Cloughmills

Cloughmills or Cloghmills is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Ballymoney is 15 km to the north-west and Ballymena is 16 km to the south. It had a population of 1,309 people in the 2011 Census. It is in Causeway Coast and Glens District Council.

Name
The name Cloughmills/Cloghmills is a combination of the Irish word cloch (meaning "stone") and the English word mill (referring to the linen mill around which the village grew). An older spelling was Clochmills.

Features
Cloghmills is a local service centre for its surrounding rural hinterland with a good range of retail, commercial, community and educational facilities. Recreational facilities are, however, limited, relative to the size of the village. A substantial number of private sector dwellings have been built over the past decade, which reflect its growing residential function.

Three private housing developments have been built in the village, substantially increasing the population to approximately 2000 individuals in 2008. The Cloughmills Community Action Team (CCAT), made up of local residents, is in the process of reviving a five-year action plan to develop the village for the all who live there, and promote and develop local business initiatives. Cloughmills is home to one of Northern Ireland's leading department stores, Logans of Cloughmills.

History
The industrial heritage of the village can be seen from the old linen mill which is located at the bottom end of the main street beside the medical centre. The mill was fed by the Cloughwater (also known as the Cloughmills Water) river which flows through the southern end of the village. This river feeds into the River Main.

In 1910, corn and flax scutching were the main industries and an Agricultural and Dairy Society and Co-operative Poultry and Egg Society had been established. The population was about 200.

The former main employer of the village, Cooneen Textiles, a clothing firm, closed down in 1999 with the loss of 128 jobs. The premises changed hands and Cooneen was replaced by a haulage company called Reid Transport. In November 2007 Reid Transport ceased trading with loss of 200 jobs following serious financial difficulties. The African Clothing Company took up residence in the vacated premises later changing its name to All-Tex Recyclers.

The Troubles
On 12 February 1977, an off duty Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) member, Samuel McKane (aged 33), was killed by the IRA outside his home in Cloughmills.

On 14 March 1978, Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) masked gunmen planted two explosive devices at the Cloughmills Cooperative Society and Spar supermarket complex. The gunmen fired two shots in the air and escaped by car. The homemade explosive devices exploded causing minor structural damage and starting a fire which destroyed the interior.

Transport
Cloughmills has good road links to Ballymoney and Ballymena and is located a short distance east of the A26 key transport corridor. However, it has limited public transport connections.

Education

 * Cloughmills Primary School
 * St Brigid's Primary School

Religion

 * Killagan Church of Ireland Parish Church, just outside the village.
 * Cloughmills Free Presbyterian Church
 * Cloughmills Reformed Presbyterian Church
 * Ballyweaney Presbyterian Church
 * Church of the Sacred Heart (Roman Catholic)

Notable people
Notable people from Cloughmills include:
 * Stumpy McCloskey – a singer and violin player. McCloskey played in many traditional music festivals throughout Ireland.
 * Samuel Robinson – Emigrated to America in 1888 and became a successful multimillion-dollar businessman. Robinson settled in Philadelphia and founded the American Stores Company (more commonly known as the acronym ACME). He built the Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ballymoney in 1933 in memory of his late parents.

2011 Census
It had a population of 1,309 people (514 households) in the 2011 Census. On Census day in 2011:
 * 32.7% were from a Catholic background and 63.0% were from a Protestant background

2001 Census
Cloughmills is classified as a Village by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (i.e., with population between 1,000 and 2,250 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 1,240 people living in Cloughmills. Of these:
 * 24.1% were aged under 16 years and 16.2% were aged 60 and over
 * 49.4% of the population were male and 50.7% were female
 * 36.6% were from a Catholic background and 61.9% were from a Protestant background
 * 3.6% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed

Twin towns - Sister cities

 * 🇺🇸 Benbrook, Texas, USA
 * 🇫🇷 Vanves, France