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Ballygally or Ballygalley (, IPA: ˆbË alʲəˈɟɛhlʲiË is a village 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, Northern Ireland which lies on the Antrim coast, approximately north of Larne. It is also a townland of and is situated in the civil parish of Carncastle 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. It had a population of 821 in the 2011 Census. It is located within the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council 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 flints, 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 Ballygally Castle is in the village of Ballygally, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, located approximately north of Larne. The castle overlooks the sea at the head of Ballygally Bay. Now run as a hotel, it is the only 17th century building sti ...
, reputed to be the oldest occupied building in Ireland, 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. 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 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 background and 70.5% were from a Protestant background *2.3% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed. For more details see
NI Neighbourhood Information Service


Biology

Ballygally Head was (in 1983) the only recorded location of ''
Gelidiella ''Gelidiella'' is a genus of red algae (phylum Rhodophyta). Worldwide there are 22 species of ''Gelidiella'', mostly tropical and subtropical. ''Gelidiella'' and ''Gelidium'' are now both united into one order Gelidiales. ''Gelidiella acerosa'' ...
'' ''calcicola'' from Northern Ireland.Maggs, C.A. and Guiry, M.D. 1987. ''
Gelidiella ''Gelidiella'' is a genus of red algae (phylum Rhodophyta). Worldwide there are 22 species of ''Gelidiella'', mostly tropical and subtropical. ''Gelidiella'' and ''Gelidium'' are now both united into one order Gelidiales. ''Gelidiella acerosa'' ...
'' ''
calcicola ''Calcicola'' is a genus in the Malpighiaceae, a family of about 75 genera of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales. ''Calcicola'' comprises 2 species of shrubs or treelets native to Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the Un ...
'' 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 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 columns found at the Giant's Causeway, but these are dolerite, 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
/ref> Scawt Hill, 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