Ballymartin Church Ruins 7 



their memory. The Mandevilles held sway east of Tem])lepatrick, 

 while the Logans were settled in a large territory with the 

 present Ballyclare as its centre. 



The names of a few modern townlands and parishes seem 

 to be all that remain to us of the Norman conquest of this part 

 of Ulster. After the desolation of all this district by Edward 

 Bruce between 1315 and 1318, and the internal dissentions 

 culminating in the murder of the Earl of Ulster in 1333 by 

 the Logan faction, the O'Neills found the conquest of central 

 and south Antrim and north Down an easy matter; by 1360 

 they had practically subdued or driven out the native O'Flynns 

 of Ui Tuirtri, whom the Normans appear to have allowed to 

 remain in possession of a portion of their lands, and during 

 the century and a half that followed, all the Norman settlers 

 in the southern half of Co. Antrim, excepting Carrickfergus, 

 and in north Down, were similarly dispersed or exterminated. 

 Ballymartin, with Ballysavage, Ballyrobert, Ballywalter and a 

 few other townlands, granges and parishes, perpetuate in their 

 names heroes of the Norman occupation. Ballymartin derives 

 from Martin de Mandeville, who flourished about the end of 

 the 13th century ; Ballysavage from one of the Savages, what 

 particular member of the family we cannot say ; but the Savages 

 were one of the most important of the Co. Antrim Norman 

 settlers. Ballyrobert perpetuates the memory of Kobert de 

 Logan, a contemporary of Martin de Mandeville ; Ballywalter 

 was once known as Walter de Logan's town, or Loganstown, 

 otherwise Vill de Walter de Logan. Walter de Logan was 

 also a contemporary of Martin de Mandeville and Robert de 

 Logan, and it is reasonable to assume that these and other 

 townland names of Norman derivation date from a general 

 adjustment of the earldom of Ulster carried out by the great 

 Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, about the year 1305*. It is 



* See Orpen, "The Earldom of Ulster," Journals of the R S.A.I., 

 vol. xliii., pp. 30—46, and 133—143, and xlv., pp. 123—142. 



