Famous for fishing and seafood, Portavogie was settled in 1606 as part of James Hamilton’s estate, and developed as a fishing village in the 1700s.
The first recorded Ulster-Scots settlers are believed to have been the Boyds of Kilmarnock whose impressive Dean Castle can still bevisited theretoday. A map of Portavogie was drawn for Hamilton by Thomas Raven c. 1625. It remained as a small settlement until 1750 when it developed rapidly thanks to the arrival of a community of Scottish fishing families from Maidens in Ayrshire.
They made use of the natural harbour at McCammon Rocks and sandy beach at
the north of the present day village. In the late 1800s around 60 boats sheltered
here. A new promenade along the beach from the Warnocks Road to the harbour
is popular and enjoyable route.
In 1683, William Montgomery recorded Scots language fish names which are
still used here today - ‘lythe’ for pollack, ‘blockan’ for coalfish and ‘bavins’ for
wrasse. Today, Portavogie fish sellers travel to local markets, and fish vans go door-to-door, all over Ulster every week.
The earliest place of worship in the village was a Presbyterian outreach, the Fisherman’s Hall, which opened in 1887. Portavogie Presbyterian Church was founded later, in 1926.
