Ballyclare

A market town on the Six Mile Water that likely began as a river crossing, guarded by a small Norman motte now in the War Memorial Park. The families of Mark Twain and Sam Houston are said to have left from here for America. It became the largest paper producer in Ireland in the early 20th century, and its May Fair, from a grant of George II, once drew cavalry buyers from all over Europe.

The earliest sign of people here is a hoard of 39 flint arrowheads found north of the river in 1968, some finished and some blanks, pointing to a flint industry at the crossing over four thousand years ago. The Normans set a line of mottes along the river, then called the Ollar, and soldiers riding from Carrickfergus to Antrim came to call it the Six Mile Water. Scots planters settled the village after the Plantation, and in 1756 George II granted it two yearly fairs. Jonathan Swift preached here, and the families of Mark Twain, Sam Houston and General Alexander Macomb left from the town for America. Local people fought at the Battle of Antrim in 1798.

The railway brought growth in the 19th century, with a large paper mill and a linen bleach green, and early in the 20th century Ballyclare had an urban district council and was the largest paper producer in Ireland. The 1947 Ulster Trophy motor race, part of the first full Formula One season, was held here. Of the two fairs only the May Fair survives; it began as a horse fair and its heyday ended with the First World War.

Drawn from the History section of the Wikipedia article on Ballyclare ↗, rewritten here and adding nothing it does not say; licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

• Castle Upton · castle · 8 km
• Belfast Castle · castle · 13 km
• Carrickfergus Castle · castle · 14 km

Straight-line distances from the town centre, from each site's documented coordinates.