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Carnlough (from the Irish: Carnlach meaning "place of cairns") is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland with a picturesque harbour and on the shores of Carnlough Bay. It is situated on the coast road beside the North Channel and at the foot of Glencloy, the second of the nine Glens of Antrim. It had a population of 1,444 people in the 2001 Census.

It is home to the famous Londonderry Arms Hotel, formerly owned by Winston Churchill.Though locals refer to it as "The Derry"

The harbour was built by the owners of the quarries west of the village. These were connected to the harbour by means of a mineral tramway network, which include a bridge over each of two parallel streets in the village (both of which remain today).

The harbour has recently been renovated and is used by pleasure boats and small fishing boats. The area offers many opportunities for both sea angling and fresh water angling.

Carnlough has an Irish republican flute band named after the famous republican James Connolly, who hold parades through the village. John Turnly the Irish Independance Party councillor was murdered by the UDA in 1980 outside Smith's dining rooms on the marine road

Politics

Carnlough is a mostly nationalist village with Sinn Fein trying to make a breakthrough in the village in the last few years. However many residents are still wary of the local SF cumann in terms of policies, but they have support in areas such as The Croft and Beachlands. The flying of flags has always been a controversial issue in the village. For some time republican supporters would put up Irish Tri-Colours in the village late at night but certain locals would have been offended called for them to be removed. However in recent years Sinn Fein has adopted a less offensive policy by only allowing flags to be flown on offical republican parades but residents reportly still complain to the local SF cumann. Unionism in the area is small but there is a LOL orange flute band running. They march around Carnlough about four times a year without any interference from the nationalist population at all. Some nationalists claim to dislike orange parades marching through the village and vowed to use violence to stop orange parades happening, but it found that most of them are under the influence of alcohol when they preach their beliefs and to this day the local LOL band parade through Carnlough unhindered. Irish rebel sing-along is banned in all pubs because in case of offending protestant punters.

Carnlough is classified as a Village by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (ie with population between 1,000 and 2,250 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 1,444 people living in Carnlough. Of these:

• 25.9% were aged under 16 years and 18.1% were aged 60 and over
• 48.1% of the population were male and 51.9% were female
• 84.3% were from a Catholic background and 15.1% were from a Protestant background
• 5.7% of people aged 16-74 were unemployed

For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service

• Culture Northern Ireland

• Glencloy and Carnlough
• Photos of harbour and railway bridges
• Londonderry Arms hotel

• List of towns in Northern Ireland
• List of villages in Northern Ireland

Coordinates: 54°59′N, 5°59′W