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| LARNE, COUNTY ANTRIM. -The above handsome town stands on the Inver river, near the mouth of Larne Lough, and is the pleasant little capital of a prosperous district of the county Antrim. Behind it, in the sketch, may be observed the well-cultivated fields, divided off into numerous squares, as is the custom throughout Ireland, by quick-set, thorn hedges, which occupy a great deal of valuable ground, but add much to the picturesqueness of the country, which would be, otherwise, rather destitude of arborage. The long wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries did much to destroy the Irish forces, and they are only now beginning to recuperate, having increased four-fold since 1845. The town was, in old times, Inver-an-Laharna; and the river that flows through it the Ollarbha, or Larne Water. Olderfleet Castle, some remains of which still exist, and which is said to have been built by the Danes, and rebuilt by a Scotch family, named Byser, stood on what is called "the Curran" by the harbor. It was here that Edward Bruce, brother of King Robert of Scotland, landed in 1315, with 6,000 men, to fight for the crown and independence of Ireland, of which he was chosen king by the Irish chiefs and people. The castle was destroyed duing the Elizabethan wars. In 1798, the Presbyterian insurgents made a bold attack on the town but were bloodily repulsed by the English garrison. Of late years, Larne has been chosed as a port for the Royal Mail stream packet service between Ireland and Great Britain. |
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