![Ballygally Head near Larne - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Ballygally_Head_near_Larne_-_geograph.org.uk_-_324150.jpg)
Ballygally or Ballygalley (, IPA:
ˆbË alʲəˈɟɛhlʲiË is a
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
and holiday
resort
A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...
in
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
which lies on the Antrim coast, approximately north of
Larne
Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...
. It is also a
townland
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...
of and is situated in the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
of
Carncastle
Carincastle or Cairncastle (, and the English word "castle") is a small village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland near the town of Larne and inland from the village of Ballygally. It had a population of 66 people in the 2001 Cen ...
and the historic
barony Barony may refer to:
* Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron
* Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron
* Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...
of
Glenarm Upper
Glenarm Upper is a barony in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. To its east runs the east-Antrim coast, and it is bordered by four other baronies: Glenarm Lower to the north; Antrim Lower to the west; Antrim Upper to the south-west; and Belfast Low ...
. It had a population of 821 in the
2011 Census. It is located within the
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is a local authority that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Ballymena Borough Council, Carrickfergus Borough Council and Larne Borough Council
Larne Borough Council was a Local Council in County A ...
area.
Archaeology
Archaeological excavations undertaken in the area in the 1990s, identified the remains of several Neolithic houses approximately 500m from the shore of Ballygally Bay. The site contained a number of finds, including worked
flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...
s, pottery and stone axes.
Places of interest
Notable features include the headland of Ballygally Head, O'Haloran's Castle, The White Bear Rock, a sandy beach, Ballygally Castle and Ballygally Hall, which opened in 2011.
Ballygally beach is a destination for locals and for tourists, especially during the summer months.
Ballygally Castle, reputed to be the oldest occupied building in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, has a reputation for being haunted. It sits in the middle of the village at the junction with the road to
Cairncastle
Carincastle or Cairncastle (, and the English word "castle") is a small village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland near the town of Larne and inland from the village of Ballygally. It had a population of 66 people in the 2001 Cen ...
and contains a 4-star hotel with a bar and restaurant. The castle was built around 1625 for James Shaw of
Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
and is one of Ireland's best-preserved Scottish baronial style plantation houses.
![Coast Road with Ballygally Castle Hotel - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Coast_Road_with_Ballygally_Castle_Hotel_-_geograph.org.uk_-_925365.jpg)
The
bawn
A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional spe ...
and walled garden are registered as Scheduled Historic Monuments at grid ref: D3725 0781.
Ballygally Hall is a two-storey building (funded by the Big Lottery, Larne Borough Council and NER) which opened in 2011 and includes a Spar shop with some Post Office facilities at ground level and a Community Hall on the first floor. The shop and restaurant, which previously existed on this site, were demolished in 2008. The Community Hall has weekly events and social activities throughout the year.
Cairndhu Golf Course, on top of Ballygally Head, overlooks the village and Carnfunnock Country Park (which offers a cafe, walled garden, caravan park and campsite, maze, children's playground, bouncy castle, mini-train rides, bungee runs,
mini-golf
Miniature golf, also known as minigolf, mini-putt, crazy golf, or putt-putt, is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest number of points. It is played ...
, and nature walks) is nearby.
In 2014, Outdoor Recreation NI produced a report called 'Options to enhance access with the creation of a natural heritage trail between Ballygally Village and Carnfunnock Country Park' highlighting Ballygally's close links to the park.
Demography
Ballygally is classified as a small village or hamlet by th
NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)(i.e. with a population between 500 and 1,000 people). On
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
day (29 April 2001) there were 714 people living in Ballygally. Of these:
*21.6% were aged under 16 and 22.1% were aged 60 and over
*49.0% of the population were male and 51.0% were female;
*27.9% were from a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
background and 70.5% were from a
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
background
*2.3% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed.
![Ballygally Bay near Larne - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Ballygally_Bay_near_Larne_-_geograph.org.uk_-_428954.jpg)
For more details see
NI Neighbourhood Information Service
Biology
Ballygally Head was (in 1983) the only recorded location of ''
Gelidiella'' ''calcicola'' from Northern Ireland.
[Maggs, C.A. and Guiry, M.D. 1987. '' Gelidiella'' '' calcicola'' sp. nov. (Rhodophyta) from the British Isles and Northern France.'' Br. phycol. J.'' 22: 417 - 434. (Ref. Maggs, C.A. and Guiry, M.D. 1987)]
Geology
Ballygally Head is a
volcanic plug
A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged mag ...
, the ancient cooled remains of the pipe of a volcano.
[Wilson, H E et al (1986) Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, HMSO]
Wedges of
agglomerate
Agglomerate (from the Latin ''agglomerare'' meaning "to form into a ball") is a coarse accumulation of large blocks of volcanic material that contains at least 75% bombs. Volcanic bombs differ from volcanic blocks in that their shape records flui ...
have been found around Ballygally Head, showing that there were several stages of eruption, allowing
tuff
Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...
to form before the vent was blown out and once more filled with magma.
There are tall columns in places around Ballygally Head, similar to the
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
columns found at the
Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (5 km) northeast of ...
, but these are
dolerite
Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro,
is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grained ...
, a rock similar to basalt but which cooled more slowly, held inside the volcano vent, and so had time to grow larger crystals.
[Geography in Action, Dolerite, Northern Ireland](_blank)
/ref>
Scawt Hill
Scawt Hill is a volcanic plug in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, in the borough of Larne, 5 km from the village of Ballygally.
It gets its name from the Ulster Scots "" meaning scaly, scabby or rugged. Alternatively, '' 'scawt' '' mea ...
, another volcanic plug
A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged mag ...
5 km west north west of Ballygally, is an internationally important site for geology due to the rare minerals found there. It is a protected Area of Special Scientific Interest.
References
{{authority control
Villages in County Antrim
Civil parish of Carncastle
Townlands of County Antrim