71 Castle St, Ballycastle BT54 6AS
[Photo: The House of McDonnell, Ballycastle.]
[Photo: One of the most famous little pubs on the Causeway Coast — inside the House of McDonnell.]
One of the most famous little pubs on the Causeway Coast is the House of McDonnell in Ballycastle. It was built in 1744 and leased to the McDonnell family by the Stewart More Estate, but after the Catholic emancipation Act, the owners purchased the pub and ran it as a spirits grocer’s. In face, you can still see to this day the marks on the counter where bacon, cheese and meat were cut with cleavers and knives.
After partition in 1921, the business lost its grocery end and since then has operated solely as a public house. The bar is still semi-partitioned, again dating back to when it was both a grocer’s and pub, and the huge, sprawling original deeds with their elaborately handwritten contents from the mid 18th century, are still in the hands of the current owners, the O’Neills, who took over ownership in 1969, having inherited it from Mary McDonnell, their aunt. When you see these deeds opened up and spread out on the bar counter, you appreciate that the bar area itself is better known for quality than quantity.
The ornate bar mirrors are worthy of note, being valuable originals which advertise Old Bushmills Whiskey and, as a pair, Wilson’s Irish Whiskey of Belfast. Other features well worth a mention would have to include the following: the pleasant beer garden which overlooks Knocklayde, the second highest mountain in Antrim, the renowed Visitor’s Book with signatures of all nationalities including those of the American Consul, the Italian Consul, and the grand niece of Liberace!