Yes, thank you, Edward. You've given me a lot of good information that answers many of my questions and gives me more. Assuming my Kirks came from Scotland at some time to County Antrim, the question this is where did they come from and how did they get there. I can see by the map there's not much on the peninsula in the Mull of Kintyre region, maybe it's very rocky and not a good farming area. So in the 1600-1700s would the travelers between Antrim and Scotland mostly have taken one of the major routes and then traveled overland to their destination. Like you said, areas of Scotland weren't/aren't easy to travel overland. I've been to the Antrim coast. Those cliffs are high enough for me. Unless it was densely forested, it seems like travel in Antrim would have been easier to travel around. My Kirks were Protestant, so that doesn't fit with the Catholic movement between the two countries. It is all very interesting. For instance with the iron ore I wonder if the soil in certain areas is as red as the areas of eastern Texas that have high iron ore content. Which east Texas has a high Scotch-Irish settlement though many descendants today don't know. Thanks again, Edward. Ludie ----- Original Message ----- From: Edward Andrews To: 'Loudene Tollar' ; Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 3:50 AM Subject: RE: [Sc-Ir] Irish Sea Channel crossing You are not quite clear about what you are asking, so I will give a slightly long winded answer. Historically, despite its dangers - strong currents and being open to the Atlantic the North Channel has always been a very important highway between Scotland and Ireland. These currents and tide rips are important in that they did have effects on where ships could easily land For practical purposes we can divide the coast of Ulster up it up into several areas. From Malin Head to Fair Head, From Fair Head to Black Head, from Black Head to Ballyquinten Point, and from Ballyquinten Point south, (including Strangford Lough). While the Ulster coast can be neatly divided up the Scottish Coast is more difficult. There is the area to the north of the Mull of Kintyre, From the Mull of Kintyre to Carsewell Point and from Carsewell point south. On the Ulster side there is limited fishing, but this has traditionally been at its most productive in County Down. The Antrim coast is backed by a raised beach (I think it is the 10M one) which is broken by short rivers which flow down from the Antrim Plateau. The Plateau, while it is not very high is fronted on the sea side by cliffs which are only penetrated by the River Valleys. The two main roads which serve the coast run from Ballymena to Glenariff/Cushendall, and to Carnlough/Glenarm. Cushendun is a river mouth, which only provides shelter for a few small boats The whole North Antrim area has very strong cultural links with the Scottish coast. These links are Gaelic rather than plantation, and the Glens (the nine Glens of Antrim) are distinct from the rest of Antrim in that there is a much higher proportion of Roman Catholics there than in the rest of Antrim. They are very different indeed from the Lowland Scots of the plantation of Antrim. Gaelic was spoken until the early 20th Century. While I have chosen Fair Head as one of the arbitrary divisions of the coast, culturally Ballycastle is part of this community. It is the home town of Keith Cardinal O'Brian the Archbishop of Edinburgh and head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. When I worked in Islay not only could you see the Antrim Coast, people went over for the Lammas Fair in Ballycastle. There has historically always been coming and going across the Ditch. However, transport is a function of the economy, and both Campbeltown and the Glens were primary producers. Ballycastle had a small coal mine, which only met local demand. (eighteenth century attempts at encouraging industry were not particularly successful and the harbour silted up and is now the town tennis court). Carnlough was important for its export of Limestone as was Glenarm. There was also Iron ore, as well as bauxite on the plateau. However this was generally exploited by narrow gage railway to Ballymena and then to Larne, it was not important for the Antrim Coast. There is a picture in the Lawrence Collection of an iron ore jetty near Fair Head. Campbeltown is a plantation town founded by James VI to bring the advantages of civilization to the Highlands. We believe that my ancestors went there from Maybole there in the 17th Century, before going to Ulster. However until well into the 20th Century when there were road improvements the whole of the Kintyre area was only served by sea. The development of car ferries in Scotland rather than passenger ferries meant that there was a demand for a car ferry to Ireland. It was only in the late 1960s / early 1970s that this ferry service was set up between Campbeltown and Red Bay by Western Ferries. While this was commercially a success, because of the security situation it was not possible to continue it. Western Ferries also had a Catamaran running on the Scotland (I can't remember where,) Portrush / Moville route In the 1990s a ferry was set up between Campbeltown and Ballycastle. However rather than being run by Cal-Mac the state run coastal shipping line (who run the Ballycastle / Rathlin service, it was run by a private company to whom Cal-mac had to sell a ship. This was a great rip-off and the service only and fro a few years. There are continued attempts to get a ferry running. However while the routes to Stranrear (and the south shore of the Clyde Estuary are extremely busy, Campbeltown is 140 miles from Glasgow over roads which are at times indifferent. In brief, historically there were ad hoc travel arrangements between the Antrim Coast and Scotland. These did not long last the introduction of Steam which tended to concentrate shipping in the larger ports. Attempts in the past 30 years to run a service have failed for one reason or another. Edward Andrews -----Original Message----- From: Loudene Tollar [mailto:ludiekt@juno.com] Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 4:16 AM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [Sc-Ir] Irish Sea Channel crossing Edward, I'm curious about the crossing between the area of Cushendun on the Irish coast and the peninsula of Campbelltown on Scotland's side. As that is such a short distance has it been used much for crossing in years past or is there a reason it wouldn't be? Ludie, freezing in Texas!