Twescard

Twescard (from Irish Tuaisceart, meaning 'north') is a former county of the Earldom of Ulster in medieval Ireland. Taking its name from the native Irish territory of in Tuaiscirt, it spanned the northern coastland of County Antrim and County Londonderry. At its height it stretched from Glenarm in the east of the Glens of Antrim to Inishowen in modern County Donegal. It was conquered and settled by Hugh de Lacy and was centered on Coleraine and the lower Bush valley. By the 1460s, the de Mandevilles abandoned and sold their remaining lands in Twescard to the MacQuillans who renamed the territory the Route.

In 1210 when King John had taken control of the Earldom of Ulster from Hugh de Lacy he granted land to those who had given him aid, primarily the Scoto-Norman de Galloways. Of them, he granted the Glens of Antrim from Larne to Glenarm to Duncan, Earl of Carrick, whilst he granted from the Glens of Antrim to Lough Foyle to Duncan's cousins; Alan, Lord of Galloway, and Thomas, Earl of Atholl. This territory had only been partially conquered beforehand and the de Galloways fought hard to win the land.