Ballygally Castle is in the village of Ballygally,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, located approximately north of

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid ...

. The castle overlooks the sea at the head of Ballygally Bay. Now run as a hotel, it is the only 17th century building still used as a residence in Northern Ireland, and is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in all of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

Features

Coast Road with Ballygally Castle Hotel - geograph

The castle is described as "a living postcard—a charming, almost teal-colored Scottish baronial castle overlooking the sea in Northern Ireland."

History

The castle was built in 1625 by James Shaw, of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, who had come to the area and rented the land from the Earl of Antrim for £24 a year. Over the main entrance door to the castle, leading to the tower, is the

Middle Scots Middle Scots was the Anglic language of Lowland Scotland in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 15th century, its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtually ...

inscription "Godis Providens is my Inheritans". The bawn and walled garden are registered as Scheduled Historic Monuments at grid ref: D3725 0781.

Reputed hauntings

The castle is reputed to host a number of ghosts. The small room in the corner turret of the castle is known as "The Ghost Room" and is not used as a room in the hotel. In 2003, manager Olga Henry had said after spending some time in the hotel, "I'm sort of very skeptical about the whole supernatural thing and ghosts. But the more I stay here and work here, the more I think there's definitely something in this hotel." According to Henry, one guest was staying in one of the rooms in the tower beneath the "Ghost Room" and in the middle of the night he awoke and thought he was at home and one of his children had laid a hand on his back. He woke up and said that he could a hear a child running about the room and laughing but nothing could be seen so he ran into the lobby in his boxers shorts in fright. In December 2003, Henry had set up the "Dungeon Room" in the tower as they were expecting guests and ordered the table neatly in preparation for meal. She locked the room and later checked up on it and the table was now a mess with unfolded napkins and glasses with an unusual scum around them were now arranged in a circle on the table. Mediums spending the night at the castle have often reported that they've detected more ghosts than there were guests actually staying at the hotel. File:Ballygally Castle Turret Room.jpg, Turret Room File:Ballygally Castle staircase.jpg, Staircase File:Ballgally Castle Ghost Room.jpg, Ghost Room File:Ballgally Castle Plaque.jpg, Plaque

References

{{Reflist Castles in County Antrim Grade A listed buildings Buildings and structures in Larne 1625 establishments in Ireland Houses completed in 1625 Reportedly haunted locations in Northern Ireland Hotels in Northern Ireland Tower houses in Northern Ireland

Features

History

Reputed hauntings

See also

References