Ballygalley Bay is situated on the northeast coast of Ireland about twenty-two miles south of Fair Head and three miles to the north of Larne. The bay offers an anchorage off a small holiday village tht is out of the run of the currents.

Ballygalley Bay offers good protection west through south to southeast but is entirely exposed to any northerly quadrant conditions. With the absence of any immediate offshore dangers, or any tidal restrictions, daylight access to the bay is straightforward.

The direction and velocity of the tide should be the central feature of any navigation planning in this area.

Keyfacts for Ballygalley Bay

Position and approaches

Haven position

54° 54.066' N, 005° 51.450' W

This is the anchoring area in sand off the head of Ballygalley Bay.

What is the initial fix?

This is set about 800 metres out from the head of the bay. A course of 210° T of Ballygalley castle leads into the anchoring area.

What are the key points of the approach?

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What's the story here?

Ballygalley Bay is a north-facing bay situated to the northwest of Ballygalley Head. A small village set at the head of the bay with a well-preserved Scottish baronial castle, conjoined today with a hotel, overlooking the sea from its northwest corner. The small village has a population of fewer than 1000 people and is largely a holiday resort for visitors who come to enjoy the bay's ¼ long sandy beach.




The large clean bay gradually shoals to the head and offers a good anchorage with offshore winds.

How to get in?

Offshore details for vessels are available in northeast Ireland’s coastal overview for Malin Head to Strangford Lough . Ballygalley Head is a prominent and unmistakable feature of the coastline with its 89 metres high round knuckle shape, with a steep cliff and base fringed by craggy basaltic rocks. The 383 metres high Robin Young Hill, the highest of several peaks in this vicinity, rises 2.7 miles west-southwest of Ballygalley Head. On closer approaches, the ruins of the ancient Cairncastle are situated on a rock at the base of the cliffs which form the head. A new tower house can be seen in the village 0.6 miles west by southwest of the headland at the head of a Ballygally Bay.

Vessels approaching from the east and northeast will need to circumvent the well-marked offshore rock clusters of Hunter Rock, the Maidens, and Highland Rock situated 3 to 5 miles out to sea, east round to northeast, of Ballygalley Head.




The Maidens are located about 4 miles northeast of Ballygalley Head, a distance of 4½ miles from Larne and consist of two groups of rocks separated by a navigable passage. The rocks are steep-to all around.

The north cluster consists of three small rocks that are arranged in the form of a triangle. The western Russell’s Rock is 1.00 metres above high water, the eastern Highlandman Rock covers one hour before high water, and the southern, or Allen Rock, covers at high water. Rocky ledges extend both to the northward and southeast of the Allen rock whilst the others are steep-to. The northeastmost Highlandman (Highland Rock) is marked by a beacon. They are covered by the red
sector (142°-182°) of the east maiden auxiliary light.

Highlandman (Highland Rock) – unlit 1.5 metres position: 54°57.286'N, 005°43.935'W




The southern section consists of two clusters of rocks called the East and West Maiden that are separated from each other by a deep and wide sound. East Maiden on which stands a lighthouse, with a white tower and black band, and West Maiden on which is a tall, disused, tower of a disused lighthouse and other prominent buildings.

East Maiden Lighthouse - Fl (3) 20s 29m 24M position: 54° 55.748’N, 005° 43.709’W




West Maiden lighthouse was taken out of service in 1903. Other rocks in the southern group, lying within a ½ mile south of the East maiden lighthouse are; The Bushes, The Griddle, The Saddle and Sheafing Rock. Expect most ships to head directly to Scotland by passing south of the Maidens. Occasionally vessels, that are awaiting berthing space in Larne, do pass to the north and then inside the Maidens.

Those passing between the mainland and the Maidens will find the 4-mile stretch of water free from dangers.

Between the Maidens and Larne, there is the singular Hunter Rock that has 0.8 metres of water over it. Hunter Rock is a well-marked shoal with North and South Cardinal Light buoys and it is the only danger here. It lies 2½ miles northeast of the entrance or 036° T from Ferris Point, the entrance’s eastern point. Similar to the Maidens, Ballygally Bay may be approached on either side of Hunter Rock.

