Antrim ( , meaning 'lone ridge') is a town and civil parish in County Antrim in the northeast of Northern Ireland, on the banks of the Six Mile Water, on the northeast shore of Lough Neagh. It had a population of 23,375 people in the 2011 Census. It is the county town of County Antrim and was the administrative centre of Antrim Borough Council. It is northwest of Belfast. History Middle Ages According to tradition, a monastery was founded at Antrim in AD 495, thirty years after the death of Saint Patrick, to take forward his ministry, with a small settlement growing up around it. The round tower (see below), also known as "the Steeple", is all that remains. The original name of Antrim was Aontreibh, Irish for 'lone house', referring to the monks' house. This later became, or was reinterpreted, as Aontroim ('lone ridge'). In the early Middle Ages, the area was part of the Gaelic territory of Dál Araide, which covered much of what is now County Antrim. At the eastern edge of town is a ringfort called Rathmore (Ráth Mór, "the great fort"), which was the royal residence of the kings of Dál Araide. In the late 12th century, the area was conquered by Anglo-Normans led by John de Courcy, becoming part of the Earldom of Ulster. They built a motte-and-bailey castle at Antrim. Its mound (motte) still stands in Antrim Castle Gardens. The Anglo-Norman earldom collapsed in the early 14th century and Antrim became part of the Gaelic territory of Clannaboy. During the late Middle Ages, the O'Neill chiefs of Clannaboy were based at Edenduffcarrick castle (later called Shane's Castle), two miles west of Antrim. Early Modern era Following the Nine Years' War (1593–1603), Antrim came under English control. The area was then colonized by English and Scottish settlers as part of the Plantation of Ulster. Hugh Clotworthy, father of the Anglo-Irish politician John Clotworthy, 1st Viscount Massereene, supervised the building of Antrim Castle, a fortified mansion beside the old Norman motte. Hugh was knighted in 1617 and appointed High Sheriff of County Antrim. In 1642, during the Irish Confederate Wars, Clotworthy's fleet fought a naval engagement on Lough Neagh. The Society of United Irishmen launched a rebellion in 1798, which began in Leinster and quickly spread to Ulster. The United Irishmen had been founded in 1791 by liberal Protestants in Belfast. Its goal was to