Aghalee Parish lies entirely within the historic Manor of Killultagh (Coill Ultagh, meaning ‘the forest or wood of Ulster’). At first, the area comprised the parishes of Aghalee, Aghagallon, Magheramesk, Magheragall, Ballinderry, and the portion of Blaris north of the Lagan; to which were later added Derriaghy, Lambeg, Glenavy, Camlin, and Tullyrusk. The Manor of Killultagh would eventually become the Hertford Estate, one of the largest estates in Ulster.
Since the arrival of the Anglo-Normans, such as John de Courcy in 1176, attempts to make Ireland more English had been piece-meal, and resisted vigorously by Irish chieftains such as the O’Neills; with the result that, during the 16th century Killultagh was the scene of continual warfare between the Irish and the English. Killultagh belonged to a branch of the O’Neills, the descendants of Hugh Boye O’Neill. It contained three forts - Inisloughlin near Trummery House, Portmore beside Lough Neagh and one on a mound above the Lagan close to Lisnagarvey (now Lisburn).
The land consisted largely of woodland, forest and bogs. Wild deer and wolves roamed the area. As a result of the early plantation, the native Irish (known as Woodkerne or Tories) had retreated to the forests and bogs. In an effort to retain their possessions and properties, robberies committed by the Kernes of Killultagh were said to happen on a daily basis.
In 1602 Hugh O’Neill was defeated in his rebellion by Sir Arthur Chichester and the fort of Inisloughlin was taken, marking the end of the power of the O’Neills in Killultagh.
In 1605 Conn O’Neill surrendered one third of his lands to Sir Hugh Montgomery and Sir James Hamilton in return for their assistance in securing him a pardon from the King.
Sir Foulke Conway was born in Ragley, Warwickshire about 1565. He was the second son of Sir John Conway and Eleanor Greville, known as Lady Helen Conway. He married Amy Bourne about 1585 and they had one son, John, born in 1594 and a daughter, Mary, born in 1611.
About 1609, Sir Foulke Conway purchased a large portion of the Killultagh Estate from Sir James Hamilton. His older brother, Sir Edward, the first Viscount Conway, obtained the remainder from King Charles I. The total was 20,000 acres.
Sir Foulke Conway settled in Lisnagarvey (now Lisburn), living in the Castle overlooking the River Lagan (now Castle Gardens). He built a chapel-of-ease for the castle, which was dedicated to St. Thomas in 1623 (now the site of the Cathedral of Christchurch, Lisburn).
By 1611, Aghalee was beginning to prosper within the Manor of Killultagh.
Sir Foulke took a prominent part in the affairs of the country. In the absence of Lord Chichester he acted as Governor of Carrickfergus and a great part of Antrim and Down, and as Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet on Lough Neagh, or Lough Sidney as it was also called. He brought many settlers from Warwickshire and Wales to settle on the Killultagh Estate.
Sir Foulke Conway died in 1624, having seen the Church of St. Thomas opened for divine service in 1623.
He was succeeded by his elder brother Sir Edward, Baron Conway of Ragley, who had commanded a foot regiment at the sack of Cadiz in 1596 and served as governor of Brill, near Rotterdam until it was handed back to the States of Holland in 1616. He also served as MP for Penryn and later Evesham (1624). In 1627 he received the Irish peerage title of Viscount Conway of Killultagh
His son, Edward, the second Viscount, succeeded him in 1630 and died in in1655.
His son, also named Edward, the 3rd Viscount, was raised to the title of 1st Earl Conway in 1679. He built the castle at Portmore and then died in 1683.
Dying childless he left his fortune to the children of his cousin Letitia Popham (married to Sir Edward Seymour), provided the inheritor assumed the name Conway. His heir, therefore, became Popham Seymour-Conway.
The estate was attained by the Irish Parliament in 1689. However, when Popham died in 1699 (from a wound received during a duel), the estate was acquired by his brother Francis.
Then, on Francis’ death in 1732, he was succeeded by his son, Francis Seymour-Conway, who was created Earl of Hertford in 1750 and raised to Marquess of Hertford in 1793 (in both cases resurrecting a peerage title which had previously passed out of use).
