The Market Yard in Coleraine was constructed in 1829 to the same classical rules as buildings constructed 70 years earlier. The well proportioned elements of the entrance were carefully laid out with the scale of the window recesses increased in size to harmonise with the central opening. It reflected a continuity in society with understood norms, hierarchies and relationships.
However, the preceding 50 years had been turbulent ones. The rational approach to architecture was a symptom of a general rational approach to thought, science, and religion. The Enlightenment, as it was termed, led to a questioning of old ways and the development of science. The American Revolution from 1765 was based upon similar ideas, as was the French Revolution of 1789. In 1798 the United Irishmen Rebellion erupted in this island with Presbyterians, (many of who had close links to America - 6 Scots Irish were included the 56 people who signed the Declaration of Independence) very much to the fore in Ulster. The aim of the rebellion was full independence for the Irish Parliament, the establishment of a republic, (as in America and France), and equal rights for all men including Catholics. The main focus of the rebellion in Ulster was in counties Antrim and Down, and preparations in the Coleraine area appear to have been infiltrated before the rising, but there were incidents in nearby Toome, Maghera, Ballymena and Ballymoney. The response from the authorities was to crush the rebellion and then to instigate the Act of Union where the Irish and British Parliaments voted to join the Kingdoms of Great Britain and of Ireland into a single political entity; 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland'. All had changed but the outward nature of society and its architecture remained the same.
However, the preceding 50 years had been turbulent ones. The rational approach to architecture was a symptom of a general rational approach to thought, science, and religion. The Enlightenment, as it was termed, led to a questioning of old ways and the development of science. The American Revolution from 1765 was based upon similar ideas, as was the French Revolution of 1789. In 1798 the United Irishmen Rebellion erupted in this island with Presbyterians, (many of who had close links to America - 6 Scots Irish were included the 56 people who signed the Declaration of Independence) very much to the fore in Ulster. The aim of the rebellion was full independence for the Irish Parliament, the establishment of a republic, (as in America and France), and equal rights for all men including Catholics. The main focus of the rebellion in Ulster was in counties Antrim and Down, and preparations in the Coleraine area appear to have been infiltrated before the rising, but there were incidents in nearby Toome, Maghera, Ballymena and Ballymoney. The response from the authorities was to crush the rebellion and then to instigate the Act of Union where the Irish and British Parliaments voted to join the Kingdoms of Great Britain and of Ireland into a single political entity; 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland'. All had changed but the outward nature of society and its architecture remained the same.
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