placenamesBallylumford
Baile an Longfoirt
Ballylumford combines a surviving megalithic tomb with a power station whose workforce played a significant role in Northern Ireland’s twentieth-century history.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Baile an Longfoirt · Irish · main form
- Ballylumford · English · main form
Place & story
The dolmen beside the road
Ballylumford Dolmen survives near the northern end of Islandmagee, in the garden of a house beside the road. Four upright stones support a heavy capstone, with another fallen stone inside the chamber. Its popular name, the Druid’s Altar, should not be mistaken for evidence of Druidic use. The council’s heritage account records differing interpretations of the tomb’s age and original form. [2]
Electricity generation since 1943
Electricity generation began at Ballylumford in 1943. The operator identifies further generations of plant dating from 1974 and 2003, recording repeated investment at the same coastal site opposite Larne. The succession of power stations makes Ballylumford an important part of Northern Ireland’s industrial history, with the landscape shaped by large-scale energy infrastructure over several decades. [3]
A workplace with political consequences
During the Ulster Workers’ Council strike in May 1974, labour was withdrawn from Ballylumford’s generators as part of the disruption of Northern Ireland’s electricity supply. The position differed during the United Unionist Action Council strike in 1977. Stuart Aveyard’s archival study records a workforce vote to continue operating and subsequent intimidation directed at workers. Keeping Ballylumford running helped defeat the later stoppage, showing how decisions at this workplace affected events far beyond Islandmagee. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Ballylumford. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Technical Supplement 13: Built Heritage, page 28, Ballylumford Dolmen · Mid and East Antrim Borough Council
- Ballylumford: our power stations · EP UK Investments
- We couldn’t do a Prague: British government responses to loyalist strikes in Northern Ireland, 1974–77 · Stuart Aveyard
- Ballylumford Power Station, 2017 reconstruction illustration: based on a Ballylumford Power Station by David Dixon. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-05-26. How this page was prepared.