Francis Ingram-Seymour-Conway, the 2nd Marquess of Hertford, led a long and varied political career, serving in both the Irish and British Parliaments and on the Privy Council. As a strong supporter of Catholic emancipation, he advocated the relief of the Penal Laws and, in 1829, he ordered MPs beholden to him to vote for the Roman Catholic Relief Act which finally removed the Protestant monopoly on Parliament.
It seems that neither the 3rd nor 4th Marquesses of Hertford paid much attention to their Ulster estates, the 4th Marquess visiting only once in his lifetime, briefly in 1845.
By 1869, the 4th Marquess (by then Lord Hertford) had become one of the county’s greatest landowners. His agent, the Very Rev James Stannus, recorded that the Hertford Estate comprised 66,000 acres, supporting a population of about 200,000. There were 4,000 holdings within the Hertford Estate, of which 1,000 were leasehold and the remainder let on a yearly basis.
When the 4th Marquess died in 1870 without any legitimate heir, the peerage-title passed to a distant cousin, and there it diverges from our story. Our Hertford Estate in Killultagh did not pass with the title, but instead was inherited by Sir Richard Wallace (supposedly the illegitimate son on the 4th Marquess, and after whom both Wallace Park and Wallace High School are named). Much more could be said about Sir Richard Wallace and the Wallace Estate, which would be of local interest. However, that would be more directly related to Lisburn – whereas we must now return to the Parish of Aghalee.
Sir George Rawdon from West Yorkshire, came to Killultagh in 1631 to manage the estate of the 2nd Viscount Conway, having been private secretary to the 1st Viscount while he was Secretary of State (1623-28). As estate manager, he brought many settlers from Yorkshire as tenants to the estate.
Rawdon built the garrison at Aghalee, commonly known as Soldierstown, close to the site where Soldierstown Church would later be built. This military barracks provided the quarters for a troop of horse and two companies of foot soldiers who were stationed around this area, hence the colloquial name of Soldierstown, as it is commonly known, to this day.
Sir George Rawdon was a prominent and influential man in his time, an army officer in Ulster, and Member of Parliament for Belfast in 1639. In 1640 he got a lease from Viscount Conway of certain manors and lands which included Brookhill, where he lived when in the province.
On 23rd October, 1641, the Great Rebellion began. Sir George Rawdon was in London at the time, and on hearing the news swiftly left to join his troops. There was much fighting in Killultagh. The Irish, led by Sir Phelim O’Neill, Sir Conn Magennis and Major-General Plunkett are said to have massacred thousands of Protestants. Lisnagarvey became a place of refuge for the fleeing Protestants. It took Sir George Rawdon three weeks to reach a port in Scotland. He landed at Bangor on November 26th and got to Lisnagarvey late the next evening, much to the relief of the men who were drawn up in the market place expecting the rebels. Sir Phelim O’Neill’s troops attacked the next morning but were twice beaten off by Sir George Rawdon, with an army of 200 Englishmen, likely including the infantry and cavalry from Soldierstown.
In their retreat, the Irish burned Brookhill with Conway's library in it and property belonging to Rawdon, who was wounded and had a horse shot under him. He escaped death again in Armagh in 1642, when again his horse was shot from under him.
During a varied military career, he seems to have had the knack of siding with the Crown or the Commonwewalth, or co-operating with the Irish, as was most expedient! History records that he did all he could to maintain peace in Ireland. He even had his men reap the Irish harvest in 1643. He retired from military life after the death of King Charles I in 1649.
In 1654, Rawdon married Dorothy Conway (daughter of the 2nd Viscount Conway, and sister of the 3rd Viscount) and soon became the owner of the house and estate of Moira.
Their son, Sir Arthur Rawdon, became both a Member of Parliament and a celebrated General in King William’s army. Despite being seriously injured while guarding the Bann crossing at Portglonone, Sir Arthur still led his men through many battles including the Siege of Derry (1688-1689), earning himself the nickname “Cock of the North”.
When Sir George Rawdon died in 1684, his son Arthur inherited the Moira estate, and went on to develop Moira Castle and establish the magnificent and exotic botanical gardens there.
