The first of the  Harland  ‘clan’ in Ireland
The members of the Harland ‘clan’ were definitely ‘planters’. The earliest reference to a Harland in Ulster is in 1635, when a Peter Harland  is recorded as renting land from Brownlows at the townland of Ballyblagh in the parish of Shankill Co. Armagh. In modern times the townland of Ballyblagh has been mainly absorbed into the town of Lurgan. On the modern map the area is to be found in the triangle formed by the Lurgan-Moira Road (A3) and the Lurgan-Waringstown Road (A26). Its immediate near neighbours were, the townland of Ballymacateer, to its east, and the townlands of Knocknashane and Tirsogue on its southern boundary.
       
Some of the townlands in the parishes of Seagoe and Shankill Co Armagh - Harland sites  in yellow
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After the rebellion era 1641 - 1649, (v. next page) John Harland of Liscorran, in the same parish of Shankill, is also on record with another rental agreement with Brownlows Derry in 1659 and 1667.(This townland lies to the the north of Lurgan, and off the range of this map). It is clear that these were very hazardous times for many of the planters; but Peter Harland was still there in 1666-8 ; so he must have lived through that rebellion of 1641-9 when so many of his fellow planters were killed. Mary Harland, widow of Peter, was buried in Tannaghmore Church in 1700. James Harland was born in the townland of Corcreeny  in 1703.   Corcreeny  was and is the largest and most westerly of the 14 townlands in the civil parish of Donaghcloney Co. Down.

The Place Names Project at Queen’s University Belfast has offered the following translations:
Shankill, most likely Irish Seanchoill "old wood" originally, although it may have been reinterpreted later as Seanchill "old church" because of its ecclesiastical associations (Shankill is a parish name).
Seagoe: Irish Taigh do Ghobha "Saint Gobban's church"
Ballyblagh: Irish Baile Bláiche "homestead/townland of the buttermilk"
Liscorran: Irish (?)Lios Ó gCorráin "fort of the O'Currans"; there is an element of doubt as to the interpretation of the second element of the name, hence the question mark.
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