Ballycastle, County Antrim

This article is about Ballycastle, County Antrim. For the village in County Mayo, see Ballycastle, County Mayo.
Ballycastle
Scots: Ballykessel,[1]
Bellykessel[2] or Bellycaissle[3]
Irish: Baile an Chaistil

Ballycastle harbour
Ballycastle
 Ballycastle shown within Northern Ireland
Population 5,089 (2001 Census)
Irish grid referenceD115407
    Belfast  55 miles (89 km) 
DistrictCauseway Coast and Glens
CountyCounty Antrim
CountryNorthern Ireland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town BALLYCASTLE
Postcode district BT54
Dialling code 028207
Police Northern Ireland
Fire Northern Ireland
Ambulance Northern Ireland
EU Parliament Northern Ireland
UK ParliamentNorth Antrim
NI AssemblyNorth Antrim
Websitewww.northantrim.com
List of places
UK
Northern Ireland
Antrim

Coordinates: 55°12′18″N 6°15′29″W / 55.205°N 6.258°W / 55.205; -6.258

View from the Rathlin boat

Ballycastle (from Irish: Baile an Chaistil, meaning "town of the castle")[4] is a small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

The town is located on the north-easternmost coastal tip of the island of Ireland at the northern mainland limit of the Antrim Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Rathlin Island and the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland can be viewed from the coastline. The Ould Lammas Fair is held each year on the last Monday and Tuesday of August. Ballycastle is the home of the Corrymeela Community. It was the seat and main settlement of the old Moyle District Council and forms part of the North Antrim constituency. Its elected MP is Ian Paisley Jr. Ballycastle was named the best place to live in Northern Ireland in a list compiled by The Sunday Times in 2016.

Demography

Ballycastle is classified as a small town by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.[5] On 29 April 2001 2001 Census the population of Ballycastle was 5,089, of these:

Places of interest

Breakers on Antrim Coast near Ballycastle, Ireland, with cliffs of Fair Head. Scotland appears in the distance on clear days.
The Marconi memorial

Buildings of note

Rathlin Island Ferry, Ballycastle Harbour

Notable people

Transport

Bus services in Ballycastle are operated by Translink.

A ferry, currently operated by the Rathlin Island Ferry Company, runs between the town and Rathlin Island as part of a lifeline service. The ferry service to the island was formerly operated by Caledonian MacBrayne. Ferries formerly sailed between Ballycastle and Campbeltown in Scotland, but the service was suspended in June 2002. A passenger ferry service to Campbeltown, operated by Kintyre Express, now runs Friday to Monday during summer months and on Mondays and Fridays during winter months.[11]

Ballycastle railway station opened on 18 October 1880, but was closed on 3 July 1950. It was on the Ballycastle Railway, a narrow gauge railway which ran 17 miles connecting Ballycastle to Ballymoney station, on the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (BNCR), later Northern Counties Committee (NCC) and now part of Northern Ireland Railways.

The Troubles in Ballycastle

There have been four incidents of what has come to be known as the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Loyalist paramilitaries left a car bomb outside the Roman Catholic church (St. Patrick's & St. Brigid's) in the town on 26 August 1973. It was timed to explode as massgoers left the church. But the service ran late, and the bomb detonated when the congregation were still inside the church, avoiding large-scale loss of life. 50 people were injured, 3 of them seriously.[12]

On 19 June 1979 the Irish Republican Army bombed five hotels in different seaside towns in Northern Ireland, including Ballycastle's Marine Hotel. William Whitten, a 65-year-old Protestant hotel guest, was seriously injured in the blast; he died three weeks later.[13][14]

Spence McGarry (46), an off duty member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), was killed when a Provisional Irish Republican Army booby trap bomb attached to his car exploded in Castle Street car park, Ballycastle on 6 April 1991.[15] Gerard Butler was convicted in 1993 for the attack, and sentenced to 22 years in prison.[16]

In 2001, there was an attempt at mass murder by the Ulster Volunteer Force when a car bomb was left in Castle Street during the annual Lammas Fair.[17]

Parade disputes

In the past, there has been unrest during Orange Order parades in the town. In 2001, there was serious public disorder at the 12 July parade. As a result of this, the Silver Plains flute band from nearby Moyarget, was banned from marching in the town due to allegations of sectarian conduct and paramilitary trappings.[18] The North Antrim Orange Order held their annual parade in the town in 2006. Following discussions between residents, the Orange Order, business owners, and Sinn Féin the parade passed off without incident.

