About
Ballycastle Museum is housed in an eighteenth-century former courthouse at the gateway to the Glens of Antrim, one of the most celebrated natural landscapes in Northern Ireland. Serving the town and its hinterland, the museum weaves together a remarkable collection of stories that reach from medieval fair tradition to the birth of wireless communications — placing Ballycastle at the crossroads of Irish history in ways visitors rarely expect.
The museum's signature story is the Ould Lammas Fair — one of the oldest surviving fairs in Ireland, held annually on the last Monday and Tuesday of August on the Diamond and surrounding streets of Ballycastle since at least 1606. The Fair has been held continuously for over four centuries, attracting traders, farmers, performers, and families from across the region. Its famous song — 'Did ye treat your Mary Anne to dulse and yellowman?' — celebrates the two traditional fairground foods: dulse (dried edible seaweed harvested from the rocks) and yellowman (a hard honeycomb toffee peculiar to the fair). The museum documents the Fair's history through objects, photographs, oral history, and commercial ephemera that capture the colour and vitality of this remarkable living tradition.
In 1898, Ballycastle became the site of a pivotal moment in the history of communications. Guglielmo Marconi conducted his first successful over-water wireless telegraphy transmission between Ballycastle and Rathlin Island — a distance of around nine miles across open sea — in a test that proved the technology could work beyond line of sight and over water. This experiment preceded his famous transatlantic transmission by three years, making Ballycastle a pioneering site in the history of radio. The museum explores Marconi's time in the area and the significance of this transmission for the development of modern communications.
The museum also documents the now-forgotten coal-mining industry that operated along the north Antrim coast. Sea coal was mined from the carboniferous cliffs at Fair Head, the dramatic basalt and coal headland east of the town, for centuries — a small but strategically important industry that provided fuel for the surrounding area. The ferry connection to Rathlin Island — Northern Ireland's only inhabited offshore island — and the island's own history of habitation, maritime tradition, and wildlife are also explored.
The Glens of Antrim context permeates the collection, with the museum serving as an introduction to the nine glens and the distinctive culture of their communities.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Busiest: Saturday, Monday
💡 Mid-afternoon on a weekday for the quietest experience; avoid the Ould Lammas Fair week in late August if crowds are a concern
💡 Visitor Tips
- The museum is seasonal — typically open from June to September, Tuesday to Saturday. Check the council website for current opening hours before visiting as they vary year to year.
- The Ould Lammas Fair takes place on the last Monday and Tuesday of August — if visiting during Fair week, the town is extremely busy and parking very limited; come early or use public transport.
- Pick up dulse and yellowman from the museum shop — these are genuinely traditional Ballycastle foods and an authentic taste of the area.
- A plaque on the harbour front marks the site of Marconi's 1898 wireless transmission — worth a short walk from the museum to see the actual location of this historic experiment.
- The ferry to Rathlin Island departs from Ballycastle harbour (approximately 25-minute crossing) — the museum provides excellent context before making the trip to see the island's seabird colonies and Bruce's Cave.
- Fair Head — the dramatic basalt headland where the coal mines once operated — is accessible via a 20-minute walk from the town and offers spectacular views to Rathlin Island and the Scottish coast on a clear day.
- Ballycastle has good cafes and restaurants along the seafront and in the town centre — plan time for lunch or afternoon tea as part of your visit.
- The town is the northern terminus of the Causeway Coastal Route — the museum makes an excellent starting or finishing point for visitors driving this spectacular road.
Highlights
The Ould Lammas Fair — Ireland's Ancient Market
The Ould Lammas Fair has been held in Ballycastle every August since at least 1606 — over four centuries of unbroken tradition that makes it one of the oldest surviving fairs in Ireland. The museum's display on the Fair is richly illustrated with photographs, trade ephemera, and oral history recordings that capture the colour of this remarkable event: the horses and livestock, the fairground entertainers, the stalls selling dulse and yellowman, and the tens of thousands of visitors who descend on the town each year.
The famous song — 'At the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle-O' — plays through the gallery, connecting visitors to a centuries-old tradition of community and commerce.
Marconi's Wireless Experiment — 1898
In October 1898, Guglielmo Marconi and his assistant George Kemp stood on the pier at Ballycastle and transmitted a wireless signal to Rathlin Island, nine miles across open sea — the first successful over-water wireless telegraphy transmission in history. The experiment demonstrated that Marconi's technology could penetrate water vapour and curve with the earth's surface, proving the principle of long-distance radio communication three years before his famous transatlantic transmission.
The museum holds the story in detail: Marconi's equipment, contemporary newspaper reports, and the significance of this moment for the development of modern communications.
A plaque on the harbour front marks the transmission site.
Rathlin Island — Northern Ireland's Only Inhabited Island
Rathlin Island lies nine miles offshore from Ballycastle and has been inhabited for at least five thousand years. The museum documents the island's remarkable history: its Neolithic habitation; the Viking raids that began in 795 AD (the first recorded Viking attack in Ireland, on Rathlin's monastery); the Bruce's Cave where Robert the Bruce supposedly took inspiration from the famous spider; the 1575 massacre of the MacDonnell clan by English forces; and the island's distinctive maritime tradition and wildlife — home to one of the UK's most spectacular seabird colonies.
The ferry link from Ballycastle is the sole access point, and the museum serves as the mainland introduction to island life.
Fair Head and the Coal Mines
Fair Head — the dramatic basalt and coal headland east of Ballycastle — was the site of a small but long-running coal-mining industry that has largely been forgotten. The carboniferous coal seams visible in the cliffs were mined for centuries, providing fuel for the surrounding north Antrim area in an era before mainland coal could be economically transported.
The museum holds mining tools, pit records, and photographs documenting this industry, which operated from at least the seventeenth century until the twentieth, and explores the communities of mining families who lived along this spectacular stretch of coastline.
Collections
Ballycastle Museum holds collections spanning the social, industrial, and cultural history of north County Antrim with particular depth in the traditions of the Ould Lammas Fair, the history of Rathlin Island, and the story of Marconi's wireless experiments on the Ballycastle shore. The Lammas Fair collection is particularly rich, with photographs, trade ephemera, oral history, and material culture documenting over four centuries of fair tradition.
The Marconi collection presents the 1898 wireless telegraphy experiment in detailed historical context.
The Rathlin Island collection covers the island's history from Neolithic settlement through to the present day. Additional collections address the coal-mining industry at Fair Head, the culture and landscape of the Glens of Antrim, and the social history of Ballycastle as a port town and market centre.
The Ould Lammas Fair — Four Centuries of Tradition
Permanent gallery on Ireland's oldest surviving fair, held annually in Ballycastle since 1606, with oral history, photographs, trade ephemera, and material culture.
📍 Lammas Fair Gallery
Marconi at Ballycastle — Birth of Wireless
Permanent display on Guglielmo Marconi's 1898 over-water wireless telegraphy experiment between Ballycastle and Rathlin Island.
📍 Communications Gallery
Rathlin Island — Ireland's Western Isle
Permanent gallery on the history, culture, and wildlife of Northern Ireland's only inhabited offshore island.
📍 Rathlin Gallery
The Glens of Antrim — Landscape and People
Permanent display exploring the nine Glens of Antrim, their Gaelic cultural tradition, and the communities that have shaped this remarkable landscape.
📍 Glens Gallery
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.