Ballymena Town, County Antrim

Surnames/tags: IRISH_ROOTS BALLYMENA COUNTY_ANTRIM

Main Antrim Page	Civil Parishes	Towns & Cities

Population Centres	Ballymena	Belfast	Lisburn

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Part of the Ireland Project

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Assigning Categories to profiles 3 Ballymena Parishes and Townlands 4 Ballymena Local Government Areas 5 Sources

Introduction

Ballymena /ˌbæliˈmiːnə/^[1] (from Irish: an Baile Meánach, meaning "the middle townland",^[2] Irish pronunciation: [ən̪ˠ ˈbˠalʲə ˈmˠaːn̪ˠəx]) is a town in County Antrim, and the eighth largest in Northern Ireland. Since 2015 Ballymena has been part of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. It had a population of 64,551 people in 2012.^[3] The town of Ballymena spans several parishes and townlands. Most of the town of Ballymena, north of the river Braid is in the barony of Toome Lower and includes parts of the civil parishes of Kirkinriola and Ahoghill. The part of Ballymena, south of the river Braid is in the barony of Antrim Lower and includes parts of the civil parishes of Ballyclug, Connor and Racavan. The centre of town is in the townland of Town Parks in the civil parish of Kirkinriola.

The name Ballymena has also been given to several historic local government areas including a Poor Law Union, Civil Registration District/Superintendent Registrar's District, Electoral District, Urban and Rural Districts, and Borough.

The town of Ballymena is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I in 1626, on the basis that the town holds two annual fairs and a free Saturday market in perpetuity. As of 2018, the Saturday market still runs. It is a popular shopping hub within Northern Ireland and is home to Ballymena United F.C. The town used to host Ireland's largest one-day agricultural show at the Ballymena Showgrounds. The town centre has many historic buildings. The Town Hall was built in 1924 on the site of the old Market House, and was refurbished in 2007 at a cost of roughly £20 million.

Assigning Categories to profiles

Since the name Ballymena can be associated with a large area, for example the Ballymena Poor Law Union covered an area of 252 square miles, use the following guidance when assigning categories to profiles:

• Use category Ballymena Town, County Antrim for profiles of people associated with Ballymena town or Urban district. For example, people who appear under Ballymena Town or Urban DED in the 1901/1911 Ireland census or appear in a record with a named street in Ballymena Town.
• Use the appropriate townland category for profiles of people who can be more accurately associated with a specific townland.
• Use category Ballymena Superintendent Registrar's District, County Antrim for profiles of people with connections to the Ballymena area (for example, linked to the Ballymena Poor Law Union, or mentioned in a birth, marriage or death record in Ballymena Civil Registration District/Superintendent Registrar's District, or who lived in Ballymena Rural District) but who cannot be directly associated with the town of Ballymena or a specific townland.

Ballymena Parishes and Townlands

The town of Ballymena spans several parishes and townlands as listed below.^[4]

Ahoghill Civil Parish

Townland	Irish name from logainm.ie	WikiTree Category Name	Notes
Ballykennedy	Baile Uí Chinnéide	Ballykennedy Townland, Ahoghill Parish, County Antrim	Ballykennedy includes the population centre Gracehill which is now part of the town of Ballymena.
Ballyloughan	Baile an Locháin	Ballyloughan Townland, Ahoghill Parish, County Antrim	Most of Ballyloughan is now an urban area, part of the town of Ballymena.
Brocklamont	Bruach na Molt	Brocklamont Townland, Ahoghill Parish, County Antrim	Most of Brocklamont is now an urban area, part of the town of Ballymena.
Carniny	Carn Fhainche	Carniny Townland, Ahoghill Parish, County Antrim	Most of Carniny is now an urban area, part of the town of Ballymena.
Galgorm	Galgorm	Galgorm Townland, Ahoghill Parish, County Antrim	Galgorm townland (apart from the grounds of Galgorm Castle) is now an urban area, part of the town of Ballymena.
Galgorm Parks	Páirceanna Ghalgorm	Galgorm Parks Townland, Ahoghill Parish, County Antrim	Some of Galgorm Parks townland is now an urban area, part of the town of Ballymena.
Lisnafillon	Lios na Faoilinne	Lisnafillon Townland, Ahoghill Parish, County Antrim	Lisnafillon is mainly farmland but the eastern part is now an industrial area of the town of Ballymena.

Ballyclug Civil Parish

Townland	Irish name from logainm.ie	WikiTree Category Name	Notes
Ballycreggy		Ballycreggy Townland, Ballyclug Parish, County Antrim	Some of Ballycreggy is now part of the town of Ballymena.
Ballykeel	An Baile Caol	Ballykeel Townland, Ballyclug Parish, County Antrim	Most of Ballykeel is now an urban area, part of the town of Ballymena.
Ballylesson		Ballylesson Townland, Ballyclug Parish, County Antrim	Some of Ballylesson is now part of the town of Ballymena.

