Dear All, I have just seen Roberta's e-mail on the above subject, and can add to it. Irish townland names are of gaelic origin, and over the years they sometimes became corrupted and when they were phoenetically transcribed into English they tended to move further away from their origins. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the spelling of names was not precise anyway - for example in working with original sources I have found the executors of one Alexander McCalla or McAuley used one version in April 1774 and the other in August of the same year. I have also worked with Grand Jury records for Co Down and found that the spelling of townland names varied frequently, and suspect that I could tell when the writer was suffering from a cold and wrote the name as he pronounced it. The first Ordnance Survey of Ireland was done around 1834 (the OS provides the official maps of the United Kingdom, and was originally done by the Royal Engineers) As part of the exercise gaelic scholars were sent round the country to identify the correct spelling of names including townland names, and these now appear on the OS maps and are accepted as the authentic spelling. The scholar in the Antrim and Down area was John O'Donovan, and his reports on his work have been published in a book of "O'Donovans Letters" The survey was originally intended to be accompanied by an official discription of each parish but funds ran out and this part of the work was not completed. Reports which had been written, mostly of northern parishes remained for many years in manuscript form in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. Recently they have been transcribed and published by the Institute of Irish Studies, Queens University, Belfast in a series of books each covering several adjacent parishes. As a parish Derryaghy (or Derriaghy as some sources, including the rector of the parish in 1981, still call it despite the OS pronouncement. It may be in fact that the parish has chosen to be known as Derriaghy ) extends back to at least 1204, but the church buildings appear to have been in a ruinous state for most of the 1600s, and it was amalgated with Lisburn/Lisnagarvey/Blaris (all the same place) parish at that time. Records of the inhabitants births etc, if they exist at all are to be found in the Lisburn parish records. Records for Derryaghy as a separate parish recommence in 1696. At that time the parish consisted of 22 townlands, namely Aghalislone, Aghnahough, Ballycollin, Ballymacoss, Ballymacward Upper, Ballymacward Lower, Bovolcan, Clogher, Derriaghy, (it is often found that there is a townland of the same name as the parish), Drumankelly, Island Kelly, Killeaton, Kilmakee, Lagmore, Magheralave (the Fulton home, Belsize House was in this townland), Mullaghglass, Poleglass, Slievenacloy, Slievenagravery, Tornagrough, Tornaroy, and Whitemountain also known as Carestoy. In the last century many of these have been detatched to form new parishes of Stoneyford, Ballymacash, Kilmakee and Derryvolgie, but from a genealogical point of view this is irrelevant because by then most of the records should be available on the general register. Roberta asks if anyone has seen the Lisburn cathedral records. They are on microfilm in the Public record office in Belfast. I have used some of them but they are difficult to read, at least the early ones, as the paper on which they were written was thin and the microfilm has reproduced in some case not only the page they intended but a lot of the reverse side of the sheet as well. The micro film covers births 1637,1639 -41, 1643 -46 and 1655-1933, marriages1639 -41, 1643 -46 and 1664 - 1967, and burials in the Cathedral churchyard 1670 - 1961. As iInow live in the South of England I only occasionally have the opportunity to work with them. The Dunaghy parish found by Roberta should not be confused with the various spellings of Derryaghy, or the misunderstandings will be compounded. Dunaghy is an entirely separate parish some 30 miles to the north of the area we are looking at. Roberta also speculated on the possibility that Eleanor Johnston could be related to the Rev Philip Johnson who was the rector of Derryaghy for many years. It could be so but Johnson/Johnston is one of the commonest names in the north of Ireland. The earliest extant records of Lisburn parish have been reprinted. They cover the years between 1639 and 1646, with some gaps because the church was destroyed in the rebellion of 1641. During that time there are 9 entries for Johnson/Johnston (though none for Fulton). I am interested because my maternal grandfather was Johnston, and came from Tullyrusk townland in the next parish to the north. Tullyrusk itself is on the boundary of Derryaghy parish. The records for that parish have also survived, and I have been going through them. I still have much to do but I noticed that in several years around 1720 John Fulton and then William Johnston served as surveyor of roads for that part of the parish. Tullyrusk is only about 5 or 6 miles from Belsize the home of the Fultons when Hugh Fulton and Eleanor Johnston were married in 1681. They had a son John born in 1692 (according to Theodore Hope), who would have been the right age to be the John in Tullyrusk in 1720. It seems more that just coincidence but I have not yet got any confirmation. On a minor point of presentation, Roberta refers to "Sir Hope". In our normal usage here he might be referred to as Sir Theodore Hope, just Sir Theodore (without the Hope) or even just as Hope without any title, but never as "Sir Hope". The parish of Derryaghy lies between Belfast and Lisburn and when it had all 22 townlands it stretched to the north and west of Lisburn as well. It runs from the River Lagan which is also the boundary of Cs. Antrim and Down to the crest of the hills which form the southern edge of the Antrim plateau. The land near the river including the Fulton's land in Magheralave would have been fertile and later was the scene of much of the linen industry, but the higher ground is more rugged and probably less profitable. Now the low lying area is largely built on as the suburbs of Belfast reach out to meet Lisburn. I hope this is helpful. I am interested in anyone with information about the Fultons in this area in the 1600 and 1700s. Trevor Fulton