Carncullagh Rd, Dervock, Ballymoney BT53 8BT
If you’re fascinated by military memorabilia and things asociated with old wars and soldiers, you don’t need to visit the War Museum to satisfy your interest. Make your way instead to the North Irish Horse in Dervock, and there you’ll find a military museum which houses all manner of treasures and rarities. Before we look at a few of the exhibits on display, we learn that the McLernon family, the present owners, having a military background themselves, obtained permission from the famed General Downey to call the inn the North Irish Horse in honour of the famous regiment in which Mr McLernon Senior had served. Before that the inn had varied history: nobody really knows when it first dispensed alcohol, although in all probability, its origins go back a very long time.
It was bought in 1798 by an old soldier named Andrew Barry who was also Clerk of the Courts at the time. He made it into a hotel which remained up till the 1950’s. Over the years it changed hands frequently, and did much business during the height of the Fair Days when English and Scottish dealers whould stay for the famous Dervock Fairs. Before the present owners took possesion in 1968, it was owned by Mrs Parker who changed the hotel licence for a straight forward public house licence.
The premises today are still a listed building and the original courtyard at the back has been preserved. At one time the back yard was like a little village all by itself, complete with undertakers. Everywhere you look you can find the rare and the antique, the reminders of history in which the whole village is steeped. In the public bar the large ornate mirror advertising Castlereagh Whisky is said to be the only one of its kind. Over 200 years old, with a Shamrock set against the cross of St Andrew’s, it is constantly attracting large offers from collectors. Hand made fishing rods, very old and valuable, testify to the proximity of the famous salmon river, the bush and the Stacam River which flows past the bar is equally well known for its trout. Indeed the North Irish Horse Inn has its own gun club and fishing club which meet in Trooper’s Lounge. In the Restaurant Bar you’ll find genuine antique furniture including an exceptionally rare item, the bar dresser, the marble topped piece with its money bar, showcase counter and all. Here too is an exquisite complete collection of painted glass slides, depicting natural disasters, which were used in magic lantern displays in Victorian times. These are but two of the absorbing items which are all around the visitor or customer in this very unusual hostelry.
No, we haven’t forgotten the military items, the various weapons and accoutrements which have found a home here on display. How’s this for a start – a Scandinavian officer’s sword; a British officers’ swagger stick; a customs stick made in India, with a fine mother of pearl handle; two queen Anne muzzle loaders; a pair of spurs worn by a cavalry officer in the Battle of the Somme; an officers’ whisky flask from the Crimean War; a lady’s flask; two rifles from the Boer War; two Ulster Volunteer Force rifles; a bayonet personally made for a French Officer in 1877; a genuine cowboy saddle; an old Soldier’s 1906 bottle of Cognac; a bottle of Glen Mhor Whisky specially blended for the Colditz Escape Officer, Major Pat Reid, bearing his autograph on the label…..That’s enough, go and see the rest for yourself. While you’re there ask to see some of the hundred or more vintage ports and having exhausted all the items inside, if that’s possible, stroll round the delightful garden with its display of antique farm machinery and menagerie of exotic birds and selection of domestic fowl. Better still, choose a meal, in peace, from the large menu while the children feed the birds in the aviary or the ducks in the Stracam at the side of the garden. Quite honestly, a visit to the North Irish Horse is more than a meal or a drink, its an experience for the whole family provided by a family-run business. Old soldiers never die, they’re too busy enjoying themselves up in Dervock.