X-Nico

4 unusual facts about Ballymena


Anarchism in Ireland

Titles included Outta Control (Belfast), Anarchist Worker (Dublin), Antrim Alternative (Ballymena), Black Star (Ballymena), Resistance (Dublin) and Organise! (Ballymena).

Bahá'í Faith in Northern Ireland

Katherine Chauhan returned to Northern Ireland after pioneering to several countries and was married in the first Bahá'í wedding in Ballymena.

Ballymoney railway station

Ballymoney station was opened by the Ballymena, Ballymoney, Coleraine and Portrush Junction Railway on 4 December 1855.

Sharon McPeake

McPeake was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland and was a member of Ballymena & Antrim Athletics Club.


Commonwealth Labour Party

In September 1946, the party put up candidates in the local elections, winning seats in Bangor, Newtownards, Richhill and Ballymena, plus Midgley's seat in Belfast.

Dunloy FC

Dunloy Fc is a football club associated with Dunloy, a village in northern County Antrim, Northern Ireland situated between Ballymena and Ballymoney.

George Boyle Hanna

Born in Ballymena, County Antrim and educated at Gracehill Academy, Ballymena Academy and Trinity College, Dublin, Hanna was first admitted as a solicitor in 1901, being called to the Bar in 1920, taking silk in 1933.

Irish Cup

On five occasions the same two clubs have reached the final in consecutive years: in 1885 and 1886, Distillery and Alexander; in 1913 and 1914, Glentoran and Linfield; in 1930 and 1931, Ballymena United and Linfield; Coleraine and Glentoran in 2003 and 2004; and in 2011 and 2012 Linfield and Crusaders.

NCC Class S1

During the harsh winter of 1947, No.41 famously became stuck in a snow drift between Capecastle and Armoy while working the afternoon up train to Ballymena on 12 March.

Neil 'Smutty' Robinson

An exceptionally talented (and fearless) motorcycle track, circuit and road racer from Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, Robinson was killed during a practice session at Oliver's Mount racing circuit, Scarborough, West Yorkshire.

Robert Adair, 1st Baron Waveney

In 1870, Adair donated a People's Park to Ballymena, engaging fifty labourers to work for six months landscaping it.

Robin Stirling

A former pupil of Ballymena Academy he was critical of the politics of Roger Casement,a fellow attendee of Ballymena Academy and prominent Protestant Irish Nationalist who was previously a British diplomat later executed for treason.

In 2009 Stirling, apparently in a drunken state, was ejected from a Chinese restaurant in Ballymena, at which he was attending a Milk Cup fund raising event, after heckling former Manchester United player Harry Gregg.

Sky Blues

Magherafelt Sky Blues F.C., in the Ballymena & Provincial Intermediate League of Northern Ireland

Ulster Unionist Coalition Party

Following a split in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) majority bloc in Ballymena in 2007, six councillors who objected to the DUP's agreement to share power in the Northern Ireland Executive with Sinn Féin left the DUP and redesignated themselves as the "Ulster Unionist Coalition Party".


see also