a maritime county of a town, including the parliamentary borough of the same name, in the province of Ulster, in Ireland. It is surrounded by the county of Antrim on all sides, except the south, which is skirted by the Bay of Carrickfergus (Belfast Lough). It comprises an area of 26 square miles, or 16,700 acres. The surface is in general hilly. Lough Morne, a lake of about 90 acres in extent, is 556 feet above the level of the sea, and the highest mountain, Slieve Truc, which commands a magnificent prospect, attains an elevation of 1100 feet; but the land near the sea-shore is an alluvial plain. The farms are small, except in the hilly district, where grazing is carried on. The chief crops are oats and potatoes, for which sea-weed, with lime and vegetable matter, forms the manure; and the district has long been famous for the manufacture of cheese. The fisheries are valuable and extensive, and the oysters taken off this coast are highly prized for their size and flavour. About a mile and a-half from the town, on the property of the Marquis of Downshire, rock-salt of remarkable purity and great thickness has recently been discovered, but all searches after coal in this district have proved abortive. The amount of property valued under 6th and 7th Will. IV., c. 84 (Griffith's valuation), is £13,521.

According to ecclesiastical arrangement, this county forms a single rectory in the diocese of Connor. The population in 1834 numbered 8860 persons, of whom 1387 were of the Established Church; 6499 were Presbyterians and other Protestant Dissenters, and 974 were Roman Catholics. The entire population of the county and town in 1851 was 8320.

The town of Carrickfergus, from which the county and adjoining bay take their name, is the only place of importance in the district. The town stretches along the shore of Belfast Lough about one mile in length, and consists of the old or walled town in the centre, the Irish quarter on the west, and the Scotch quarter on the east; the latter being chiefly inhabited by fishermen, descendants from a colony driven by religious persecution from Galloway and Argyllshire about the year 1665. The town is irregularly built, and deficient in neatness. The principal building is the old castle, standing on the projecting rock from which the town derives a portion of its name, formerly a place of much strength, and still maintained as an arsenal, and mounted with heavy guns. The ancient donjon or keep, 90 feet in height, is still in good preservation.

The parish church, an antiquated cruciform structure, was originally a chapel or oratory dependant on a Franciscan monastery in another part of the town. The entrance to a subterranean passage between the two establishments is still visible under the communion-table of the church.

The gaol, built on the site of the above-mentioned monastery, was formerly the county of Antrim prison. The courthouse, which adjoins the gaol, is a neat building of modern erection, and when Carrickfergus was the county town of Antrim (which it ceased to be in 1850), the assizes were held here. The other public buildings in the town are, the market-place, the Roman Catholic chapel, and meeting-houses for different sects of Protestant Dissenters.

The town has some little trade and manufacture, and vessels of 100 tons burthen can now discharge at the landing pier; but the superior advantages of the neighbouring town of Belfast hinder the extension of the maritime trade of Carrickfergus, which is confined to the import of coal and the export of cattle and grain.

In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the town obtained a charter confirming and extending its former privileges. The corporation was regulated, and the mayor received the jurisdiction of high admiral of the adjoining seas. This charter was confirmed by James I., who added the additional privilege of sending two burgesses to the Irish parliament. The corporation, styled "the mayor, sheriffs, burgesses, and commonalty of the town of Carrickfergus," were superseded, under the provisions of the Municipal Reform act, by a board of municipal commissioners, in whom the corporate property is vested. Originally the corporation property comprised all the land within the county of the town, but by degrees it was wasted down to its present value of about £330 per annum.

In 1182, John De Courcy, to whom Henry II. had granted all the parts of Ulster he could obtain possession of by the sword, fixed a colony in this district. De Courcy built the castle which afterwards came into possession of the De Lacy family, who, being ejected, invited Edward Bruce to besiege it. After a desperate resistance the garrison surrendered. In 1386, the town was burned by the Scots; and in 1400 destroyed by the combined Scots and Irish. Subsequently, it suffered much by famine and the occasional assaults of the neighbouring Irish chieftains, whose favour the townsmen were at length necessitated to secure by the payment of an annual tribute.

In the reign of Charles I., many Scotch Covenanters settled in this neighbourhood to avoid the persecution directed against them. In the civil wars, in 1641, &c., Carrickfergus was one of the chief places of refuge for the Protestants of the county of Antrim; and on July 10, 1642, the first presbytery held in Ireland met here. In that year the garrison was commanded by General Munroe, who having afterwards relinquished the cause of the English parliament, was, in 1648, surprised and taken prisoner by Sir Robert Adair, who had been sent for the purpose with a troop of horse from Lisburn by General Monk. The town was taken possession of by the English parliament. Carrickfergus was held by the partisans of James II., but surrendered in 1689 to the forces under King William's general Schomberg; and in 1690 was visited by King William, who landed here on his expedition to Ireland.

In the beginning of the year 1760 it was unexpectedly surprised by a French squadron under Commodore Thourot, who landed with about 1000 men, and, after holding the place for a few days, evacuated it on the approach of the English troops. The French squadron was attacked two days afterwards near the Isle of Man, by the Æolus, Pallas, and Brilliant frigates, under the command of Captain Elliott, and Commodore Thourot was killed in the action. In the year 1778 the town was alarmed by the sudden appearance of the celebrated Paul Jones in his ship the Ranger; but he left without molesting the town, having, however, succeeded in capturing the Drake, a British sloop-of-war.

The population of the town of Carrickfergus in 1851 was 3548, being 342 less than in 1841. The borough now returns one member to the imperial parliament; the constituency, under 13th and 14th Vict. cap. 69, in 1853, numbered 1195. There is a weekly market on Saturdays, a butter market on Mondays, and a monthly market for the sale of cattle.—(McSkimin's History of Carrickfergus; Thorne's Irish Almanac for 1854.)