Ballynure (from Irish: Baile an Iúir meaning "homestead of the yews")[1] is a village near Ballyclare in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 677 people in the 2001 Census.
The village is effectively split in two by the A8 main road, which runs from Belfast to Larne. A stream called the Ballynure Water runs through it and the houses are a mixture of old fashioned buildings and new estates. Christ Church, Church of Ireland is one of the old buildings of note in Ballynure.
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Ballynure is classified as a small village or hamlet by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (i.e. with a population between 500 and 1,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 677 people living in Ballynure. Of these:
The Ballynure Elementary School for Primary Education (often known simply as Ballynure Primary School) is only school in the village and surrounding areas until Ballyclare. It is also one of six schools in Northern Ireland classed as "Elementary Schools". The School was founded in 1930.
The Ballynure Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in all Newtownabbey and second oldest in all Antrim.
The blacksmiths in Ballynure (lying on the corner of The Old Larne Road) is the oldest building in all Northern Ireland still being used for its original purpose.
Jonathan Swift, the writer of Gulliver's Travels, was responsible for the Ballynure parish of the Church of Ireland, during his time as prebend of Kilroot.
The Clements family, who lived at Clements Hill outside the village, were the ancestors of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Twain, who was author of works including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, was described by William Faulkner as 'the father of American literature.' His grandfather Samuel Clemens emigrated to America and Twain was born in Florida, Missouri, in November 1835. One of his ancestors, Henry Clements, was Mayor of Carrickfergus in 1696 and another is said to have fought for William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne six years earlier.
In 2007 Ballynure started a fair, which is now known as the "Yearly Ballynure fair". Along with Ballyclares "May Fair" this fair is one of the very few yearly fairs in the U.K. where animals can be bought, although unlike the "May Fair" (which sells horses) the Ballynure Fair has only been known to sell cows.