Rasharkin (from Irish Ros Earcáin 'Earcán's promontory')[1] is a small village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
[2] Rasharkin features in Buile Shuibhne an old Irish tale about the Suibhne mac Colmain, king of the Dál nAraidi, driven insane by St. Ronan's curse.
Seamus Heaney published an English version of the tale entitled Sweeney Astray Historically Rasharkin was also spelt as Rosharkin and Rosarkin.
An account of a member of the Rasharkin yeomanry in 1865 states that "at a meeting of sixty five persons held for the formation of a rebel club in Rasharkin, the first resolution moved and passed on the occasion commenced as follows : "Seeing that the prophecies of Peyden and Rhymer and all the old prophecies are now fulfilling and that the days of tyranny are numbered in accordance therewith and that the time for independence and equality in Ireland is now arrived we do hereby unite."
[2] On Census day in 2011: Rasharkin is classified as a small village or hamlet by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (i.e. with population between 500 and 1,000 people).