The White House Traditional Cache
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Newtownabbey's White House - a fortified plantation house dating from at least 1569. Accessible by car, bus (Metro route 2C/E/G/H), or a short detour from National Cycle Route 93.
The White House stands on the foreshore of Belfast Lough and is generally recognised as one of Ireland's oldest and most important buildings. It is first shown on a map of 1569-70 entitled 'Cragfergus Baie', the original name for Belfast Lough.
The ancient townland of Ballyrintollard is now called Whitehouse and was so named from a little castle which was erected to serve as part of a chain of communications between Carrickfergus and the Ford at Belfast. The castle had a limestone rendering which made it a navigation marker for ships coming up the Lough.
In a ‘noate’ made in 1574 of 'seates for the placying of the gentlemen adventures, for their principal dwellyings', it is stated that beneath the cave, there are two little pyles, Mr Barkley and Mr Brunker, distant four miles from Cragfergus. 'Pyles' is an English term for stone houses. These were the old castles of Greencastle and The White House. Brunker of The White House was a soldier who had seen hard service under the Earl of Essex and Perrott, but he was not able to keep hold of his little pyle, which thirty years afterwards was included in the immense territory granted to Sir Arthur Chichester. Brunker received special thanks from the Queen and represented Antrim in the 1585 parliament.
In 1636, the building was occupied by a merchant named Thomas Boyde, a friend of Captain Blood, and may have given him shelter after his attempt to steal the Crown Jewels. In 1649 The White House was occupied by George Martin, then Sovereign of Belfast. Martin was a merchant of Belfast and was made a burgess in 1645. He was the first nonconformist sovereign of Belfast and was great-great grandfather of Henry Joy McCracken. He refused to aid in billeting the parliamentary troops and his house in Belfast was looted. He retired to his country house at Whitehouse and shortly after fled to Scotland.
1690 was to see the building’s most famous visitor, when William of Orange landed at Carrickfergus on the 14th June. William’s army landed at the ancient quay near the White House and William rode to the White House from Carrickfergus where he met with General Schomberg and other people of note. The diary of Gideon Bonnivert, one of William’s scribes, also gives an insight into White House in 1690. He says: 'We landed at the White House, where we saw on our arrival great numbers of poor people. The women are not very shy of exposing to men’s eyes those parts which are usual for the sex to hide. We went that night to Belfast which is a large and pretty town, and all along the road you see an arm of the sea upon your left and on the right great high rocky mountains, which tops are often hidden by the clouds, and at the bottom a very pleasant wood, and very full of simples of all sorts.'
After 1770 the building fell into decay, but after 1920 was used as the Whitehouse Gospel Hall and the old building’s existing fabric was consolidated and it was re-roofed. However, only part of the building was in use while most of the right hand side was left in ruin; only one of the three flankers was utilised. In 1997 it was purchased on behalf of Abbey Historical Society by Ulster Garden Villages. In 2000, the White House Preservation Trust was formed to preserve and restore the building. In September 2006, The White House appeared on BBC’s 'Restoration Village' as one of three regional properties; sadly it was placed second but nonetheless this gave the project much needed publicity. In March 2008 the Trust embarked on its educational project which has enabled 500 local school children to take part in the archaeological dig; the general public have also been able to visit in groups or as part of the Archaeology days in June 2008. The building work has taken longer than anticipated due to the complicated nature of the old building, however the restored White House will open in the spring of 2011.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Jurrypunve npprffvoyr.