Aircraft Acceptance Park."

However, this too relates to 1917 onwards only.

Many of the references also do not distinguish between the RAF site and the larger Belfast International Airport which is adjacent to the RAF site.

As Andrew suggests, it might help to look at maps drawn prior to 1917. If you cannot visit libraries then you might like to buy the 1900 Antrim map (1" to the mile), which is available to buy online. You can find it here:

http://www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk/ireland028.htm

The church within RAF Aldergrove is St Catherine's parish church, part of the Church of Ireland. According to this site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St_Catherine%27s_Parish_Church_%28C_of_I%29_Killead_-_geograph.org.uk_-_115746.jpg

the church was built in 1712 and the parish is "Killead and Gartree".

The 1901 census
(search facility here: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/ )
gives no results for Killead, but Gartree is listed, with the district electoral division (DED) of Ballynadrentargh - which matches the name of the road running to the south-west of RAF Aldergrove. There are 90 individuals listed for Gartree in 1901.

There is a reasonable mach for other road names in the area and townlands on the 1901 census. (Looking for the meaning of placenames, for instance at
http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/geography/placenames.html , "Bally..." implies a settlement).

For instance, there are 69 individuals listed under Ballyquillan, Antrim. (Ballyquillan Road runs northwest of RAF Aldergrove); and 55 under Ballyclan (to the southwest).

There are 562 people listed for Ballyrobin townland and DED (which is the name of the road to the north east of RAF Aldergrove), but I came across a caution that that are 7 townlands named Ballyrobin, of which two are in Antrim. Limiting the search to Ballyrobin in Antrim reduces the listing to 386 individuals - you would need to click through from an individual's name to the supporting forms (for example the enumerator's abstract) and cross check with an online map to see exactly where each household is.

There are some earlier free maps at this site:

http://www.glenavyhistory.com/maps.html.

The first is slighty too far south of the land you are interested in, and the second a little too far north, but the third map suggests that the area was wooded in 1778 (see "Moore grove, Moore Esq" surrounded by trees to the south west of "Killhead church").