Ballymoney is located on the main road between Coleraine and Ballymena, with good road and rail connections to the main cities in Northern Ireland, Belfast and Derry.
The Ballymoney area has the highest life expectancy of any area in Northern Ireland, with the average male life expectancy at birth being 79.9 years and 83.8 years for females in years between 2010 and 2012.[6] Conversely, it was revealed in 2013 that Ballymoney residents are more likely to die from heart disease than anywhere else in Northern Ireland.[7]
The town hosts the Ballymoney Drama Festival, the oldest drama festival in Ireland, which was founded in 1933. The town also hosts the Ballymoney Show, which is one of the oldest agricultural shows in Northern Ireland and was founded in 1902.[8]
History
16th and 17th century
In 1556, an account of an English expedition against the MacDonnells, a sept of the Scottish Clan Donald that lorded over a wide expanse of north and east Antrim known as the Route and Glynns, records "a bishop's house, which was with a castle and a church joined together in one, called Ballymonyn".[9] Destroyed in the Irish Rebellion of 1641, no vestige of the bishop's house or castle remains, but a tower of a church built in 1637 by Sir Randall MacDonnell survives and is the town's oldest structure.[10]
In summer 1718, people from Ballymoney and the surrounding area waved goodbye to five ships carrying Presbyterian ministers and their congregations across the Atlantic to start new lives in New England. This was among the early wave of departures that, in the course of the coming decades, was to carry tens of thousands of "Scots-Irish" to the New World.[13]
From 1778, inspired by the revolt of their kinsmen in the America colonies, the disaffection among the people of the town and district took a more radical turn, first in the drilling and political conventions of the Volunteer militia, and then from 1795 in the Society of United Irishmen. The "test" or pledge of the Society "to form a Brotherhood of affection amongst Irishmen of every religious persuasion" so as to secure an "equal representation of all the people in Ireland",[14] was administered by leading residents of the town, among them a doctor, a schoolmaster and two attorneys.[15] When in June 1798, having despaired of parliamentary reform, the Society called for insurrection, men assembled on Dungobery Hill, parading with guns, pikes, pitchforks and scythes tied upon sticks. Although they quickly dispersed on news of the defeat of the larger rebel host at Antrim town,[15] reprisals were taken. Government troops burned the town, and many of the rebels were either hanged or "sent for transportation" (to the West Indies or to the penal colony of New South Wales).[16] The young licentiate minister, Richard Caldwell, who had had command of the rebels found exile in the United States, there to die in War of 1812 in a march on Canada.[17]
19th century
In 1837, Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, describes Ballymoney as "a market-town and post-town" containing 2,222 inhabitants (11,579 in the broader civil parish) with a long established linen market chiefly supplying the London market, and with "a very extensive trade ... in grain, butter, pork, and general provisions".[18] Transport was largely via the Bann. By 1860, the town was connected to both Belfast and Derry by rail.[19]
At the height of the Great Famine in 1847, entire families were being admitted to the Ballymoney Workhouse. At one point it became vastly overcrowded with 870 inmates. The destitute families were separated, men, women and children being subject to demanding work regimes. By the end of the century the number of people seeking relief had declined and the workhouse closed in 1918. It later became the site of the Route Hospital.[20]
In the decades following the famine, the issue of tenant right challenged large landowners who as "loyalists" and "unionists" believed they might count on the popular vote. Inspired by the electoral successes of James MacKnight and Samuel MacCurdy Greer in neighboring County Londonderry,[21][22] in 1869 the Rev. James Armour and others in Ballymoney formed the Route Tenants Defence Association.[23] In 1874, the association organised a major North-South National Tenants Rights conference in Belfast which called for loans to facilitate tenant purchase of land and for breaking the landlord monopoly on local government.[21]
20th century
Main Street, Ballymoney, in the early 1900s
After the turn of the century there was local support for the Independent Orange Order, promoted by its first Imperial Grand Master, Lindsay Crawford (an admirer of the United Irishmen), as an expression of "progressive Protestantism".[24][25] In 1906, the IOO supported the election of Liberal, R. G. Glendinning due largely to his support for compulsory land purchase.[26]
By the time of the Home Rule Crisis of 1912–14, the land question had resolved largely in the tenants' favour, and official unionism reasserted itself. A meeting in Ballymoney Town Hall in October 1913 organised by Armour and Ballymena's Jack White, and with Sir Roger Casement and Alice Stopford Green on the platform, disputed the claim of Edward Carson's Unionists to speak for northern Protestants.[27] Local historian Alex Blair notes, "the meeting put Ballymoney into the press headlines across the United Kingdom. All the big London papers had a representative in the Town Hall and ‘The London Times’ carried an editorial as well as a report".[28] But while the dissident meeting had filled the hall, in November an anti-Home Rule meeting addressed by Carson's lieutenant Sir James Craig had the crowd spilling out of the hall into the surrounding streets.[28][29]
