BALLYCARRY and GLYNN covers 137.2 km² in Northern Ireland. With 59 historic sites and 10 scheduled monuments on record, the ward sits at the 83rd percentile across all 462 NI wards for combined archaeological heritage. It also records 80 listed buildings (HED Historic Buildings Record), the 89th percentile for listed-building density across NI wards. Per 1,000 residents, this works out at 39.9 recorded sites — the 85th percentile across NI wards (a measure of heritage density relative to current population). Dated archaeological evidence runs from the Mesolithic through to the Modern period, spanning 7 archaeological periods, placing the ward in the 79th percentile NI-wide for chronological depth.
Heritage at a glance
Percentile rankings throughout this profile compare each ward only against the other 461 Northern Ireland wards.
Population context
The recorded heritage of BALLYCARRY and GLYNN
Of the 59 historic sites recorded, the most common are Souterrain (O.S. Memoir Site; Unlocated) (2, 3% of historic sites), Tree Plantation (2), and Fish Trap (2). For Souterrain (O.S. Memoir Site; Unlocated)s, this is the 0th percentile across NI wards that record this type. For Tree Plantations, this is the 20th percentile across NI wards that record this type. Across the ward's 137.2 km², this gives a recorded density of 1.09 sites per km² (all heritage types combined). Scheduled monuments are distributed across approximately 0.06° of latitude and 0.13° of longitude within the ward, indicating dispersed rather than clustered placement.
Most common monument types
| Type | Count | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Souterrain (o.s. Memoir Site; Unlocated) | 2 | — |
| Tree Plantation | 2 | — |
| Fish Trap | 2 | — |
Chronological distribution
Note: 24% of historic site records carry an ‘Unknown’ period attribution. The chronological breakdown above reflects only the dated subset.
Terrain and environment
With a mean elevation of 94m, this ward sits above the NI median (70th percentile), with a maximum of 220m giving the ward meaningful vertical relief. Mean slope is 5.4° (79th percentile across NI), giving moderately undulating terrain; localised maximum slopes reach 16°, typical of stream-cut valleys, escarpments, or bluffs within the wider landscape. The Topographic Wetness Index of 10.3 (41th NI percentile) indicates moderate drainage, balanced between upland shedding and lowland accumulation. The land-cover mosaic combines improved grassland (73%), open water (12%), and woodland (12%), giving a mixed agricultural and semi-natural landscape. In overall character, this is steeply-sloping terrain at modest elevation, with land use dominated by improved grassland.
Terrain measurements
Where this ward sits in NI
Geology and preservation
The dominant bedrock formed during the Cainozoic era (Palaeogene period). Relatively young rock formed in the last 66 million years. In Ulster, Cainozoic basalt — the lava that created the Antrim Plateau and Giant's Causeway — dominates much of the eastern landscape. Peat covers 3% of the ward — a minor share, but where it occurs it can preserve organic finds in good condition. Bedrock composition is varied (complexity index 0.80, on a 0-1 Simpson-style scale), with multiple geological units within the ward boundary. Geologically diverse wards historically offered a wider range of stone types for building, toolmaking, and quarrying — a relevant factor when interpreting the material culture of nearby sites.
Placename evidence
The combined OSNI, Logainm NI, and GeoNames sources record 44 placenames for this ward. Diagnostic heritage strata identified within these are: 1 ecclesiastical (cill-, teampall-, mainistir-, díseart-) and 1 Norse coastal (fjord-derived names, Viking-age trading sites). Note: Irish-language (name_ga) forms are recorded for roughly half of NI placenames in the combined sources, so anglicised forms whose Irish original could belong to multiple categories may be misclassified.
Placename categories
Scheduled monuments in BALLYCARRY and GLYNN
Scheduled monuments are sites legally protected under the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, designated by the Historic Environment Division (HED).