North Hunter - VQ position: 54° 53.046’N, 005 45.114’W

South Hunter - VQ (6) + LFl 10s position: 54° 52.691’N, 005 45.284’W

Vessels approaching from the south will find an inshore passage from Larne Head, a distance of 3½ miles, between the mainland and Hunter and the Maidens, steep-to and clear of off-lying dangers. Good depths will be found close in with 400 metres from the shore clearing all dangers.

Vessels converging on Ballygalley Bay from all other directions will find no outlying hazards. North of Hangman and Maiden Rocks, where the Antrim Mountains push out almost vertically to the coast, is clear of outlying dangers 400 metres beyond the cliffs.




From the Ballygalley Bay initial fix Ballygally Castle will be seen standing on the rocks at the base of the cliffs 0.6-mile west-southwest of the headland at the head of the bay. Track in on the tan-coloured Ballygalley Castle, overlooking the bay from the northwest end of the village, on a bearing 210° T.



Anchor according to draft and conditions over a sandy bottom that shoals gradually to the head of the bay.




Land on the beach at the head of the bay or at the slipway situated under the headland on the southern shore of the bay.

Why visit here?

Ballygalley Bay, also spelt Ballygally, derives its name from the Irish words ' Baile Uí Cheallaigh'. Pronounced 'bala gehlee this is believed to mean 'O'Kelly’s Homestead' but the origin of the personal name 'O'Kelly' is uncertain and very rare in the area today.




Ballygalley’s history of inhabitation, akin to this entire stretch of coast, goes way back to very ancient times. A 1990s archaeological excavation of the bay’s low ground, about 500 metres from the shoreline, unearthed the remains of a number of Neolithic houses. The historically important site produced a large number of artefacts, including pottery, worked flints, stone axes and a considerable quantity of carbonized cereal grains, mostly Einkorn wheat, as well as cattle bone. It is the latter that indicated that the houses were the dwellings of a farming community. The finds also suggested that the Ballygalley Neolithic community were not fishing, fowling or gathering shellfish. Beads that they used for personal adornment were of stone rather than marine shells. Moreover, the raw materials they used imply local and long-distance maritime connections.





Flint nodules may have been gathered from the local beach, while porcellanite was brought from Tievebulliagh and by boat from Rathlin Island. Stone axes were found that came from Great Langdale, in Cumbria in northeast England and from Cornwall. Many pieces of pitchstone would have been brought to Ballygalley from the island of Arran, in the Firth of Clyde. So, it seems likely that Ballygalley may have been some type of redistribution place or trading harbour, a feasting house or a ritual, public structure. It is clear that in addition to farming Ballygalley was part of a system of exchange in materials across the north Irish Sea also certainly involving flint axes and other artefacts and porcellanite axes. So Ballygalley was in this sense, a place on the Neolithic seaways as well as a farming community.





The bay's oldest castle is the stone ruin on the rock beyond Ballygally Head. Called Cairncastle, sometimes referred to as O'Halloran’s Castle, it was originally built by the Anglo-Norman Knight Duncan Fitzgilbert who was given lands here in the early 13th century. The local Parish of Cairncastle is named after this castle on the rocks. The bay's signature castle however is its overlooking Ballygally Castle. It was built in 1625 by James Shaw, from Greenock in Scotland, and his wife Isabella Brisbane. Shaw originally came here in 1606 at the start of the 'Plantation of Ulster' and rented this land from the 'Earl of Antrim'. It was almost twenty years later before he commenced the fine structure of Ballygally Castle which would be heavily influenced by Scottish design. Its high walls, steep roof, dormer windows and corner turrets featuring corbelled cylindrical tourelles with conical roofs on top, are all baronial design statements. Shaw added personalised touches inside with an inscription over the main entrance door leading to the tower that read ‘1625 Godis Providens is my Inheritans’. Above it, he placed the joint coat of arms of the Shaw and Brisbane families, with the letters J.S and I.B.




