Ballinglen Scotch Model Farm
In late 1850, the farmhouse on the Scotch Model Farm at Ballinglen, south of Ballycastle, burned to the ground. With it went the meal supply used to feed the boys at the school associated with the farm and the home of James Carlaw and his family. Was it an act of God, and if so, whose God? Or was it a deliberate intervention? A statement published by the sponsors of the farm in the Leinster Express in December 1850 put the fire down to an accident. Donations were sought to rebuild.
According to the History of the Congregations of the Presbyterian Church, the Reverend M Brannigan was appointed to oversee Irish schools. In 1846 he was instructed to focus on Ballinglen. At the height of the Famine, he presented a memorial signed by 80 'converts' asking to be taken into the care of the Presbyterian Church. A collection was made for a new church, which opened in 1850. The church was at the centre of a wider project, including a model farm and associated school. The farm was owned by shareholders who had contributed £10 each to the capital. The committee comprised Episcopalians and members of Scotland's free and established churches.
Those behind the school promoted it as a place where the inhabitants of the surrounding area could be instructed in an improved farming system suitable for the west of Ireland. An approved agriculturalist, James Carlaw, was imported from Scotland to teach at the school. The published statement noted his efforts had spread enhanced farming techniques in the area. An English teacher, Mr Ross, was also brought in from Scotland.
The statement stressed the farm had done 'incalculable good already'; the employment provided saved many families from starvation. Forty boys were 'selected' from surrounding Scriptural Schools for instruction by Carlaw. They were to be trained as stewards for the landed aristocracy. Farming implements, and seeds were introduced from Scotland. The enterprise was underpinned by donations from 'friends' in Scotland, England, and Ireland. These friends included the Scottish Ladies Society. The statement explained that each boy received two bowls of porridge per day and asked for nothing else. It also emphasised every attention was paid to the boys' moral and religious training and that the Bible ranked ahead of all other books in the school.
The fire made refugees of Carlaw and his family, who were forced to make a home for themselves in outhouses. The announcement warned they would find an untimely grave as the buildings were not weatherproof. Readers were told it was 'incumbent upon us, the Irish', to assist the Scottish in their endeavours to improve the country. The statement concluded by noting that there was 'nothing sectarian' in the organisation of the Scotch Model Farm.
The Scotch Model Farm, despite the propaganda, was grounded in sectarianism and had as its objective the erasure of the cultural identity, language and beliefs of those who attended the school. Famine and starvation were weaponised against the desperate population. The harvesting of souls was the primary objective. Food and shelter were used to conscript a congregation.
The Scotch Model Farm at Ballinglen was closely associated with two of Ireland's most notorious landlords, Harriet Gardiner and Susanna Pringle. Among the papers of philanthropist Elizabeth Copley at Durham University, there is evidence of a close connection between the Pringle family and Ballinglen. The records include correspondence between Copley, Susanna Pringle, and her aunt Charlotte, secretary of the Scottish Ladies Society. The correspondence indicates the Pringles were heavily involved in Ballinglen, but there is also evidence that they were difficult and quarrelsome.
Harriet Gardiner met Pringle at Ballinglen. The pair became lifelong companions and lived together for decades. They aggressively pursued land clearances on Gardiner's estates at Farmhill and Belcarra. When Gardiner died in 1892, Pringle inherited her property.
According to one observer, the mode of management resulted in the Model Farm being significantly indebted to Gardiner and Pringle. It became necessary to sell livestock to repay Gardiner and the farm to pay Pringle. Another commentator linked the decline in the farm to emigration. The end of the Famine undoubtedly played a part. (Image: Gardiner and Pringle by Bridie Geraghty ).
