d to swans by their step-mother until St
Columba released them from enchantment. (See P. W. Joyce, _Old Celtic
Romances_.) With this well-known romance is connected the wide-spread
belief in Ireland of ill-fortune following the killing of a swan.
Coal-seams, formerly extensively worked, and from an unknown [v.03 p.0282]
period of antiquity, appear in the cliffs towards Fair Head, and the
fisheries are important. The coast-scenery and the view from the hill of
Knocklayd are notable.

BALLYMENA, a town of Co. Antrim, Ireland, in the mid parliamentary
division, on the Braid, an affluent of the Maine, 2 m. above their
junction. Pop. of urban district (1901) 10,886. It is 33 m. N.N.W. of
Belfast on the Northern Counties (Midland) railway. Branch lines run to
Larne and to Parkmore on the east coast. The town owes its prosperity
chiefly to its linen trade, introduced in 1733, which gives employment to
the greater part of the inhabitants. Brown linen is a specialty. Iron ore
is raised in the neighbourhood. Antiquities in the neighbourhood are few
and the present buildings of Ballymena Castle and Galgorm Castle are
modern. Gracehill, however, a Moravian settlement, was founded in 1746.

BALLYMONEY, a market town of Co. Antrim, Ireland, in the north
parliamentary division, 53 m. N.N.W. from Belfast by the Northern Counties
(Midland) railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 2952. The Ballycastle
railway joins the main line here. The trade of the town is prosperous,
brewing, distilling and tanning being carried on, besides the linen
manufacture common to the whole county. Soap, candles and tobacco are also
manufactured, and the town is a centre for local agricultural trade. Near
the neighbouring village of Dervock (4-1/2 m. N.) is a cottage shown by an
inscription to have been the home of the ancestors of William McKinley,
president of the United States.

BALLYMOTE, a market town of Co. Sligo, Ireland, in the south parliamentary
division, 14 m. S. of Sligo by the Midland Great Western railway. Pop.
(1901) 997. It is a centre for some agricultural trade and has
carriage-building works. There are remains of a strong castle, built by the
powerful earl of Ulster, Richard de Burgh, in 1300, and the scene of
hostilities in 1641 and 1652. Ruins are also seen of a Franciscan
foundation attributed to the 13th century; it was a celebrated seat of
learning and an extant memorial of the work of its monks is the _Book of
Ballymote_ (_c._ 1391)