Ballygally Castle Hotel, at the head of Ballygally Bay was built in 1625 by James Shaw of Scotland, who came to the area and rented the land from the Earl of Antrim. He constructed the castle in 1625, in the style of a French chateau with high walls, steep roof, dormer windows and corner turrets. The castle came under attack, from the Irish garrison at Glenarm, several times during the rebellion of 1641 but each assault was unsuccessful. It was owned by the Shaw family until it passed into the hands of William Shaw in 1799, who sold the estate for £15,400. In the 1950's the castle was bought by the carpet tycoon Cyril Lord and was extended and renovated. It is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a Madame Nixon who lived there in the 18th century. After she died it was said that she haunted the castle, wandering the passages at night dressed in a silk dress and amusing herself by knocking on the doors of different rooms. Her fleeting appearances have recently been confined to a room in a corner turret. Another of the stories attached to Ballygally involved 2 elderly guests who attended a fancy dress ball one Christmas at the hotel. The next morning they enthused to the owners about what a wonderful evening it had been, which came as a bit of a shock as the ball had not taken place yet and was not due to for another 2 days.