1798

Two centuries ago, Ireland was gripped by the same radical politics which were shaping the new republics in France and America. Presbyterians in Belfast formed a political lobby, called the Society of United Irishmen. Their secret membership gradually increased and soon they were joined by their Roman Catholic countrymen. Eventually, however, the United Irishmen resorted to violence to achieve their objectives.
The Rebellion of 1798 was an attempt to bring a complete and radical reform of the representation of the people in Parliament which had to include ‘Irishmen of every religious persuasion’.
The events of the late 18th century in the Ballymoney area are told on the following pages, prepared by Keith Beattie of Ballymoney Museum.

1800'S-1850'S

In Ireland there was a dependence of a large section of the population agriculture and the potato crop. The famine was the result of successive crop failures and the insufficient and ineffective relief for stopping the outbreak of starvation and disease. The famine was the most tragic and significant event in Irish history and one of the worst human disasters of the nineteenth century. Ireland depended on the potato as a staple crop after 1800. Population increased rapidly and reached eight million by 1841, two-thirds of who depended on agriculture. The Irish depended on the potato and the failure of the potato crop in 1845 was disastrous. The crop failed again in 1846, 1847, and 1848. By 1851, the population of Ireland had been reduced by more than two million due to starvation, disease, and emigration to Britain and North America.

1900's

In Easter Tuesday Monday of 1916 the rebellion set off guerilla warfare. This resulted in there indepence from the United Kingdom in 1921. Ireland today has 26 countrys. Six of those countrys still belong to The United Kingdom today.