County Antrim Guide (Aontroim)

“The Glensmen” - in the province of Ulster. County town: Antrim.

The Giant’s Causeway, the Glens, and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.

Antrim, in the north-east, holds Northern Ireland’s greatest natural wonder: the Giant’s Causeway, its 40,000 basalt columns the stuff of legend. The Antrim coast road is one of the world’s great drives, past the glens, Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and Bushmills, the oldest licensed whiskey distillery on earth. Belfast sits at its southern edge.

Few counties pack in as much drama per mile as Antrim. Its northern coast carries the Giant's Causeway, some 40,000 interlocking basalt columns formed by ancient volcanic activity and wrapped in the legend of Finn McCool, while the nine Glens of Antrim sweep green valleys down to the Sea of Moyle, with Scotland's Mull of Kintyre visible barely a dozen miles away. That closeness to Scotland has shaped everything here: the medieval kingdom of Dál Riada spanned the channel, the MacDonnell clan ruled from Dunluce Castle, and Ulster-Scots speech and song remain a living strand of the county's culture alongside its Gaelic and English inheritances.

Antrim's story is also an industrial one. Belfast, which grew along the Antrim side of the Lagan, boomed on linen, rope-making and shipbuilding to become one of the great Victorian industrial cities, and the county's mill towns and market towns - Ballymena, Lisburn, Larne - shared in that prosperity. Today visitors come for the Causeway Coastal Route, one of the world's great drives, for golf at Royal Portrush, whiskey at Bushmills and Game of Thrones filming locations from the Dark Hedges to Ballintoy. A county shared warmly by all traditions, Antrim rewards those tracing Presbyterian, Catholic and Church of Ireland roots alike.

Cities, towns and villages in Antrim

  • Antrim - The historic county town at the north-east corner of Lough Neagh, with a well-preserved 10th-century round tower.
  • Belfast (part) - Northern Ireland's capital straddles the Lagan, with its city centre, Cathedral Quarter and north and west of the city lying in County Antrim.
  • Ballymena - A busy market and manufacturing town in mid-Antrim, known as the City of the Seven Towers and the heart of Ulster-Scots country.
  • Ballycastle - A charming seaside town hosting the Ould Lammas Fair, one of Ireland's oldest fairs, and the ferry to Rathlin Island.
  • Bushmills - Home of the Old Bushmills Distillery, working under a licence granted in 1608, and gateway to the Giant's Causeway.
  • Carrickfergus - Dominated by its magnificent Norman castle on Belfast Lough, a town older than Belfast itself and namesake of a beloved ballad.
  • Portrush - A classic seaside resort whose Royal Portrush links hosted golf's Open Championship in 1951, 2019 and 2025.
  • Larne - A major ferry port linking Northern Ireland to Scotland, at the southern end of the Antrim Coast Road.
  • Lisburn (part) - A cathedral city with deep linen-industry roots, granted city status in 2002, lying mostly within County Antrim.
  • Ballymoney - A north Antrim market town forever associated with motorcycling legend Joey Dunlop, honoured with a memorial garden.

Famous people from Antrim

  • Liam Neeson - The Oscar-nominated star of Schindler's List and Taken, born and raised in Ballymena.
  • Joey Dunlop - From Ballymoney, widely considered the greatest road racer of all time with 26 Isle of Man TT wins.
  • Kenneth Branagh - The Oscar-winning actor and director was born in north Belfast, the setting for his autobiographical film Belfast.
  • Mary McAleese - President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011, born and raised in Ardoyne in north Belfast.
  • James Nesbitt - Star of Cold Feet and The Missing, born in Ballymena and raised in the Antrim village of Broughshane.
  • Willie John McBride - The iconic Ireland and Lions rugby captain, born near Toomebridge and long associated with Ballymena RFC.
  • Sorley Boy MacDonnell - The formidable 16th-century chieftain who secured the MacDonnell hold on north Antrim from his stronghold at Dunluce Castle.
  • Ciaran Hinds - Acclaimed stage and screen actor of Game of Thrones and Belfast fame, born in Belfast.
  • James Young - Beloved Belfast comedian whose characters gently sent up all sides of the city's life in the 1960s and 70s.

Did you know?

  • The Giant's Causeway is Northern Ireland's only UNESCO World Heritage Site, formed by volcanic activity around 60 million years ago.
  • Old Bushmills Distillery traces its licence to distil to 1608, giving it a claim to be the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world.
  • According to tradition, the young St Patrick herded sheep as a slave on Slemish mountain near Ballymena.
  • A cave on Rathlin Island is reputed to be where Robert the Bruce, in hiding after defeat in 1306, watched the spider that inspired him to try again.
  • William of Orange landed at Carrickfergus in June 1690 on his way to the Battle of the Boyne.
  • The Antrim Coast Road, blasted through cliffs in the 1830s to link the isolated Glens, is regarded as one of the great feats of Victorian road engineering.
  • When the Open Championship came to Royal Portrush in 2019, it was the first time golf's oldest major had been played outside Great Britain since 1951 - also at Portrush.
  • Lough Neagh, which borders Antrim on the west, is the largest lake in these islands and by legend was formed when Finn McCool scooped out a clod of earth and hurled it into the sea, creating the Isle of Man.

Places to visit in Antrim

  • Giant’s Causeway - 40,000 basalt columns of legend. A UNESCO site.
  • Titanic Belfast - The story of the Titanic, where she was built.

Surnames from Antrim: Quinn · McDonnell · Cunningham · McGee · Campbell · Barr · McAleese · Mulholland · Nevin · Newell · Wallace

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