Fireside Talks 2025 - The Ghosts of Collier's Hall with Kevin McGowan

The programme of Fireside Talks for 2025 focused on community heritage and the role that local historians play in helping us understand our areas. Colliers’ Hall is now a popular guesthouse situated on the outskirts of Ballycastle. Through this illustrated talk, Caoimhin/Kevin will try to prove that Colliers’ Hall is one of the oldest houses in the Ballycastle area. It was owned by the Boyd family who were intrinsically linked to the foundation of the Ballycastle we know today, its name associating it with the coalmines that are evident across the Culfeightrin shoreline. But it has a wider history. Through research and genealogy, Caoimhin will establish the links to some of the other “Big Houses” of North Antrim. By following the lineage of one family, the onetime inhabitants of Colliers’ Hall, our journey will leave the shores of North Antrim and take us to South America, England, the Channel Islands and throughout the Causeway Coast and Glens. This talk will uncover stories of plantation, landlordism, rebellion, entrepreneurial endeavour and, yes, like the title suggests – there is even a ghost. These Fireside Talks are part of a much wider project to restore, extend and refurbish Ballycastle Museum with the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund. For more information, please visit www.niarchive.org/BallycastleRestoration