| Monument | Type | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Mound: possible motte | Mound: Possible Motte | Medieval |
| Raised rath: Gabbin's Fort | Raised Rath: Gabbin'S Fort | Early Medieval |
| Motte: Dunisland fort | Motte: Dunisland Fort | Medieval |
| Templecoran Church | Templecoran Church | Unknown |
| Bivallate Rath | Bivallate Rath | Iron Age |
| Enclosure with structure | Enclosure With Structure | Iron Age |
| Moated site and rectangular structure | Moated Site And Rectangular Structure | Medieval |
| Motte | Motte | Medieval |
Recorded historic sites
| Name | Period | Type |
|---|---|---|
| A.P. SITE – cropmark | Unknown | Unknown |
| A.P. SITE – enclosure? | Iron Age | Unknown |
| A.P. SITE – oval cropmark | Unknown | Unknown |
| BATTLE SITE | Medieval | Unknown |
| BIVALLATE RATH | Early Medieval | Defence |
| BIVALLATE RATH (O.S. memoir site, unlocated) | Early Medieval | Defence |
| BURIALS: SWAN ISLAND | Modern | Ritual/Funerary |
| Ballycarry Historic Settlement | Post-Medieval | Domestic |
| Bronze Age House | Middle-Late Bronze Age | Domestic |
| CAVE | Unknown | Unknown |
Listed buildings in BALLYCARRY and GLYNN
| Address / Name | Grade | Period |
|---|---|---|
| St John’s Church of Ireland Church Ballycarry Larne Co. Antrim | B1 | 1840 – 1859 |
| Orr Memorial Old Graveyard Ballycarry Larne Co Antrim | B2 | 1820 – 1839 |
| Templecorran House 47 Manse Road Ballycarry Larne Co Antrim BT38 9HP | B1 | 1820 – 1839 |
| Tower behind 14 Lower Woodlands Ballycarry Larne Co Antrim BT38 9JB | Record Only | 1860 – 1879 |
| Lodge and gatescreen 86 Larne Road Red Hall Ballycarry Larne Co Antrim | B2 | 1860 – 1879 |
| The Brewhouse and walling Red Hall Ballycarry Larne Co Antrim BT38 9JL | A | 1820 – 1839 |
| Red Hall Larne Co Antrim BT38 9JL | A | 1600 – 1649 |
| Farm buildings at Red Hall Ballycarry Larne Co Antrim | B1 | 1800 – 1819 |
| Mill at Red Hall Ballycarry Larne Co Antrim | B2 | 1820 – 1839 |
| Garden piers at Red Hall Ballycarry Larne Co Antrim | B2 | 1800 – 1819 |
Discover more in Mid and East Antrim
Want a deeper view?
Grounding History: 10 Maps of Northern Ireland’s Past
A spatial history report bringing together analysis of all 462 wards into one place through 10 high-quality maps — covering monument density, archaeological periods, placename heritage, terrain, wetland, and the historic landscape at first survey.
About this profile
What is a ward?
A ward is the smallest electoral and statistical geography used by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). The boundaries used here are the 2014 NISRA / OSNI Wards (462 across Northern Ireland), each typically covering 1-700 km² and a population of a few thousand. Wards do not align with parishes, townlands, or any historic administrative unit — they are a modern statistical convenience, used here only as a fixed spatial frame within which to summarise heritage records.
What counts as a site?
Three distinct heritage record types are reported separately, not combined: (1) Historic Sites — entries in the Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record (NISMR), the inventory of recorded archaeological sites and findspots, dated from prehistoric to early-modern; (2) Scheduled Monuments — sites legally protected under the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (NI) Order 1995 and maintained by the Historic Environment Division (HED); (3) Listed Buildings — buildings of architectural or historic interest protected under the Planning Act (NI) 2011 and graded A, B+, B1, B2, or Record-Only by HED. A site appearing in more than one register is counted in each register independently.
Editorial principles
These ward profiles describe evidence, not history. They report what is recorded, not what occurred. Where the data is ambiguous, we say so. We do not infer historical processes — population movements, settlement expansion, periods of decline — from patterns in the record. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence: in Northern Ireland, where antiquarian survey was uneven and modern excavation is geographically biased, a gap in the record almost always reflects the limits of recording rather than a genuine historical absence. We mark such gaps explicitly where they appear in the data.
Limits of coverage and known caveats
Several caveats apply to every ward profile: (1) NISMR coverage is uneven across NI — some areas (notably parts of the south-east and the Belfast urban fringe) have been more intensively surveyed than others, so a low recorded site count does not reliably indicate a low past density of activity; (2) period attributions in NISMR are often 'Unknown', and chronological breakdowns reported here reflect only the dated subset; (3) placename classification depends on the Irish-language form (name_ga), which is recorded for approximately 50% of NI placenames in the combined sources, so ecclesiastical and pre-Christian counts may be understated where anglicised forms remain unparsed; (4) terrain percentile ranks compare each ward only to the other 461 NI wards; they are not absolute thresholds. For absence-dominant land cover categories (wetland, water, cropland), percentile ranks are suppressed below 1% raw value, since the ranking of zero-value wards is not meaningful.
Data sources (11)
- Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record (NISMR) https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/articles/nismr-public-mapviewer
- HED Scheduled Monuments Dataset https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/@historic-environment-division/scheduled-monuments-northern-ireland
- HED Historic Buildings Record https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/topics/historic-environment/listed-buildings
- OSNI OS Open Names (Northern Ireland) https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/@ordnance-survey-of-northern-ireland/osni-open-data—50k-gazetteer
- Logainm — Placenames Database of Ireland https://www.logainm.ie/
- GeoNames https://www.geonames.org/
- Census 2021 (Northern Ireland) https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/2021-census
- OSNI Open Data — Largescale Boundaries https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/@ordnance-survey-of-northern-ireland/osni-open-data-largescale-boundaries-wards-2012
- Copernicus GLO-30 DEM https://spacedata.copernicus.eu/collections/copernicus-digital-elevation-model
- ESA WorldCover https://esa-worldcover.org/
- GSNI 1:250,000 Geology https://www.bgs.ac.uk/geological-data/maps/