The town, which contains a prominent disused railway viaduct, lies beside Lough Neagh and the Shane's Castle estate.

This refers to a medieval motte-and-bailey castle built by the Irish on the west bank of the river Main just south of the town.

[5] It was renamed to mark the marriage of Randal MacDonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim to Rose O'Neill of Shane's Castle.

[5] The 1798 United Irishmen rebellion began in Antrim following a meeting to prepare for revolt by the Ulster Directory on 1 February 1798, at McClean's Inn, Randalstown.

On 1 October 1989, a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) car bomb exploded outside the town's police station on New Street causing serious damage to nearby property.

[citation needed] On 8 January 2010, PSNI Constable Peadar Heffron was seriously injured as a bomb exploded under his car on the Milltown Road near Randalstown.