Derived from the Irish "An Baile Meánach" – meaning Middle Town – Ballymena is literally the middle town in County Antrim, though it was nicknamed "the City of the Seven Towers" long after the earliest Christian settlers arrived there around 480 AD.

The region’s most notable geographical feature is the plateau-shaped Slemish Mountain in the remote Antrim Hills. The nearby Glenravel and Glenwherry have that timeless peace that is so closely associated with the Glens of Antrim.

The ruins of a later Christian settlement at the Abbey of St. Mary of the Desert (now called Templemoyle) can still be viewed today and they are a reminder of how it must have been a tough but rewarding life for the new dwellers, as their home nestled amongst some of the most beautiful countryside in Northern Ireland.

300 years after being attacked by the Vikings, Ireland faced John DeCourcy and his Anglo-Normans, whose hard-fought campaign won them several parts of Ulster. Anxious to keep his newly-won prize, DeCourcy ordered the building of "Mottes" - large mounds of earth topped by wooden towers for use as defensive structures. Ballymena holds two of the finest examples in Northern Ireland at Harryville and Bailey. However, others say that they were actually built by local Clan the O'Flynns or O'Lynns, who had seen what DeCourcy did and knew a good idea when they saw one.