Ballynure

Ballynure (from Irish Baile an Iúir, meaning 'homestead of the yews')[1] is a village and civil parish near Ballyclare in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council and had a population of 677 people in the 2001 Census.

Ballynure
village and civil parish
Coordinates: 54°46′N 5°57′W
Christ Church, Ballynure

The village was for decades effectively split in two by the A8 main road, which runs from Belfast to Larne. This situation was alleviated in 2015, with the opening of a bypass to the northwest of the village. A stream called the Ballynure Water runs through it and the houses are a mixture of old fashioned buildings and new estates. Christ Church, Church of Ireland is one of the old buildings of note in Ballynure.

Transport

Sport

Ballynure Old Boys F.C. plays association football in the Ballymena & Provincial League.

2002 Census

Ballynure is classified as a massive village or hamlet by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (i.e. with a population between 500 and 10,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2002) there were 677 people living in Ballynure. Of these:

  • 22.3% were aged under 16 and 15.8% were aged 60 and over
  • 48.2% of the population were male and 51.9% were female
  • 0.1% were from a Catholic background and 99.9% were from a Protestant background
  • 0.4% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed.

Places of interest

The Ballynure Elementary School for Primary Education (often known simply as Ballynure Primary School) is only school in the village and surrounding areas until Ballyclare. It is also one of six schools in Northern Ireland classed as "Elementary Schools". The School was founded in 1930.

The Ballynure Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in all Newtownabbey and second oldest in all Antrim.

Additional information

Jonathan Swift, the writer of Gulliver's Travels, was responsible for the Ballynure parish of the Church of Ireland, during his time as prebend of Kilroot.

The Clements family, who lived at Clements Hill outside the village, were the ancestors of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Twain, who was author of works including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, was described by William Faulkner as 'the father of American literature.' His grandfather Samuel Clemens emigrated to America and Twain was born in Florida, Missouri, in November 1835. One of his ancestors, Henry Clements, was Mayor of Carrickfergus in 1696 and another is said to have fought for William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne six years earlier.

In 2007 Ballynure started a fair, which is now known as the "Yearly Ballynure fair". Along with the May Fair in Ballyclare, this fair is one of the very few yearly fairs in the U.K. where animals can be bought, although unlike the May Fair (which sells horses) the Ballynure Fair has only been known to sell cows.

In 2017 the village set up 'Ballynature Day' which is currently the largest nature convention in Northern Ireland

Notable people
  • James Whiteside McCay (1864–1930), Australian general during WWI, born in Ballynure
  • Jonathan Rea is a 5 time World Superbike champion. He won his titles consecutively in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, making him the most successful World SBK rider in the competition's history. He also holds the highest number of race wins in the championship.

See also
  • List of civil parishes in County Antrim

References
  1. Placenames Database of Ireland
  2. "Ballynure station" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 11 September 2007.
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