Broughshane: Slemish, Walks and Local History

Broughshane combines the landscape around Slemish Mountain with walking trails, a cycle route and local history. For planning your trip, it is worth considering these different highlights: as well as a circular route to the summit, there are trails with a set start and end point. Churches, mills and a museum tell different stories about the village.

Slemish Mountain and the Pilgrimage Event

Slemish Mountain lies just outside Broughshane. The mountain rises about 437 metres above the surrounding fields and forms the central core of an extinct volcano. A circular route leads to the summit and back. It is 1.5 kilometres long and takes approximately one hour in good weather. Weather and ground conditions affect safe access; check them before setting out.

The mountain is also associated with St Patrick. On St Patrick’s Day, 17 March, large crowds make the pilgrimage hike up Slemish; a festival is held in Broughshane to mark the occasion. If you are planning to visit then, check the exact festival dates and programme. This lets you combine the summit hike with the pilgrimage event in the village, rather than treating the date as an ordinary hiking day.

Walking Trails and Cycle Route

The Buttermilk Bridge Walk is a 1.5-mile circular route that starts and ends at the car park at Houston’s Mill in Broughshane. The Slemish circular route focuses on the summit and an approximate walking time in good weather; for the Buttermilk Bridge Walk, the key points are its circular route and the same start and end point at the car park. Check the route locally before setting out.

Behind Main Street are Little Acorn Wood and the Riverside Walk. The path from Little Acorn runs alongside the River Braid. For a cycle ride, the ecos Cycle Trail offers a different kind of route: it passes through the villages of Broughshane and Buckna and via Glenarm, one of the nine Glens of Antrim, towards the Irish Sea. The route is mostly on roads and includes faster road sections that may not suit everyone. Check whether these route conditions fit your plans.

Church, Mill and Museum

The building history of St Patrick’s Church can be traced through several stages. Charles O’Neill of Shane’s Castle built the church in 1765; it was extended in 1829. A chancel, transept and vestry were added in 1859. The chancel forms part of the altar area, the transept is a side arm of the church, and the vestry is an ancillary room used for church preparations. The building’s features therefore tell a story not just of a date, but also of the church’s expansion.

The Thatch in Broughshane is one of the few surviving two-storey thatched buildings in Northern Ireland. Raceview Mill dates from 1806. Since 2011, the Broughshane Community Museum has been located on the top floor of Broughshane House. Its thousands of locally connected objects cover subjects such as medicine, the military, agriculture and education. The collection thus offers several ways to explore local history, while the church, thatched building and mill each provide different historical points of interest.

Water, Woodland and Wildlife

At Broughshane Waterfowl Park, you can walk through the woodland and along the river. The park is said to be one of only two places in the world where all seven swan species can occur. However, you are not necessarily likely to see all seven species during a visit.

The creation of this habitat is also part of the park’s story: volunteer work transformed a silted-up pond with a large marsh area into a habitat for ornamental waterfowl. Little Acorn Wood was also created. Together with its walking opportunities, this place shows a different side of Broughshane from the summit hike up Slemish: here, the focus is on woodland, the river and the development of a wetland.

Discover more destinations: Gracehill, Ballymena.

Back to the main travel overview: Ballymena.