Broughshane
| Broughshane | |
| County Antrim | |
|---|---|
 Main Street, Broughshane | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | D151066 |
| Location: | 54°53’37"N, 6°12’22"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 2,851 (2011) |
| Post town: | Ballymena |
| Postcode: | BT43 |
| Dialling code: | 028 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Mid & East Antrim |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North Antrim |
Broughshane, formerly spelt Brughshane, is a village in County Antrim, three and a half miles north-east of Ballymena and fourteen miles north of the county town, Antrim, on the A42 road. The 2011 Census recorded 2,851 people.
The quaint pub, The Thatch Inn, has a thatched roof and is a Grade B+ listed building. It was originally a planter’s house, from the Plantation of Ulster. The local Masonic Lodge would meet upstairs in The Thatch. Now a Masonic Hall built in 1904 is adjacent to the pub.
Name
The name of the place is Gaelic in origin, apparently meaning "Shane's Castle", after Shane mac Brian O’Neill, ruler of Lower Clandeboy from 1595 to 1617.[1] This interpretation suggests that the first element of the name is not the Gaelic bruach as it appears (which would mean 'bank' or 'brink', but is a corruption of brugh, an English-derived word which in Ulster Gaelic came to mean 'dwelling' or 'mansion'.[1]
The same branch of the O'Neills built Shane's Castle near Randalstown, though the name of the latter is Georgian innovation.
About the village
Broughshane is known as the 'Garden Village of Ulster' with the motto 'People, Plants and Pride growing Together'. The village has won Ulster in Bloom, Britain in Bloom and Entente Florale (Europe in Bloom). In 2007 and again in 2012 the village won 'Champion of Champions' award in the Britain in Bloom competition. It has also won the All Ireland Tidy Town Award.[2]
Volunteers have established in the area around the village pond, a wildlife area which has some of every species of swan and many rare types of geese etc.[3]
Sport
- Football:
- Braid United
- Raceview F.C.
- Both clubs play their home matches at the village's football pitch at Knockan Road.
- Golf: Ballymena Golf Club
- Rugby: Ballymena R.F.C., whose ground is on the road linking Ballymena to Broughshane.