Though featuring a flourish of eye-catching design features the castle was just as capable of defending itself. It had walls five feet thick, including loopholes for muskets, and an open stream running through the outer hall provided water in the event of a siege. During the rebellion of 1641, it served as a place of refuge for the Protestants. The castle came under attack from the Irish garrison at Glenarm several times during the rebellion, but each assault was unsuccessful. It continued to be a point of retreat during the following two centuries and was used as a fortress as late as the 18th Century. Because the castle provided sanctuary for such large numbers of people and has seen off so many large-scale attacks in its time, it is now believed that the original building was more extensive than the current remains of the ancient Castle.

It stayed in the Shaw family until the early 1800s when they lost their lands and wealth. The castle was then passed through several hands taking on many different roles such as a coastguard station, for several years, then a rectory for an extended period, until it was eventually sold to the textile millionaire Mr Cyril Lord in the early 1950s. He refurbished the building and turned it into a hotel that was subsequently purchased by its present owners 'The Hastings Hotels Group' in 1966. They have, over the years, undertaken a series of extensive renovation programmes.

Today the 17th Century castle sits in the middle of the village that spreads out around its feet. Situated at the junction with the road to Cairncastle it is now conjoined with a 4-star hotel with a renovated bar and restaurant. It is reputed to be the oldest occupied building in Ireland and one of Ireland’s best-preserved Scottish baronial-style plantation houses. The castle also has a reputation for being haunted by ghosts.

The most active of which is the former resident, Lady Isobel Shaw the wife of Lord James Shaw, who has a habit of knocking on the doors of the rooms and disappearing. Legend has it Lord Shaw wanted a son to be his heir, and this was his chief desire for Lady Shaw. When she delivered him an heir he snatched her away and locked her up in a room at the top of the castle. From there it is said she fell to her death whilst trying to escape. Another theory has it that Lord Shaw himself threw her to her death or he paid someone to do it. Whichever the case the ghost of Lady Isobella is said to be friendly and is regularly seen wandering around the old castle, perhaps in search of her beloved son. Madame Nixon is another ghost who lived in the hotel in the 19th century and can be heard walking around the hotel in her silk dress. The hotel is proud of its resident ghosts. It dedicates the small room in the corner turret of the older part of the castle, known as 'The Ghost Room', to the spirits and do not rent it out to guests.




Today the small village of Ballygalley may often be overlooked as a destination. But anyone setting down on its 300-metre-long sandy beach will see it has plenty to offer. To the north, up towards the Antrim coast, is the dramatic wall of Antrim with its headlands. To the east, the open sea expands, and beyond it, the low outline of the Scottish coast can be visible. To the south is the distinctive Ballygalley Head with its roadside crag, a village landmark and a favourite with climbers. Inland to the west is the village’s landmark features such as Scawt Hill and Sallagh Braes. And of course, immediately ashore is its castle, standing proudly in all of its 17-century Planter sobriety it looks more like a centrepiece of Scotland than Ireland.



There is a lot to take in and the village offers its visitors a range of activities. It has a host of wonderful walks, and golfers will find the welcoming 18 Hole Cairndhu Golf Club, on top of Ballygalley Head to the south of the village, more than attractive. Divers will find the wreck of an 1889 gunboat, SS Thrush, a big attraction. Though the Ballygally Castle building is more impressive from the outside than in, a potential drink with Lady Isobella in the Ballygally Castle Hotel dungeon bar has to be tempting.




From a boating point of view, Ballygalley Bay is the first anchorage and settlement to the north of Larne. It provides a place to step out of the run of the current along this coastline, with good protection and holding to the prevailing winds. This is a considerable advantage in this area making it a good place to have a lunch stop, await a favourable tide or even have an overnight stay in good conditions.

What facilities are available?

Ballygalley now has a new two-storey community centre (funded by the Big Lottery, Larne Borough Council and NER) which includes a Spar shop with some Post Office facilities at ground level and a Community Hall on the first floor.

Any security concerns?

Never a problem known to have occurred to a vessel anchored in Ballygalley Bay.

With thanks to:

Terry Crawford, local boatman of many decades. Photography with thanks to Kenneth Allen, Mat Tuck, Michael Clarke, Albert Bridge, Richard Webb, Sandra White, Sue Adair, Dave Napier and Phil Sangwell.