Magheramorne (from Irish : Machaire Morna - meaning 'Plain of Morna') [1] is a hamlet in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is about 5 miles south of Larne on the shores of Larne Lough. It had a population of 75 people in the 2001 Census. Following the reform of Northern Ireland's local government system on 1 April 2015, Magheramorne lies within the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council area.
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Nearby is an old limestone quarry currently owned by Lafarge (formerly known as Blue Circle). Extraction of limestone from the quarry, for use in the Magheramorne cement plant, ceased in 1980. [2]
The high point for limestone extraction at Magheramorne was in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 19th century a mission church for labourers at the limeworks was established and became a Presbyterian Church.
In September 2009, Lafarge obtained outline planning permission for redevelopment of the quarry and cement works, including a new eco-friendly village and a major cycling centre mainly in the quarry. [2]
A regeneration plan was proposed to transform the quarry into a nature conservation, leisure and housing area. If the plans go ahead, the 75 hectare quarry is to be home to a World Cycling Centre and the All-Ireland Scuba Diving Centre. [3] The area of Larne Lough that was used to ship cement out of Magheramorne is now used as a marina.
The abandoned Magheramorne quarry area was used as a filming location for the HBO TV series Game of Thrones . Castle Black, Hardhome and The Wall were filmed there, and battlements were built there to serve as King's Landing's defences during the Battle of Blackwater Bay; [4] scenes shot atop the wall were filmed inside the Paint Hall Studios in Belfast.
The composite set (with both exteriors and interiors) consisted of a large section of Castle Black including the courtyard, the ravenry, the mess hall and the barracks, and used the stone wall of the quarry as the basis for the ice wall that protects Westeros. A functional elevator was built to lift the rangers to the top of The Wall. A castle with real rooms and a working elevator were built near a cliff 400 feet (120 m) high, CGI fills in the rest to make the wall appear 700 feet (210 m) high. [5]
The area around the elevator was painted white to make it look like ice. George R. R. Martin said: "It's a pretty spectacular, yet miserable location. It is wet and rainy, and the mud is thick. I visited there; it really gets the actors in the mood of being at the end of the world in all of this cold and damp and chill". [6]
Magheramorne is home to many different organisations, including Magheramorne Presbyterian Church and its associated groups for Women and Children. Several Loyal Orders are at home in Magheramorne also.
County Antrim is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 3,086 square kilometres (1,192 sq mi) and has a population of about 618,000. County Antrim has a population density of 203 people per square kilometre or 526 people per square mile. It is also one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland, as well as part of the historic province of Ulster.
Carrickfergus is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, 11 miles (18 km) from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest town and one of the oldest towns in Ireland as a whole. Carrickfergus Castle, built in the late 12th century at the behest of Anglo-Norman knight John de Courcy, was the capital of the Earldom of Ulster. After the earldom's collapse, it remained the only English outpost in Ulster for the next four centuries. Carrickfergus was the administrative centre for Carrickfergus Borough Council, before this was amalgamated into the Mid and East Antrim District Council in 2015, and forms part of the Belfast Metropolitan Area. It is also a townland of 65 acres, a civil parish and a barony.
Larne is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. Together with parts of the neighbouring districts of Antrim and Newtownabbey and Causeway Coast and Glens, it forms the East Antrim constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly. The civil parish is in the historic barony of Glenarm Upper.
Larne Borough Council was a Local Council in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ballymena Borough Council and Carrickfergus Borough Council in May 2015 under the reorganisation of local government in Northern Ireland to become Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.
Larne Lough, historically Lough Larne, is a sea loch or inlet in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies between the Islandmagee peninsula and the mainland. At its mouth is the town of Larne. It is designated as an area of special scientific interest, a special protection area, and a Ramsar site to protect the wetland environment, particularly due to the presence of certain bird species and shellfish.
Greenisland is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies 7 miles north-east of Belfast and 3 miles south-west of Carrickfergus. The town is on the coast of Belfast Lough and is named after a tiny islet to the west, the Green Island.
Whitehead is a large seaside village on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, lying almost midway between the towns of Carrickfergus and Larne. It lies within the civil parish of Templecorran, the historic barony of Belfast Lower, and is part of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. Before the Plantation of Ulster its name was recorded as both Whitehead and Kinbaine.
Belfast Lough is a large, intertidal sea inlet on the east coast of Northern Ireland. At its head is the city and port of Belfast, which sits at the mouth of the River Lagan. The lough opens into the North Channel and connects Belfast to the Irish Sea.
Olderfleet Castle is a four-storey towerhouse, the remains of which stand on Curran Point to the south of Larne Harbour in Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The place name of Olderfleet may be a corruption of Ulfrecksfiord, the Viking name for Larne Lough.
Carincastle or Cairncastle is a small village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland near the town of Larne and inland from the village of Ballygally. It had a population of 66 people in the 2001 Census. It is part of the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council area.
Glenarm is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies on the North Channel coast north of the town of Larne and the village of Ballygalley, and south of the village of Carnlough. It is situated in the civil parish of Tickmacrevan and the historic barony of Glenarm Lower. It is part of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and had a population of 568 people in the 2011 Census. Glenarm takes its name from the glen in which it lies, the southernmost of the nine Glens of Antrim.
The A2 is a major road in Northern Ireland, a considerable length of which is often referred to the Antrim Coast Road because much of it follows the scenic coastline of County Antrim; other parts of the road follow the coasts in Counties Down and Londonderry.
Glynn is a small village and civil parish in the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council area of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies a short distance south of Larne, on the shore of Larne Lough. Glynn had a population of 2,027 people in the 2011 Census.
Whiteabbey is a townland in Newtownabbey, north of Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
Dál nAraidi or Dál Araide, sometimes Latinised as Dalaradia or Anglicised as Dalaray, was a Cruthin kingdom, or possibly a confederation of Cruthin tribes, in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages. It was part of the over-kingdom of Ulaid, and its kings often contended with the Dál Fiatach for the over-kingship of the province. At its greatest extent, the borders of Dál nAraidi roughly matched those of County Antrim, and they seemed to occupy the same area as the earlier Robogdii of Ptolemy's Geography, a region shared with Dál Riata. Their capital was Ráth Mór outside Antrim, and their eponymous ancestor is claimed as being Fiachu Araide.
The Belfast–Larne line, or Larne line, is a railway line in Northern Ireland, operated by Northern Ireland Railways. It runs as double track along the majority of its route north along the scenic east Antrim coastline from Belfast to the coastal seaport town of Larne, serving commuters and ferry passengers.
Shane's Castle is a ruined castle near Randalstown in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, having been destroyed by fire in 1816. The castle is on the north-east shores of Lough Neagh. Built in 1345 by a member of the Clandeboy O'Neill dynasty, it was originally known as Edenduffcarrick, meaning "brow of black rock". It owes its present name to Shane McBrian McPhelim O'Neill, who ruled Lower Clandeboy between 1595 and 1617.
Belfast Lower is a barony in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. To its east lies the east-Antrim coast and Belfast Lough, and it is bordered by four other baronies: Belfast Upper to the south, Carrickfergus to the east, Antrim Upper to the west; Glenarm Upper to the north. The Forth and Milewater rivers both flow through Belfast Lower, with Larne harbour also situated in the barony.
John Irving was an Irish landowner, industrialist and MP.