Pre-history The
Dolmen of the Four Maols is located on 'Primrose Hill' behind
Ballina railway station. This
Bronze Age cist is sometimes dated to ca. 2,000 BCE and is locally known as the 'Table of the Giants'. Legend suggests that the
megalithic tomb is the burial place of the 'Four Maols' (from the Irish word
maol meaning "bald") — four brothers who murdered
Ceallach, a 7th-century bishop of Kilmoremoy. Hanged at
Ardnaree, the "hill of executions", tradition says that their bodies were buried under the dolmen. The structure is approximately 5 feet high with three upright stones supporting the capstone. Nearby is a fourth supporting stone.
Medieval period According to
Encyclopædia Britannica, the first signs of settlement on the site of the town date from around 1375, when an
Augustinian friary was founded. Belleek, now part of the town, predates the town's formation, and can be dated back to the 16th century. Ballina was founded as a
garrison town in 1723 by O'Hara,
Lord Tyrawley. The Belleek
demesne once stretched for over three kilometres along the left bank of the
Moy estuary, from the gate lodge on Castle Road as far as Knockatinnole Wood in the north. From here, the demesne extended westward to the Killala Road, where there was a secondary entrance at a place known as "The Black Woods". During the
Irish Rebellion of 1798, a small column of French soldiers advanced through the estate, as part of a reconnaissance group. This gave title to the avenue known as "The Old French Road". Most of the land of the
Barons Tyrawley was let on long leases or for lives 'renewable forever' to the Knox and Gore families. Belleek and some of the original demesne lands remained within the ownership of the
Knox-Gore family descendants until the early 1940s, when it was sold by Col. William Arthur Cecil Saunders-Knox-Gore D.S.O. (1888–1975) to Isaac Beckett and Co. Ltd., Ballina, who later sold the property to the
Mayo County Council in the 1950s. The Doran family acquired the
Belleek Manor, adapting it into a hotel. The Belleek Woods remain public, under the management of
Coillte and the Belleek Woods Enhancement Group, and its 200 acres of forest make it one of Europe's largest urban woodlands.
Ardnaree Ardnaree, also known as Shanaghy (), is a townland to the east of the town. Formerly a separate village, Ardnaree has been considered a suburb of Ballina since at least the 19th century. The
River Moy forms the traditional border between County Mayo and
County Sligo. However, the
Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 made the right (east) bank of the Moy, including Ardnaree and Crockets Town (the Quay), part of the
administrative county of Mayo. The
Battle of Ardnaree was fought there in 1586 and
Ardnaree Sarsfields GFC is based there.
18th and 19th centuries 1798 rebellion The Humbert Memorial Monument was unveiled in Ballina in 1898 by
Maud Gonne MacBride for the centennial commemoration of the 1798 landing of
French expeditionary forces at
Killala Bay led by revolutionary
General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert. The monument commemorates the military triumph over the English garrison at Ballina by a joint Franco-Irish army composed of French soldiers and Irish rebels under the command of General Humbert during the
1798 rebellion of the
Society of United Irishmen. Sculpted by Thomas H. Dennany of Monumental Marble Works in
Glasnevin, the monument is topped by a statue depicting the 'Maid of Erin' or 'Mother Ireland', with a sword in hand and an
Irish Wolfhound by her side. The monument was commissioned and "erected by the voluntary subscriptions of the priests and people of Mayo and Sligo". There were attempts at mitigating the crisis by some local citizens. Francis Kinkead, the local
Church of Ireland curate, who came to Ballina in 1837 and died on 27 January 1847, played a role in organising funds to help relieve the suffering of both the Catholic and Protestant populations. A marble memorial tablet on the wall of the Church of Ireland in Ballina is dedicated to Kinkead.
20th century Irish language Until the early 1900s, the
Irish language was the primary language spoken in Ballina. As
Irish began to decline in other parts of Ireland during the colonial period, it remained strong in County Mayo and in Ballina. By the 1920s, however, English had become the dominant language in Ballina. In the
1926 Census it was found that although many adults in Ballina had Irish as a first language, it was no longer known by young people or used in the community. Ballina was one of the only parts of County Mayo not designated status as a
Gaeltacht or
Breac-Ghaeltacht, a status given in 1929 to regions where more than 80% or 25% respectively of people spoke Irish as a first language. Ballina and
Westport were among the first urban areas in County Mayo to adopt the
English language. Records from the surrounding then Irish-speaking rural areas in Mayo and in neighbouring County Sligo suggest that Irish-speakers from those areas felt pressure to use English when in Ballina town. Today only
Ceathrú Thaidhg, 70 km to the west of Ballina remains a majority Irish-speaking area in County Mayo.
