About
Ballymena Museum, housed within The Braid Arts Centre on Bridge Street in the heart of Ballymena, is the principal repository for the history and heritage of Mid-Antrim and the surrounding area. The museum presents a rich and detailed account of life in this part of Ulster across the centuries, from prehistoric settlement through the medieval period to the industrial and agricultural revolutions that shaped the landscape and communities of North Antrim. The Braid complex, opened in 2009, combines the museum with a theatre, gallery spaces, and community facilities, creating a vibrant cultural centre at the heart of County Antrim's largest inland town.
The museum's collections explore the distinctive character of Mid-Antrim, a region shaped by the Ulster-Scots tradition, the linen industry, and the agricultural rhythms of the Antrim countryside. Permanent and temporary exhibitions tell stories ranging from the Iron Age hillforts that dot the surrounding hills to the Victorian era when Ballymena established itself as a significant market and industrial centre. The collection includes archaeological finds from local excavations, agricultural implements that document the working lives of farming families, tools and equipment from the linen and textile trades, and an extensive archive of photographs recording the people and places of Mid-Antrim across the past two centuries.
The Ulster-Scots heritage of the region receives particular attention, with displays exploring how the descendants of Scottish settlers who arrived in Ulster from the seventeenth century onwards created a distinctive culture that blended Scottish Presbyterian traditions with Irish ways of life. This cultural heritage has particular relevance given that many Ulster-Scots families emigrated to North America, and some of these emigrants played significant roles in American history — including ancestors of several US presidents with Ulster connections.
Ballymena's industrial and commercial history is another major theme, with the museum exploring how the town grew from a small market settlement into a significant centre of trade and industry. The linen industry that dominated the regional economy through the nineteenth century transformed both the landscape and the social structure of Mid-Antrim, and the museum documents this industrial heritage through objects, photographs, and oral histories. Temporary exhibitions draw on the permanent collections and touring shows to offer fresh perspectives on local, national, and international history throughout the year.
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Plan Your Visit
💡 Visitor Tips
- Combine a museum visit with a look at the gallery exhibitions on upper floors
- Slemish Mountain — where St Patrick tended sheep as a slave — is a 7-mile drive and well worth the trip
- The Braid Café is excellent for lunch before or after your museum visit
- Ask at reception about the current temporary exhibition programme
Highlights
Ulster-Scots Heritage
The museum explores the deep roots of Ulster-Scots culture in Mid-Antrim, tracing the story of Scottish settlers who arrived in Ulster from the seventeenth century and created a distinctive cultural tradition that blended Presbyterian faith with Ulster ways of life.
This heritage shaped the character of Ballymena and the surrounding area profoundly, influencing architecture, language, music, and farming practices. The displays explore how this Ulster-Scots community maintained strong connections with Scotland while developing its own unique identity, and how many descendants of these families later emigrated to North America, where they contributed significantly to the founding generation of the United States.
Linen and Textile Industry
Ballymena and Mid-Antrim were at the heart of Ulster's famous linen industry, and the museum documents this industrial heritage through an impressive collection of weaving tools, spinning wheels, loom components, and finished textiles. The transformation of linen production from a cottage industry conducted in farmhouses across the Antrim countryside to the mechanised mill operations of the Victorian era changed the social and economic fabric of the region fundamentally.
Photographs and oral history recordings bring to life the experiences of the weavers, spinners, and mill workers whose labour created the 'Ulster linen' that was prized across the world for its quality and durability.
Agricultural History of Mid-Antrim
The farming traditions of Mid-Antrim are documented through an extensive collection of agricultural implements, dairy equipment, and rural domestic objects that illustrate the rhythms of farm life across the seasons. The mixed farming landscape of the Antrim plateau, with its combination of cattle grazing, potato cultivation, and flax growing, created distinctive farming practices that are carefully documented in the museum's collections.
Seasonal farm records, estate papers, and photographic archives complement the physical objects to create a vivid picture of rural life from the eighteenth century through to the post-war mechanisation that transformed agriculture in the region.
Ballymena Town History
The museum traces the development of Ballymena from its origins as a small market settlement, granted its first market charter in 1626, to its emergence as the commercial capital of North Antrim by the Victorian era.
The town's reputation as a centre of trade and thrift earned it nicknames such as 'the town of the tight fist' and associations with careful Presbyterian commercial values. Archival photographs, trade directories, and civic records document the growth of the town's shops, businesses, and public institutions, while maps show how Ballymena expanded from its medieval core to encompass the surrounding townlands as the population grew through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Collections
Mid-Antrim: People and Place
Permanent exhibition exploring the history of Ballymena and the surrounding area from prehistoric times to the present day
The Ulster-Scots Story
Exhibition dedicated to the Ulster-Scots heritage of Mid-Antrim and its connections to Scotland and North America
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.