What's the story here?

Ballydowan is a small hamlet situated on the western shore of Islandmagee, within Lough Larne, just over a mile and a half to the southeast of Larne Harbour. The rural location is a popular location for moored boats on account of the ruin of an old stone pier. It provides sheltered beach landings and a lane leading up to the main road. Immediately above the pier is the ruin of an old kiln and associated buildings with a scattering of static holiday homes.




The area offers an anchorage with excellent holding, a quiet and out-of-the-way with good landings by tender.

How to get in?

Use the directions for Larne Harbour for approaches and entry to Lough Larne. After entering the harbour continue south past Ballylumford Power Station and its pier, between the L-shaped 'A' wharf and No.7 buoy, and then along the western shore of Islandmagee.

Here the eastern shore of the inner Lough is covered by a gravelly foreshore that dries up to 200 metres off. Outside of this, there is a 200 metres wide channel that carries 6 metres of water for a ½ mile. Close after the Larne Lough yellow buoy is passed to starboard it falls to 4 metres and then to about 2 metres abreast of Ballydowan.

Larne Lough - Buoy Yellow Fl.Y.5s position: 54° 49.901' N, 005° 46.481' W



Ballydowan is approximately a 1½ miles from the main harbour and will be readily located by the local boats moored there and the projection of the old ruined pier.



Anchor 100 metres offshore in depths of 2 to 3 metres to the northwest of local boats. There is good holding here and very little tidal flow.

Why visit here?

The name Ballydowan could have descended from two possible Gaelic alternatives 'Baile Uí Dhubháin' or 'Baile Uí Dúin'. With the former 'Baile' means 'town' and 'Uí Dhubháin' of the family 'Dhubháin'. The surname is derived from the Gaelic word 'dubh' meaning 'black' with 'Dhubháin' been anglicised to 'Dowan' and often in other places 'Gowan'. Alternatively, it could have also arrived from 'Baile Uí Dúin' meaning 'town of the dun or circular fortress'.




Although the precise origin of its name has been lost to time not so is its recent history. Physically Ballydowan was the site of a lime kiln and the disused remains of its small stone quay can be seen on the shoreline. The overgrown kilns themselves are adjacent to the lane leading up to the road but are still clearly visible. But this is also the area of an extremally curious event that, in the relatively modern history of 1710 and 1711, led to the last witch trial to take place in Ireland.




Eight women were supposed to have bewitched an 18-year-old called Mary Dunbar who came here from Belfast. Their spells apparently made her ill with symptoms that now appear very much like teenage ADHD. The eight women were nevertheless blamed, arrested and whilst being detained they were set upon by a frenzied mob that caused one of the accused to lose an eye. In March 1711 their trial was held at Carrickfergus and presided over by two High Court judges. Crucially, in terms witchcraft statute in 1586, Dunbar claimed to have seen eight women appearing to her in spectral form. It was her direct evidence that led to all the women being convicted of witchcraft.




But it was also a good fortune, as the girl had survived her malady to testify and recovered they would not receive the full weight of the law. As she did not die, two of the older women received a first offence punishment to be put in jail for a year and four times in the pillory on market day. But all eight had to endure the four times in the stocks where the public rained stones and rotten fruit upon them.




On release, all of the women were ostracized from the community but unfortunately, nobody knows what happened to Mary Dunbar or the eight women afterwards. Sadly the public records office holding many Church of Ireland records was burned down during the Irish Civil War between 1922-1923.




Today there is little in the way of such drama in this quiet out-of-the-way hamlet on the rural Islandmagee peninsula. From a boating perspective, situated on the sparsely populated western shore of Islandmagee, this anchorage is the perfect place to escape the hustle and bustle of Larne. Anchored off behind the gentle gradients on Islandmagee’s western shore, on the sheltered waters of Larne Lough, it makes for the perfect hideaway.

What facilities are available?

There are no facilities at Ballydowan and little or nothing ashore apart from an old disused lime kiln. There is a village a mile inland towards the east coast which has a small shop and café.

Any security concerns?

Never a problem known to have occurred in Ballydowan.

With thanks to:

Terry Crawford, local boatman of many decades.