War of Independence During the
Irish War of Independence, a number of violent incidents occurred in Ballina. In April 1920, a group of armed men targeted the houses of income-tax collectors living in the town. They forcibly entered the homes, held the occupants at gunpoint, and seized important books and papers related to tax collection. This event was part of a larger, coordinated series of attacks across Ireland, focusing on disrupting the administrative functions of income tax collection. In July 1920, a
Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) police patrol was held up by armed men about a hundred yards from Ballina's barracks. The raiders demanded the surrender of the police's arms. The police opened fire, and the raiders returned fire, killing a sergeant and wounding a constable. Two other policemen escaped unharmed. In January 1921,
auxiliary police arrested and humiliated several local merchants, reportedly forcing them to march through the town, holding Union Jacks, dragging an Irish flag, and kneeling to kiss the Union Jack. This incident reportedly caused outrage throughout the town. During the evening of 3 April 1921, the
IRA attacked a police patrol travelling between Ballina and
Bonniconlon, wounding one constable. A cache of ammunition was later found in the grove where the attack took place. The police subsequently raided a local dance hall and arrested all men present. Michael Tolan, a tailor and IRA member from Ballina, was the victim of a murder marked by torture and mutilation. After a raid on his mother's house, Tolan was forced into hiding. On 14 April 1921, Crown forces captured him while he was staying at a friend's home, after which he was detained in a barracks. Despite efforts by his mother and friends to trace his whereabouts, all contact ceased. In June 1921, his mutilated body was discovered in Shraheen bog near
Foxford, bearing bullet wounds, a bayonet injury, and amputated feet. He was identified by his distinctive feet. The manner of his death caused widespread outrage. In May 1921, two men, Thomas Jordan and William Leydon, were court-martialed at
Renmore Barracks in Galway, and found guilty of carrying firearms. During the trial, it was alleged that, on 23 November 1921, seven masked men attempted a raid on a house in Ballina. Four of the raiders entered the house, and during a scuffle, residents managed to unmask two of them, identifying Jordan and Leydon. Despite Leydon's refusal to recognise the court's authority and the testimony of witnesses who provided alibis placing him at a different location at the time of the raid, both he and Jordan were sentenced to one year of hard labour. On 14 July 1921, the body of RIC Sergeant Anthony Foody was discovered on a road near
Bonniconlon, with a card around his neck reading "Remember Dwyer and The Rag". Foody, who had been posted to The Ragg in Tipperary and was on leave when he was shot dead, had been visiting a farm he had purchased with plans to settle there with his family. The card found with Foody's body may have referred to the controversial killing of the Dwyer brothers in Tipperary, allegedly by other RIC members, though accounts of that event vary.
Irish Civil War During the
Irish Civil War (1922–1923), a number of incidents occurred in Ballina and its surrounding districts. For example, in September 1922,
Castle Gore, the Mayo residence of the
Earl of Arran, was attacked and set on fire by
Anti-Treaty Irregulars. The castle, constructed in 1808 under the supervision of Lord Tyrawley, housed a collection of antique furniture and oil paintings. Around 350 precious works of art were destroyed in the blaze. In March 1923, an Anti-Treaty Irregular — Nicholas Corcoran — was captured near
Lahardane by the
Free State Army from Ballina and imprisoned in the town. Subsequently, he and other prisoners were taken to clear a barricade from the railway at Ballinahaglish. When Corcoran refused to help remove the barricades, he was shot by a Free State soldier — Vol. Daniel Boyle — while kneeling. Boyle was charged with Corcoran's murder at Ballina District Court the following week.
21st century Ballina Urban District Council was based in offices in Market Square until 2003, when new offices were completed in Arran Place. Ballina Urban District was disbanded in June 2014 alongside all other
Town councils as part of the
Local Government Reform Act 2014. in Ballina On 14 April 2023, the US president
Joe Biden visited the town and gave a keynote speech to tens of thousands of people on the final part of his four-day visit to the island of Ireland. His speech commemorated the 25th anniversary of the
Good Friday Agreement. His speech also highlighted his family links to both Ballina and
County Mayo. In November 2024, Ballina completed the €7.5 million redevelopment of its historic military barracks (built in 1742) into the Ballina Innovation Quarter. Several businesses have occupied parts of the site and, if expanded as planned, it is expected to support up to 200 direct and 60 indirect jobs when fully operational. ==Architecture==