Ballymena Town Hall

The first municipal building in the town was a market hall in Bridge Street which was completed in 1684. It featured a steeple which was 60 feet high, and was later referred to by the local member of parliament, Sir Robert Adair, as one of the "Seven Towers" of Ballymena. On 7 June 1798, during the 1798 rebellion, a force of about 10,000 United Irishmen led by James Dickie, stormed and burned the market hall, killing three of its defenders and forcing the surrender of the local yeomanry forces commanded by Robert Davison. It was designed by Jones and Kelly in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone by John Carson at a cost of £26,400 and was officially opened by the Duke of Abercorn…