ballycastle heritage trail

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH

This church is known locally as The Boyd Church because it was built by Hugh Boyd, the landlord of Ballycastle. It was built in 1756, probably as a private chapel for the Boyd Family and Hugh Boyd points out that it was his own private fortune and not with any of the grants which he received from the Irish Parliament for the making of a harbour. The Church has been described as a "handsome Church, in the Grecian style of architecture, with a lofty octagonal spire built with stone from the local sandstone quarries". Inside there are several memorials to members of the Boyd Family, a number of whom are interred in the vaults beneath.

As mentioned earlier, a Castle once stood on the right side of the Church. It was built in 1612 by Sir Randal McDonnell. Prior to this the McDonnells, who were the leading clan in the area, resided at Dunaneanie Castle on the Clifftop, near the present Silvercliffs Holiday Park. After 1660 the McDonnells took up residence in Glenarm Castle. The Castle in the Diamond fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1856.

THE O'CONNOR MONUMENT

This monument stands in the middle of the Diamond. It was erected in 1899 by the people of Ballycastle in memory of Dr.George Matthew O'Connor, who had been dispensary doctor in Ballycastle from 1844 to 1896.

THE DIAMOND

The Boyd Arms, one of Ballycastle's oldest licensed premises. The lease of the premises granted to John Roy by Alexander Boyd, the landlord of Ballycastle on 9 April 1767, includes a clause restricting the brewing of beer or the distilling of whiskey. Next door to the Boyd Arms is The Royal Hotel. At one time the Diamond was simply a hollow field through which the Blind Bridge River flowed. In 1810 John Fullerton, entered into a contract to build a tunnel or culvert of brick over the river and to fill up the diamond to its present level. As well as a money grant, he was given a plot of ground in which he built the Royal Hotel.

Note the block of four Georgian houses on the South side of the Diamond. These formed part of seventeenth century Castle Street and you can trace old Castle Street in line with these at the back of the present houses. Castle Street and Ann Street were formerly twice their present widths and the old houses can still be seen through the many coach arches or gateways. The Antrim Arms Hotel was built in 1754 by a wealthy Ballycastle merchant, George Dunlop.

CASTLE STREET

The House of McDonnell is so called because its owners are descendants of the McDonnells of Antrim. The Courthouse (now Ballycastle Museum). The upstairs of this building was used as the Manor Court whilst the three arches downstairs led into a shambles or market house. There was a gaol or bridewell at the rear with two cells with vaulted ceilings above the ground and two similar ones below ground level. It ceased being a market place when the new market was built at Market Street in 1858. No. 47 a fine Georgian house which was the headquarters of the Royal Irish Constabulary.

BALLYCASTLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

This Church was built in 1827. Notice the tombstone to Dr. John Boyd near the front door. He died in 1841, victim of the typhus fever which he caught while attending patients on Rathlin Island.

DALRIADA HOSPITAL

Opened in 1967 and replaced the old hospital which had been built as a workhouse in 1843. The Northern Ireland Hospitals Authority decided to close the hospital in December 1960 on the grounds that the building was unsafe. There was a public outcry and a local action committee was formed. The hospital was blockaded and, after negotiation between the action committee and the Hospitals Authority it was agreed that a new hospital would be built. The new hospital was opened in 1967 by Rt. Hon. Terence O' Neill.

MARKET STREET

The terrace of houses on your right were the first houses built by the Ballycastle Urban District Council - date 1926. The market yard adjacent to the Fire Station was built in 1858 using stones from the Castle in the Diamond. The former potato store was converted into a modern fire station opened by MP Brian Faulkner in 1961.

BOYD'S DOCK

The Tennis Courts occupy the site of Hugh Boyd's inner dock built in 1743. Boyd claimed that at one time there were sixty ships in this harbour loading with coal for Dublin. The building with the vaulted roof adjacent to the pavilion was once an ice-house for storing salmon from the fishery (built in 1823). Certain fields were flooded in winter and when there was frost the ice was carted to the ice-house and packed in. The ice generally lasted until late July.