Ballygally lies a few miles from Larne on the coast road to Glenarm, located in the Parish of Cairncastle (Cairn of the Castle) which derives its name from the old castle on the rock island near Ballygally Head.

The castle is sometimes referred to as O’Halloran’s Castle and is said to have been the home of a poet named Agnew at some time in its past.  The stone ruins were originally built by the Anglo Norman Duncan Fitzgilbert who was given lands here in the early 13^th century.

The small village is home to Ballygally Castle, a classic example of a Scottish baronial house. Built in 625 by James Shaw who arrived here from Greenock in 1606 during the Plantation of Ulster. In 1621 a grant was made to him by the Earl of Antrim of land which  included 120 acres at Carnfunnock and 80 acres at Corkermain and Ballyruther. Today the land at Carnfunnock is part of the well used Carnfunnock Country Park.

This castle was a fortified residence and would have originally had four walls around it much like the remains we see of the bawns, the musket loop holes indicate the seriousness of the times. It was used as refuge on several occassions, during the 1640s rebellion it withstood several attempts to take it by an Irish garrison from Glenarm.

The castle remained in the Shaw family into the 1800s, then passed through a couple of families until it was acquired in the 1950s by Cyril Lord, he was an entrepreneur who was widely know for carpet manufacturing. He refurbished the castle and opened it up as a hotel, then in 1966 it was bought by the Hastings group who developed the hotel to what we see today.

The castle is said to be home to several ghosts, one of these being Lady Isabella Shaw who is said to frequent  the old part of the castle, having fallen  to her death in mysterious circumstances from a tower window. There is a special turret room kept in her honour and aptly named ‘The Ghost Room’.

The area around Ballygally has been occupied since man first crossed from Scotland, this is evident in the finds of flint workings during archeological excavations in 1957 and 1989.  Like most other early settlements along the coast,  the location  provides a ready source of fish from the sea and fresh water plus materials needed for the early manufacturing of arrows and spears.