IO [Proc. B. N. F. C, 



Ballygally Castle, close by, both get in local tradition the name 

 of '' O'Halloran's Castle ;"' but this ruin on the rock has un- 

 questionably the true claim to have been the stronghold of that 

 outlawed chief. Ballygally Castle, built by the Shaws in the 

 Scottish baronial style in 1625, and a few years ago so pictur- 

 esque, has now, by the effects of rough cast, tarred felt, and 

 whitewash, lost most of its beauty, and except for a bit of carved 

 stone on door and gable here and there, is hardly now worth 

 the brush of the artist or the photographers camera. Leaving the 

 sea, the party here began to ascend the road towards the gaps be- 

 tween the hills, passing on their way the curious little old " Ma- 

 sonic Hall " of Cairncastle, which bears date 1813. Close adjoining 

 is the old Unitarian Meeting-house, reported to be about the 

 oldest Presbyterian church in Antrim ; the sundial on the front 

 is said to have had the original date of 1667, and also the date 

 of restoration, 1779. At the summit of the "new cut," between 

 the hills, a halt was made, and the site of some old dwellings 

 was examined. There are three earthworks close together, 

 consisting of rampart and ditch, being, in fact, true earthen 

 forts in miniature. The cairn of stones, known as the "headless 

 cross," was not visited, but a run was made over the heather 

 for the " priests' grave. ' This is a small, square boulder, on 

 on which are are cut two incised crosses of an apparently ancient 

 type, but the stronger presumption is that this is a " mass stone," 

 one of the rude altars consecrated by the Catholic clergy for use 

 during the time of the proscription. The scene of worship 

 upon the wild hillside, with the curlew and the lapwing wheeling 

 overhead, and the sentinels posted round to give warning of 

 hostile intrusion, reminds one of many scenes in the history 

 of the Covenanters, and affords another to the many previous 

 instances that opposites often meet. A few yards off are the 

 remains of a " giant's grave." After descending the inland slope 

 of the hills as far as the old Park Mill and Bridge, the bulk of 

 of the party left the conveyances, and carried out the programme 

 by following on foot the lovely glens down which flow the 

 Glenarm and Linford Waters, access to which, through the 

 kindness of Sir E. Harland, the present lessee of Glenarm 



