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BALLYMENA |
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BALLYMENA (pronounced Ballamena , unless you're a BBC newsreader) is
a fine, upstanding, predominantly Protestant town that could have been
transplanted straight from the Scottish lowlands. Indeed, most of its
plantation settlers came from the southwest of Scotland, and the
Ballymena accent still retains traces of Scottish lowlands speech. Like
many Northern Irish towns, its prosperity derived from the linen trade,
while the alleged tightfistedness of its residents earned it the
sobriquet of the "Aberdeen of Ireland". Ballymena is the home base of
the Reverend Ian Paisley , despite the fact that he originates from
Armagh; this demagogic leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, who has
dominated local politics since the late 1970s, remains the most
outspoken Loyalist opponent to the Good Friday Agreement. Ballymena's
Saturday market is a lively affair and its streets are often thronged
with shoppers and crammed nose to tail with traffic, but significant
redevelopment has left little surviving from the pre-Victorian era. In
the summer, there's a tourist office in the town hall at 15 Bridge St (Mon-Fri
9.30am-5pm; tel 028/2565 3663); otherwise it's a trek out to the Council
Offices, 80 Galgorm Rd (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; tel 028/2564 4111). Next door
to the town hall is the quaint Morrow's Shop Museum , 13 Bridge St (Mon-Fri
10am-1pm & 2-5pm, Sat 10am-1pm; free), an erstwhile draper's store
complete with original fittings that displays local memorabilia.
A mile and a half west of Ballymena is GRACEHILL , a reminder of the
curious mixture of religious oppression and tolerance that has
characterized Northern Ireland's history: at the same time as Ireland's
Catholics were suffering heavy penalties, the country was welcoming
dissenting Protestant groups, among them the Moravians (the United
Brethren), who founded a model settlement at Gracehill in 1746. The
elegant square survives, with separate buildings for men and women,
whose main trade was making lace and clocks. Segregated in life, the
sexes remained divided in death, and in the graveyard you can walk down
the long path that separates the graves of the men from those of the
women.
For miles around Ballymena the landscape is dominated by one of County
Antrim's most mystical reference points, Slemish Mountain , best
approached from the village of Buckna , eight miles or so east. This
extinct volcano is said to be the place where St Patrick herded swine as
a slave-boy after being captured and brought to Ireland, and,
consequently, is a place of pilgrimage on March 17 - though others claim
his writings indicate that the place of his captivity was Killala,
County Mayo. Whatever, the mountain's a steep climb of about 700 feet
from the car park to the summit, but the views are well worth the
effort; to the north, you can see the ruins of Skerry Church, the
ancient burial place of the O'Neills of Clandeboye.
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