Climate

As with the rest of the British Isles, Ballycastle experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest official Met Office weather station for which online records are available is at Ballypatrick Forest,[19] about 4 miles East-southeast of Ballypatrick.

Climate data for Ballypatrick Forest 155m asl 1971–2000, Sunshine 1971–1990, Rainfall 1989–2000 (Weather station 4 miles (6 km) ESE of Ballycastle)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 6.5
(43.7)
6.5
(43.7)
8.0
(46.4)
9.9
(49.8)
12.8
(55)
15.7
(60.3)
16.9
(62.4)
16.7
(62.1)
14.7
(58.5)
11.9
(53.4)
8.8
(47.8)
7.2
(45)
11.3
(52.34)
Average low °C (°F) 1.5
(34.7)
1.6
(34.9)
2.3
(36.1)
3.4
(38.1)
5.3
(41.5)
8.2
(46.8)
10.1
(50.2)
10.1
(50.2)
8.5
(47.3)
6.5
(43.7)
3.6
(38.5)
2.4
(36.3)
5.29
(41.53)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 119.16
(4.6913)
110.12
(4.3354)
97.36
(3.8331)
105.86
(4.1677)
71.08
(2.7984)
74.94
(2.9504)
80.05
(3.1516)
85.00
(3.3465)
95.78
(3.7709)
85.95
(3.3839)
136.29
(5.3657)
151.63
(5.9697)
1,213.22
(47.7646)
Mean monthly sunshine hours 42.2 67.0 92.8 158.5 194.7 166.0 145.4 138.5 109.2 86.0 54.4 31.1 1,285.8
Source: MetOffice[20]

Sport

Sports of local interest include tennis, bowling (Mary Street), hurling, gaelic football (Whitehall/Leyland Road), and skateboarding.

Gaelic Games

The McQuillan GAC Ballycastle club has won 17 Antrim Senior Hurling Championships, the second-most of any club . The club has won 6 Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championships and were finalists in the 1980 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship final. The club has a range of teams from U8 to Senior in both Hurling and Gaelic Football.

The town is also the location of Páirc Mac Uílín, the current Antrim Hurling

Golf

Ballycastle Golf Club offers an 18-hole championship course open year round to both members and non-members.[21] The course is one of the four courses played each June in the world-renowned Causeway Coast Golf Tournament.[22]

Tennis

During the Summer, the town hosts two tennis tournaments, one of which is run by the Moyle District Council.[23]

Association Football

Ballycastle United Football Club combined with Moyle FC in 2011, and the team now competes in the Coleraine and District morning league.[24]

Bowls

Ballycastle Bowling Club is located outdoors at the sea-front.

Contact: Mr Samuel Craig 70 Capecastle Road Ballycastle BT54 6HT Tel: 028 207 51328

See also

References

  1. North-South Ministerial Council: 2002 Annual Report in Ulster Scots
  2. Bonamargy Friary guide – Department of the Environment
  3. Guide to Dunluce Castle in Ulster-Scots DOE.
  4. Placenames Database of Ireland
  5. Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency website
  6. http://www.thegemsofantrim.com/fairhead.html
  7. http://www.ballycastle.info/places/knocklayde/knocklayde.htm
  8. http://www.ireland.com/en-us/destinations/northern-ireland/county-antrim/ballycastle/all/2-2420/
  9. Ballycastle Presbyterian Church
  10. Robert Pigott (3 March 2013). "Cardinal Keith O'Brien sorry for sexual misconduct". BBC. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  11. "Kintyre Express - ferry services and private charters". kintyreexpress.com. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  12. Patrick Carville (27 August 1973). "50 hurt in bomb blast in Ulster". Chicago Tribune.
  13. Ken Wharton (August 2014). Wasted Years, Wasted Lives 2. Helion & Company. p. 210. ISBN 9781909982178.
  14. "'Unheard Voices' - six stories from the Troubles". Ballymoney Times. 6 May 2009.
  15. "Republicans". Daily Telegraph. 27 July 2000.
  16. "UVF members linked to bomb". BBC News. 1 September 2001.
  17. The Guardian
  18. "Station Locations". MetOffice.
  19. "Ballypatrick Long Term Data". Met Office. Retrieved 21 Sep 2011.
  20. "Bally Castle Golf Club". http://www.ballycastlegolfclub.com/. Retrieved 10 February 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  21. "Causeway Coast". Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  22. Moyle Council
  23. |"Ballycastle UFC". Retrieved 9 March 2015.

External links

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