The last major flax-spinning operation in the area, the Balnamore Mill, made its final shipment of linen (to Germany) and closed its doors in 1959.[32] The same year, saw the camera manufacturer K.G. Corfield moved from Wolverhampton to Ballymoney, becoming the only camera manufacturers on the island of Ireland. But this surprise addition to Ballymoney's shrinking industrial base failed in the face of Japanese and German competition. It ceased production in 1971. A further blow to the local economy was delivered in 1988 by a fire that destroyed the Lovell and Christmas pig processing factory that had employed more than 400 people and processed about 40% of Northern Ireland's pork.[33]
21st century
In the 21st century, Ballymoney recovered an ability to attract industrial investment. Examples included a 2015 €6.8 million expansion in the operations of McAuley Engineering,[34] and the announcement in June 2022 of a £9 million expansion of the metal fabricator facility of the U.S. machinery giant Terex.[35][36]
In the 30 years between the 1981 census and the 2011 census, the population of the town almost doubled from 5,679 to 10,393 people.[37] In the broader-than-the-town census area, the population rose from 26,865 in 2001 to 32,505 in 2020.[38]
On census day (21 March 2021) there were 11,048 people living in the town of Ballymoney.[5] Of these:
71.9% belong to or were brought up in a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' faith and 16% belong to or were brought up in the Catholic Christian faith.[39]
68.9% indicated that they had a British national identity,[40] 37.8% had a Northern Irish national identity[41] and 7.3% had an Irish national identity[42] (respondents could indicate more than one national identity).
2011 census
At the time of the 2011 census, 27 March 2011, there were 10,402 people living in the town of Ballymoney (in 4,354 households),[43] an increase of 15.3% on the 2001 census population of 9,021.[44] Of these:
19.75% were aged under 16 years and 16.91% were aged 65 and over.
52.84% of the usually resident population were female and 47.16% were male.
76.23% belong to or were brought up in a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' faith and 17.17% belong to or were brought up in the Catholic Christian faith.
73.34% indicated that they had a British national identity, 28.11% had a Northern Irish national identity and 6.78% had an Irish national identity (respondents could indicate more than one national identity).
39 years was the average (median) age of the population.
32.05% had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots and 4.01% had some knowledge of Irish (Gaelic).
Buildings of note
Ballymoney town clock and masonic hall
There are a number of buildings of historic note in Ballymoney's town centre.[45] These include:
An old church tower, dating from 1637, which is the town's oldest surviving building.
Ballymoney Primary School, also known as Ballymoney Model,[49] is on North Road and has approximately 360 pupils.[citation needed] The school is within the Northern Eastern Education Library Board area. Historically, Ballymoney Primary has been a predominately protestant school, but was scheduled to be integrated in September 2009 following a very narrow vote in favour of the idea.[citation needed]
Garryduff Primary School, for pupils aged 4–11, is located on the Garryduff road approximately 3 miles outside of Ballymoney. It has got a new extension with a new multi-purpose hall and a new classroom.[50]
Landhead Primary School is a primary school for pupils aged 5 to 11 years on the Kilraughts Road.[51]
Leaney Primary School is located near Ballymoney High School on Intermediate Road approximately 1 mile from the town centre. The school, for children aged 4 to 11, is part of the Eco-Schools programme which aims to raise pupils awareness of sustainable development issues.[52]
Lislagan Primary School is about three miles from Ballymoney in a rural location.[53] It is a controlled school for girls and boys aged from 3 to 11 and is within the North Eastern Education and Library Board area. As of 2006, enrollment stood at 94.[54]
St. Brigid's Primary School is located in Castle Street.[55]
The Ballymoney Chronicle was established in 1844. It is the largest selling weekly newspaper in the North Coast and the second largest weekly newspaper in Northern Ireland.[58]
^ abCourtney, Roger (2013). Dissenting Voices: Rediscovering the Irish Progressive Presbyterian Tradition. Ulster Historical Foundation. pp. 156–160. ISBN9781909556065.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Walker, Brian M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland 1801–1922. A New History of Ireland. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 296–7. ISBN0901714127. ISSN0332-0286.
^Goldring, Maurice (1991). Belfast, From Loyalty to Rebellion. London: Lawrence and Wishart. pp. 103–104. ISBN0853157286.
^Boyle, J. W. (1962–1963). "The Belfast Protestant Association and Independent Orange Order". Irish Historical Studies. 13: 117–152. doi:10.1017/S0021121400008518. S2CID163283785.
^Bardon, Jonathan (1992). A History of Ulster. Belfast: The Blackstaff Press. pp. 440–441. ISBN0856404764.
^Ullans Speakers Association (2013). A Ripple in the Pond: The Home Rule Revolt in North Antrim. Ballymoney: Ulster Scots Agency.
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