Editing Ballycastle, County Antrim (section)

== The Troubles in Ballycastle ==
[[File:Antrim Coast near Ballycastle.JPG|thumb|Waves in Ballycastle; Scotland can be seen in the background]]
There were several incidents of what came to be known as [[the Troubles]] in [[Northern Ireland]], including:
* Loyalist paramilitaries left a [[car bomb]] outside the Roman Catholic church (St. Patrick's & St. Brigid's) in the town on 26 August 1973.  It was timed to explode as massgoers left the church. But the service ran late, and the bomb detonated when the congregation were still inside the church, avoiding large-scale loss of life. 50 people were injured, 3 of them seriously.<ref name="chicagotribune">{{cite news |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1973/08/27/page/3/article/catholic-church-hit |title=50 hurt in bomb blast in Ulster |author=Patrick Carville |date=27 August 1973 |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref>
* On 19 June 1979 the [[Irish Republican Army]] bombed five hotels in different seaside towns in Northern Ireland, including Ballycastle's Marine Hotel. William Whitten, a 65-year-old Protestant hotel guest, was seriously injured in the blast; he died three weeks later.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/alpha/W.html |title=CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths}}</ref><ref name="wastedyears">{{cite book |title=Wasted Years, Wasted Lives |author=Ken Wharton |volume=2 |page=210 |publisher=Helion & Company |isbn=978-1-909982-17-8 |date=August 2014}}</ref>
* Spence McGarry (46), an off-duty member of the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] (RUC), was killed when a [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] booby trap bomb attached to his car exploded in Castle Street car park, Ballycastle on 6 April 1991.<ref name="ballymoneytimes">{{cite news |newspaper=[[Ballymoney Times]] |url=http://www.ballymoneytimes.co.uk/news/local-news/unheard-voices-six-stories-from-the-troubles-1-1830118 |title='Unheard Voices' – six stories from the Troubles |date=6 May 2009}}</ref> Gerard Butler was convicted in 1993 for the attack, and sentenced to 22 years in prison.<ref name="telegraph_list">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1350551/Republicans.html |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |title=Republicans |date=27 July 2000}}</ref>
* In 2001, there was an attempt at mass murder by the [[Red Hand Defenders]] when a car bomb was left in Castle Street during the annual Lammas Fair.<ref name="bbc_lammas">{{cite news |publisher=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1520556.stm |title=UVF members linked to bomb |date=1 September 2001}}</ref>