Bangor Historical Society’s final meeting of 2023 was held on 14 December. Our chairman Ian Wilson welcomed members. He then introduced committee member Sandra Millsopp who gave this month’s brief reference to an aspect of Bangor’s history. Glenbank is a well-known house on Princetown Road, but was not the first building on the site. In the 1870s Robert Russell, a grocer in Main Street, built two large semi-detached houses there which he let to summer visitors. They were called East and West Glenbank. Shortly before his death in 1889 he sold them for £2,000 to Miss Connor. She demolished them and built the present Glenbank about 1890. The chairman encouraged others to come forward with stories about Bangor in the past.
Then the chairman welcomed back our speaker for the evening, Leanne Briggs. This time her topic was Sir James Hamilton and the Raven Maps. She began by explaining the background to these early seventeenth century maps. They had been commissioned by Sir James Hamilton and had remained in the hands of descendants of the Hamilton and Ward families. In 1941 Lady Clanmorris, the last of the family to live in Bangor Castle, bequeathed them to the people of Bangor. They are now on display in the North Down Museum. There is an interactive version on a screen which visitors can use to see the different maps and close ups of some areas. Two of the maps are shown accompanying this article.
Sir James Hamilton, who grew up in Scotland, became an agent to Elizabeth I and then to James VI of Scotland who became King of England on her death. Hugh Montgomery, another Scot, became involved with a plan to rescue Con O’Neill from Carrickfergus Castle in return for a share of his lands in County Down. James Hamilton then became involved and the lands were split 3 ways. Hugh got land in the Ards, while James got areas including Bangor, Holywood, east Belfast and Killyleagh. He and Hugh argued about the land each received.
In 1613 King James granted a charter to Hamilton giving him rights over his land. We were shown a picture of the charter with Hamilton’s signature. It gave him the right to hold markets and fairs in Bangor. It also set up a corporation or council for the town. This consisted of 13 burgesses or councillors, one of whom was elected annually to serve as a provost or mayor. These burgesses were usually relatives or friends of the Hamilton family.
Leanne explained that Bangor would have looked very different in the early seventeenth century. She showed a reconstruction of Dunluce village, based on excavations there. It showed the varied types of houses, typical of a settlement of that period.
For the rest of the talk Leanne showed illustrations from the Raven maps, which are bound into a book. Unlike modern maps North is not always at the top. Thomas Raven, an experienced cartographer, was employed to produce them and they are very accurate when compared with modern maps. The majority of the maps date to 1625, 1626 and one to 1627.
A recent reproduction, using the latest technology, has revealed details on the maps which did not show up in earlier reproductions. Leanne used these to illustrate various aspects of the maps.
Raven was careful to add in the names of other landlords who owned land which lay beside Hamilton’s eg Lord Montgomery. The maps include the names of Hamilton’s tenants as well as townland names and physical features such as marshes. Helena Dunlop was one of a number of women tenants. Other features included common land for grazing cattle, Cuney borrows(rabbit warrens), rivers, mills and places like the Lower Fort Hill. The Bere Hill recalls the Scottish word for Barley.
Leanne then focused on the Bangor Map. The main streets shown were the present High and Main Streets with houses along both sides. Unfortunately neither was named. A small drawing shows the first Bangor Castle, the home of Sir James Hamilton. This is the only known image of the house which lay a little lower down from the present building. Close by was the Cross Hill, connected to the Abbey. The church itself was also shown. There was a lime kiln near the water’s edge as well as the present Tower House.
Leanne then looked briefly at features from some of the other maps. These included ships in various harbours. Natural objects were depicted such as rabbits, birds and stags. An oak tree marked a boundary with a squirrel and bird in the branches and a boar beneath it. A maypole was depicted in Holywood. The beauty and detail of the maps can best be appreciated by a visit to the museum.