Connor Civil Parish

Townland	Irish name from logainm.ie	WikiTree Category Name	Notes
Ballee	Baile Aodha	Ballee Townland, Connor Parish, County Antrim	Most of Ballee is now an urban area, part of the town of Ballymena.
Tullaghgarley	Tullaghgarley	Tullaghgarley Townland, Connor Parish, County Antrim	Tullaghgarley townland is split across Ahoghill and Connor parishes. The part in Connor parish appears as Tullaghgarley Lower in censuses and is now part of the town of Ballymena.

Kirkinriola Civil Parish

Townland	Irish name from logainm.ie	WikiTree Category Name	Notes
Bottom	An Srath	Bottom Townland, Kirkinriola Parish, County Antrim	Most of Bottom is now an urban area, part of the town of Ballymena.
Dunclug	Dún Cloig	Dunclug Townland, Kirkinriola Parish, County Antrim	Most of Dunclug is now an urban area, part of the town of Ballymena.
Town Parks	Páirceanna an Bhaile	Town Parks Townland, Kirkinriola Parish, County Antrim	Town Parks townland includes the centre of the town of Ballymena. Use category Ballymena Town, County Antrim instead.

Racavan Civil Parish

Townland	Irish name from logainm.ie	WikiTree Category Name	Notes
Broughshane Lower		Broughshane Lower Townland, Racavan Parish, County Antrim	Some of Broughshane Lower is now part of the Ecos Centre Nature Park in the town of Ballymena.

Ballymena Local Government Areas

Ballymena Poor Law Union was formed in 1840, as a consequence of the Irish Poor Law Act of 1838, and covered an area of 252 square miles. It incorporated 23 electoral divisions: Ahoghill, Ballyclug, Ballyconnelly, Ballymena, Ballyscullion, Broughshane, Clogh, Cloghogue, Dundermot, Dunmanaway, Dunminning, Galgorm, Glenbuck, Glenravill, Glenwhirry, Kells, Kirkinriola, Lisnagarran, Longmore, Newtown Cromellin, Portglenone, Slemish, Toome. The population falling within the Union at the 1831 census had been 66,964 with divisions ranging in size from Dundermote (population 1,069) to Kells (5,708) and Ballymena itself (5,644). At the 1901 census, the population of the Union was 53,082 with 19 officials and 355 inmates in the workhouse.^[5]

Ballymena Civil Registration District (also known as Ballymena Superintendent Registrar's District) was based on the area of Ballymena Poor Law Union. Ballymena Civil Registration District was divided into sub-districts (known as Registrar's Districts): Ahoghill, Broughshane, Clough (Clogh), Galgorm, Glenwhirry (Glenwherry), Portglenone, Toome.^[6] Birth, Marriage and Death records are normally indexed by Civil Registration District and sub-district although individual records usually also mention the townland and parish or street in a town where people mentioned in the register were residing.

The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 resulted in the creation of two districts Ballymena Urban District (which included the town of Ballymena) and Ballymena Rural District (which included the surrounding area and several small towns and villages).^[7]

Census returns are grouped by District Electoral Divisions (DED). In the 1901 census Ballymena Urban District was represented by one DED: Ballymena and Town and Urban District of Ballymena. In the 1911 census Ballymena Urban District was represented by three DEDs: Ballymena Town, Ballymena No. 2 Urban, Ballymena No. 3 Urban. Some of the surrounding townlands which have more recently become part of the Town of Ballymena were included in DEDs: Ahoghill, Galgorm, and Kirkinriola.^[8]

The Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 replaced the existing system of county boroughs, administrative counties, urban districts and rural districts with 26 local government districts. The borough of Ballymena was created on 1 October 1973 from the merging of the former municipal borough of Ballymena with most of the surrounding Ballymena Rural District. It covered the town of Ballymena and the surrounding area which includes small towns including Broughshane, Cullybackey, Galgorm, Ahoghill and Portglenone. The borough had an area of 200 square miles (520 km2) and a population of 64,044 according to the 2011 census. In 2015 it was replaced by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, p. 66, ISBN 9781405881180
2. ↑ "An Baile Meánach/Ballymena". Logainm.ie. https://www.logainm.ie/en/135723
3. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Ballymena," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ballymena&oldid=908488096 (accessed August 1, 2019).
4. ↑ PRONI Historical Maps viewer. https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/search-proni-historical-maps-viewer
5. ↑ The Workhouse. Ballymena, Co. Antrim. http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Ballymena/
6. ↑ SWilson.info. Registration District: Ballymena. https://www.swilson.info/regdistmap.php?gregdistid=13
7. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "List of Irish local government areas 1898–1921," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Irish_local_government_areas_1898%E2%80%931921&oldid=890387321 (accessed August 1, 2019).
8. ↑ The National Archives of Ireland. Census of Ireland. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/
9. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Ballymena (borough)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ballymena_(borough)&oldid=903570049 (accessed August 1, 2019).