The Boyd Arms, 4 The Diamond, Ballycastle, Co Antrim, BT54 6AW

The Boyd Arms is a large, three-storey end-of-terrace former inn and hotel, now operating as a public house, built in the mid-18th century (probably between 1760 and 1779). It is situated at the northwest side of The Diamond in Ballycastle, at the junction with Market Street, and represents one of the most architecturally significant buildings within the Diamond's streetscape.

The asymmetrical front elevation faces southeast and is rendered and painted in a light tone. The ground floor features the pub entrance, comprising two sets of paired four-panelled doors with a small single-pane fixed etched light window to the left. Both openings are framed with narrow panelled pilasters and crowned with a signboard bearing circa 1960s lettering above a projecting cornice supported by end brackets. To the right of the pub front are two small windows with plain sash frames and moulded surrounds. The first floor contains five evenly spaced windows of similar design, with five more on the second floor. Unusually, the second-floor windows are marginally taller than those below. All windows are double-hung sliding sash with two panes. The elevation is finished with in-out bevelled quoins and a bevelled base.

The northeast gable facing Market Street has an off-centre ground-floor doorway with a panelled door and two widely spaced sash windows on the second floor. This gable is rendered, painted, and finished with base and quoins matching the front elevation.

To the rear, the building extends with a small 2½-storey return featuring a lean-to roof aligned with the main roof. A further single-storey return on the west side, six bays long and with a basement, stretches back almost parallel to Market Street. This section contains two single doors, three sliding sash two-pane windows, and several small openings. The walls are rendered in poor condition and painted; the roofs are natural slate. The space between the return and Market Street is fenced with a low wall and modern galvanised metal railing. The west wall of the return forms the boundary with No. 5 The Diamond.

Internally, the building retains much of its original character and arrangement, which adds significantly to its heritage value.

The building's history can be traced through valuation records from 1834, which identify an old house of similar dimensions on this site, then occupied by James Black. The absence of major recorded changes in subsequent valuations suggests that the building visible today is substantially the same as that documented in 1834. It is almost certainly one of the nine three-storey houses mentioned in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1835. The town of Ballycastle assumed much of its present form around 1740–1770 under the improving landlord Hugh Boyd, and this building likely dates from this period. A painted sign on the gable implies a date of 1761, whilst the current owner has suggested 1776, though without supporting evidence.

The building's original function remains partly unclear from historical records. The 1824 Pigot & Co Directory lists a James Black in The Diamond (then called Church Street) as a woollen draper, with no indication of licensed premises. No reference to public house use appears in Slater's Directories of 1846 or 1856, nor in late-19th-century valuations. However, Slater's Directory of 1894 names it as The Boyd Arms. By 1859, the property was occupied by James Laverty and comprised a shop and large room below, three rooms on the first floor, four on the second, four in the return, and a basement kitchen. It was then used as a dwelling with an office and store, though the valuers noted it was not in good repair. Subsequent occupants are documented: Neill McGugan from 1868, Robert Hunter from 1878, Alex McAllister from 1896, Ida McCambridge around 1913, Margaret Campbell from 1922, Patrick McKeague around 1932, and Margaret McAuley thereafter.

The survival of much original interior detail, combined with its prominent position within the Diamond's streetscape, its architectural proportions, and its historical significance to Ballycastle's development, makes this an important heritage asset. It is located within a conservation area.