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Ballynure Graveyard

This ancient graveyard, opposite Christ Church, is a reminder of Jonathan Swift 1667-1745 (author of Gulliver's Travels). Swift's Kilroot parish included Ballynure and he regularly preached in the village. The ruins of the old parish church remain here.

A famous story relates that when no congregation turned up for church one Sunday, Swift wandered to the banks of the local dam and began to skim stones. The villagers, outraged at this activity on the Sabbath, gathered round him and an open-air sermon followed in the field nearby!

The graveyard contains a small stone building, the 'corpse house', originally used to store bodies until they were no longer 'fresh' enough for body snatchers to make money from them. After this time they were buried.

The earliest headstone records the death of Elenor Clemens in 1628, an ancestor of Mark Twain, the author.

Christ Church (Church of Ireland) is situated on Church Road, Ballynure. The church is signposted on the A8 towards Larne. The graveyard is opposite the church.