Ballymena (/ˌbæliˈmiːnə/ BAL-ee-MEE-nə;[1] from Irish: an Baile Meánach [ənˠ ˌbˠalʲə ˈmʲaːn̪ˠəx]ⓘ, meaning 'the middle townland')[2] is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

The town was built on the Braid River, on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I in 1626, with a right to hold two annual fairs and a Saturday market in perpetuity.

The recorded history of the Ballymena area dates to the Early Christian period, from the fifth to the seventh centuries.

Two miles (3.2 kilometres) north in the townland of Kirkinriola, the medieval parish church and graveyard show signs of Early Christian settlement, including a souterrain.

Also in 1868, a gravedigger found a large stone slab on which was carved a cross with the inscription ord do degen.

This stone is now in the porch of St Patrick's Church of Ireland, at the end of Castle Street.

At the end of the fifth century, a church was founded in Connor, five miles (8.0 kilometres) south of Ballymena.

On 10 May 1607, during the Plantation of Ulster, King James I of England granted the native Irish chief, Ruairí Óg MacQuillan, the Ballymena Estate.

The original castle of Ballymena was built in the early 17th century, situated to take advantage of an ancient ford on the River Braid.

Sir Robert Adair raised a Regiment of Foot for King William III and fought at the Battle of the Boyne.

In 1865 Robert Alexander Shafto Adair (late Baron Waveney) started building Ballymena Castle, a magnificent family residence, in the Demesne.

[4] Under the provisions of the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903, the Adairs disposed of most of their Ballymena estate to the occupying tenants in 1904.

[8] In the 1950s St Patrick's Barracks in Ballymena was the Regimental Training Depot of the Royal Ulster Rifles (83rd & 86th).

Like other towns in Northern Ireland, Ballymena was affected by the Troubles, a lengthy period of religious and partisan tensions and armed confrontations from the 1960s until 1998.

In March 2000, the actor Liam Neeson, a native of Ballymena, was offered the freedom of the borough by the council, which approved the action by a 12–9 vote.

In the early 1990s the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)-dominated town council banned a performance by the ELO Part II in the township, saying they would attract "the four Ds Drink, Drugs, Devil and Debauchery".

[13] The Council banned the screening of Brokeback Mountain (2005), starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, as it featured a homosexual relationship.

[15] In 2011 it was revealed that Ballymena has the third-highest level of legal gun ownership in Northern Ireland.

[16] Ballymena competed for city status as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours.

[19] In November 2015, Michelin decided to close their Ballymena factory after 50 years, resulting in the loss of up to 850 jobs.

Association football clubs in the area include Ballymena United F.C., Coaching For Christ, Southside Rangers F.C.