Ballyvoy ( or ''Baile Bhuí'') is a small

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

and

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. It is on the main A2 coast road 5 km east of Ballycastle and 17 km north west of

Cushendall Cushendall (), formerly known as Newtownglens, is a coastal village and townland (of 153 acres) in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located in the historic barony of Glenarm Lower and the civil parish of Layd, and is part of Causeway Coas ...

Geography

Ballyvoy village sits between a high ridge to the north, and the valley of the Carey River to the south. It lies within the Antrim Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is part of Causeway Coast and Glens District Council. Ballyvoy is also a townland is in the parish of Kilbride near

Ballyclare Ballyclare () is a small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 10,850 according to the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, and is located within the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It is part of, and ...

Murlough Bay Murlough Bay () is a bay on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland between Fair Head and Torr Head. Known for its remote location, the area overlooks Rathlin Island and has views across the Irish Sea to the Mull of Kintyre, Islay ...

, near Ballyvoy, has been used as a filming location for ''Death of Robin Hood'' and ''Games of Thrones''.

History

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of

passage grave A passage grave or passage tomb consists of one or more burial chambers covered in earth or stone and having a narrow access passage made of large stones. These structures usually date from the Neolithic Age and are found largely in Western Europ ...

and court tomb sites, including . There are several

standing stone A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...

s in the churchyard at Culfeightrin, west of Ballyvoy. The former primary school in the area, Barnish Primary School, closed in 2021.

Demographics

As of the

2021 United Kingdom census 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...

, Ballyvoy then had a population of 136, down from 167 as of the 2011 census. At the 2001 census, Ballyvoy had a population of 72 people.

Sport

Ballyvoy also has a

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

team called Carey Faughs GAC. This club has won the Antrim Intermediate Hurling Championship four times, and the Ulster Intermediate Hurling Championship twice. Ballyvoy does not have a

camogie Camogie ( ; ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game "hurling" (which is played by men only), it is organised ...

team but players from the area play with ''Niamh Padraig North Antrim'' which includes,

Cloughmills Cloughmills or Cloghmills ( ) is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Ballymoney is 9 miles to the north-west and Ballymena is 10 miles to the south. It had a population of 1,309 people in the 2011 census. It is in Causeway Coast and ...

Cushendun Cushendun () is a small coastal village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits off the A2 coast road between Cushendall and Ballycastle. It has a sheltered harbour and lies at the mouth of the River Dun and Glendun, one of the nine Glen ...

Armoy Armoy ( ) is a village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is 5.5 miles (9 km) southwest of Ballycastle and 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Ballymoney. According to an estimate in 2013 by the Northern Irel ...

and Ballyvoy.

People

* James K Cannon O'Neill, who founded the Knights of Columbanus in 1915, was born and raised at Ballypatrick, County Antrim. After studying in Maynooth, he was appointed parish priest of the Sacred Heart Parish in Belfast in 1906. He died in 1922 and is buried in Ballyvoy.Knights of Columbanus
(archived 2006) * James Black, a sportsperson, has played hurling for Carey Faughs GAC.

References

External links

NI Neighbourhood Information System
{{authority control Villages in County Antrim