unite Catholics and Protestants and to end British monarchical rule over Ireland and to found a sovereign, independent Irish republic. Although its membership was mainly Catholic, many of its leaders and members in northeast Ulster were Protestant Presbyterians. On 7 June 1798, about 4,000 United Irishmen led by Henry Joy McCracken attacked the town. The rebels were on the verge of taking the town until British reinforcements arrived. Thanks to a rebel band led by James Hope, most of the United Irishmen were able to withdraw safely. This is known as the Battle of Antrim. Before the Act of Union, the parliamentary borough of Antrim returned two members to the Irish House of Commons by virtue of letters patent granted in 1666 by Charles II. It was disenfranchised in 1801. Steeple House, a substantial 18th-century mansion which was home to the Clark family and then became the headquarters of Antrim Borough Council, was destroyed in a fire in July 2019. The Troubles There were several incidents in and around Antrim during the Troubles including, in 1976, when six civilians (5 Protestants and one Catholic) were shot and killed during a UVF gun attack on the Ramble Inn pub near Antrim. Climate As with the rest of Ireland, Antrim experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest official Met Office weather station for which online records are available is at Belfast International Airport, under 4 miles to the south of the town centre. In a typical year the warmest day should reach a temperature of and 2.1 days should attain a temperature of or above in total. The coldest night of the year averages and 39 nights should register an air frost. The absolute minimum temperature of was reported during the record cold spell of December 2010. In total during that month 10 nights fell to or below, and the 21st recorded a daytime maximum of just Demography On Census day (27 March 2011) there were 23,375 people living in Antrim, accounting for 1.29% of the NI total, representing an increase of 16.9% on the Census 2001 population of 20,001. Of these: 21.47% were aged under 16 years and 13.33% were aged 65 and over; 48.72% of the usually resident population were male and 51.28% were female; 54.80% belong to or were brought up in a Protestant or other Christian related background and 34.12% were brought up