Few places in Northern Ireland of comparable size have as rich a history as the village of Doagh in the Sixmilewater valley of County Antrim.
The district has produced some remarkable individuals, including the pioneer of education William Galt and the mechanical genius John Rowan. But countless others, whose names have been largely forgotten, have also contributed to the history of Doagh. In the 1790s the village was alive with revolutionary fervour and suffered as a consequence in the wake of the 1798 Rebellion. In the early 1800s it witnessed the excitement of a hunt when the gentry of south Antrim descended on the village. In the later nineteenth century many people found work in the spinning mill. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have brought their own changes and challenges.
For additional information, readers should refer to the fine history of Kilbride by the Rev. R. R. Cox (A History of the Parish of Kilbride (1959)), which was reprinted and updated as Mills, Ministers and Moggies: The story of a County Antrim church and village (2000). There is also a good history of Kilbride Presbyterian Church (Kilbride Presbyterian Church 1848-1998 (1998)) which not only covers the congregation, but also provides additional details on other aspects of the area’s past. The general history of this part of County Antrim is expertly covered in Robert Armstrong’s Through the Ages to Newtownabbey.
For assistance with the compilation of this website, we are grateful to the following individuals:
- Bob Adams
- Margaret Adams
- Donald Alexander
- Leith Burgess
- Jim Cardwell
- Noel Crymble
- Alex Hill
- Etta Mann
- David McConnaughie
- Annette McKee
- Paul Richmond
- Dr William Roulston
- Sandy Sherrard
- Rev. Derek Weir
