County in Northern Ireland
County Antrim
County Antrim has 40,000 stone columns said to be a giant's road to Scotland, and also the birthplace of the Titanic and one of the world's oldest licensed whiskey distilleries.
Key information
- County
- Antrim
- Nation
- Northern Ireland
- Known for
- Giant's Causeway, Glens of Antrim, Bushmills whiskey, Titanic, Carrick-a-Rede
- What locals are called
- Antrim people (or Antrim folk)
- Famous people
- Liam Neeson, Van Morrison, George Best, C.S. Lewis
- Football clubs
- Linfield, Glentoran, Cliftonville, Crusaders, Larne, Ballymena United, Carrick Rangers
About County Antrim
The giant's road that lava built
The Giant's Causeway is made of around 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, many of them neatly six-sided. They formed some 60 million years ago, when molten lava cooled and cracked as it set. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. The legend is better than the geology. Irish giant Finn McCool supposedly built the causeway so he could stride across the sea and fight his Scottish rival Benandonner. Matching columns appear on the Scottish island of Staffa, in Fingal's Cave, which keeps the story neatly tied together. The columns have names too: the Organ, the Giant's Boot and the Wishing Chair, a seat-shaped formation that visitors have long perched on.
Nine glens, one rope bridge and a lot of dramatic scenery
Antrim's north-east corner is carved into the Glens of Antrim, a run of green valleys that tumble down to the sea around villages like Cushendall, Carnlough and Glenarm. They are a big reason locals sometimes simply call the area "the Glens". Further along the Causeway Coast, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge sways about 30 metres above the water, linking the mainland to a tiny island once used by salmon fishermen. Offshore sits Rathlin Island, home to a famous seabird colony and puffins in summer. Legend says Robert the Bruce watched a determined spider there and took heart. Then there's Dunluce Castle, perched on a clifftop edge so precarious that stories of its kitchens collapsing into the sea have become part of its charm.
Whiskey, dulse and yellowman
A licence to distil in the area was granted to Sir Thomas Phillips in 1608, and Bushmills Distillery itself was established in 1784. It markets itself as the world's oldest licensed whiskey distillery. Whiskey has been a Causeway Coast habit for a very long time. For something more unusual, head to the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle, held in late August and among Ireland's oldest traditional fairs. Two classic treats are sold there: dulse, a chewy, salty dried seaweed, and yellowman, a sticky honeycomb toffee that you break into pieces with a tap. And of course, the county's cafés and kitchens are fuelled by the Ulster fry, with soda farls and potato bread on the plate.
Ships, castles and a wireless first
Carrickfergus Castle has dominated its harbour since the Normans, begun by John de Courcy around 1177. William of Orange came ashore in the town in 1690 on his way to the Battle of the Boyne. In 1898 engineers working for Marconi set up a wireless link between Ballycastle and Rathlin Island for Lloyd's, in one of the earliest commercial radio trials, helping to show that the new technology could work across water. Belfast's shipyards gave the world the Titanic, launched in 1911 at Harland & Wolff. The ship's story is now told at Titanic Belfast, which stands beside the slipways where Titanic and her sister ship Olympic were built, on the former shipyard site.
St Patrick, Narnia and a lot of talent
Slemish, a rugged volcanic plug near Ballymena, is traditionally where the teenage St Patrick worked as a slave, minding sheep. Pilgrims still climb it on St Patrick's Day. The county's people have made a big mark. Actor Liam Neeson comes from Ballymena. Singer Van Morrison, whose album Astral Weeks became a classic, grew up in Belfast, as did football genius George Best and writer C.S. Lewis, creator of Narnia. On the pitch, Antrim is a hotbed of Irish League football, with Linfield, Glentoran, Cliftonville and Crusaders among its big names.
A county on screen
If a landscape looks like something out of a fantasy epic, that's because Antrim has played that role. The Dark Hedges, an avenue of twisted beech trees near Ballymoney, and Ballintoy Harbour both featured in Game of Thrones, and the Causeway Coast has been a favourite with film-makers ever since. The Lough Neagh shore on Antrim's western edge adds another record: it's the largest lake in the British Isles, famous for its eels.