Street Entrance

Within the historic Scotch Quarter of 18th century Antrim, is the childhood home of Dr Alexander Fitzgerald Irvine, preserved in its original state with its whitewashed walls and cobbled path outside.

On January 19th 1863, in the years following the Irish potato famine, author Alexander Fitzgerald Irvine was born into dire poverty in the Ulster-Scots town of Antrim. His parents were a 'mixed' marriage: Anna Gilmore was a Catholic while Jamie was an illiterate Protestant shoemaker.

The social stigma of the relationship forced them to leave their families and homes in Crumlin; and their subsequent life together was a story of penury, hunger and struggle in the Scotch Quarter of Antrim, facing the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church - originally built for Scottish settlers in 1700.