Strict rules in the Eighteenth century also forbade the ordination of Catholic Bishops (and thereby the ordination of new priests), the construction of new catholic churches and impeded Catholic land purchase. Nonconformist churches were not allowed towers or steeples and when Catholics were allowed to build again, in the next century, they faced similar restrictions. The result was a very similar approach to church design between Presbyterians and Catholics.  This tended to simple rectangular ‘barn’ churches with the pulpit or the altar on the centre of a side wall and later extensions into a T form plan.  Early examples of the type in this area have all been replaced, but   St Mary’s Dunboe (1856) and Second Kilrea Presbyterian Church (1838) illustrate the approach.

Not surprisingly, with all the war and destruction, not much survives in this area from the seventeenth century. St Paul’s Church of Ireland in Garvagh, is dated 1670. St Paul’s Articlave, 1690.  Parts of of Bovagh House near Aghadowey may date to the early part of the century. The rear of Laurel Hill House in Coleraine may also date to that period. The stand out survivor, however, is Hazlett House near Castlerock. Said to have been built as a rectory for Articlave church, it has a ‘cruck truss’ construction. That is, the timber roof structure is built up from the floor. This has been scientifically dated to 1690. This technique was common in England at the time and also shown on Gaelic houses on Elizabethan maps but, with the loss of the great forests during this century (as timber was commercially exploited) it became very rare. it is currently preserved and opened for public access by the National Trust https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/place/hezlett-house 

The original houses of plantation Coleraine were timber framed as houses of the time were constructed in England. Some sources suggest that this timber was transported from England, but this is highly unlikely given the large forests which existed nearby at the time. In 1813 the Rev G v Sampson  reported that some of these survived in the Diamond. These had a covered way along the front or 'pentways', which by that time had been filled in. The above sketch is a quick copy of a watercolour by Jon Henry Campbell from around the same time where these buildings can be seen as well as a similar lean to arrangement  in the distance opposite the trees of St Patrick's churchyard. in more recent times the remains of slightly later timber buildings were found in New Row in the 1980's. It remains possible that some very early buildings still survive behind later facades within the town.

Only one remnant remains above ground of the town walls of Coleraine.  This is  the steeply sloping earthen  rampart between St Patricks Church and  Anderson Park. This part of the wall was always made of earth, though there was a  further moat at the base.

Today, the main architectural remnant of the Plantation in this area is the town plan of Coleraine. This, like the renamed Londonderry, was completely redesigned and rebuilt to a new, rational, grid layout by a new company - the Honourable the Irish Society - formed by a partnership between the 12 guilds. At Coleraine only the church  and  reused monastery remained in their original position. This reflected the latest thinking of how an ‘ideal’ settlement should be laid out. Building upon the legacy of the Romans, and influential in the American colonies, both settlements had a ‘diamond’  (market square) at their centre. This reflected the commercial focus of the City of London but also marked a change with the past. These are post medieval settlements. In previous eras a castle or church would have taken on this focus role. The drawing shown here is a copy of a map drawn of the settlement in 1622. 

A well-preserved example can, however, be seen in Bellaghy (Vintners) and a dramatic ruin is preserved at Brackfield (Skinners). Both are Monuments in State Care. 

Just over 100 years after the construction of Dunluce, the old Gaelic order came to an end. After 9 years of war the great chieftains east of the Bann, O'Neill and O'Donnell surrendered, but the new King James of England and IV of Scotland (who was used to the Scottish clans), regranted them their lands. in 1607, however, they left for Spain no longer able to stand the new ways and their land was declared forfeit. This left a huge part of Ulster under the direct control of the King and paved the way for a grand experiment. A complete reordering of the area, with new towns and a new population of the new religeon  imported from England and Scotland would be undertaken. This would bring a new area into the market economy. It would be a 'plantation'. This task was very expensive and so, not for the last time, the City of London was persuaded to invest. A new county - Co Londonderry  - was created between Coleraine and the renamed city of Londonderry and the area in between was allocated in 'proportions' to 12 companies of London Merchant Guilds. Other land was allocated tp former English soldiers and to the Church of Ireland and remaining  land to  native lords favoured by the new rulers.

Each company had to agree to import settlers, construct villages and build defensive fortified houses known as 'bawns' on their proportions. The bawns all had a walled courtyard with projecting towers known as flankers' at the corners. Settlements in this area were created at Articlave (clothworkers), Macosquinn (Merchant Taylors), Agivey (iIronmongerers) and near Kilrea at Movanagher (Mercers). The only bawn to survive in the former Coleraine council area is at Movanagher and here it has been become the walls of a farmyard. It has lost its house and much of its flankers but it remains a remnant, of what must have been a time of significant change.

The power of the Norman lordship never extended far inland from the coast in this region. The ‘Bailiwick of Twescard’ which had once extended from Greencastle in Co Donegal to the Glens of Antrim had contracted by 1333 to the town of Coleraine and the Bush valley to the east. By the 1460’s the De Mandevilles had abandoned or sold their remaining manors to the MacQuillan’s. They renamed the area An Rúta (the Route) and constructed their power base at  Dunluce.

Dunluce today, is a dramatic ruin perched high on costal rocks with a classic skyline which is one of the key tourism images of Northern Ireland. Though the ‘Dun’ part of its name and a souterrain (underground passage) suggest early occupation, and though there are C13th and C14th records of a manor here, all architectural and documentary evidence suggest a construction date of c.1500 for the earliest visible parts of the castle. These are the circular NE and SE towers with the curtain wall between.  The MacDonnell’s captured the castle in the 1550’s and the gate house with its Scottish corbeled bartizans dates from that time. ​

The Normans brought a very different style of organisation and introduced the feudal system common across the rest of Europe at that time. The church was also going through significant change and the introduction of Gothic architecture (pointed windows) roughly coincided with their arrival. 

The ruins of Ballywillan Parish Church outside Portrush, are late twelfth or early thirteenth century in origin, and were used to the nineteenth century, when the parish relocated to the town. Here, a single pointed window (lancet) typical of early gothic can be seen.