Cushendun () is a small coastal

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. It sits off the A2 coast road between

Cushendall Cushendall (), formerly known as Newtownglens, is a coastal village and townland (of 153 acres) in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located in the historic barony of Glenarm Lower and the civil parish of Layd, and is part of Causeway Coas ...

and Ballycastle. It has a sheltered

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

and lies at the mouth of the River Dun and

Glendun Glendun (in Irish: ''Gleann Abhann Duinne'') translates into English as ''glen of the brown river'' and is one of the nine Glens of Antrim in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. It is named after the River Dun which is coloured brown by the pea ...

, one of the nine

Glens of Antrim The Glens of Antrim ( Irish: ''Glinnte Aontroma''), known locally as simply The Glens, is a region of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It comprises nine glens, that radiate from the Antrim Plateau to the coast. The Glens are an area of outstand ...

. The

Mull of Kintyre The Mull of Kintyre is the southwesternmost tip of the Kintyre Peninsula (formerly ''Cantyre'') in southwest Scotland. From here, the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland is visible on a calm and clear day, and a historic lighthouse, the second ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

is only about 15 miles away across the North Channel and can be seen easily on clear days. In the 2001 census it had a population of 138 people. It is part of

Causeway Coast and Glens Causeway Coast and Glens is a local government district covering most of the northern part of Northern Ireland. It was created on 1 April 2015 by merging the Borough of Ballymoney, the Borough of Coleraine, the Borough of Limavady and the Di ...

district. The hamlet of

Knocknacarry Knocknacarry ( ; – referring to a weir diverted off the River Dun which operated a watermill) is a hamlet and townland (of 155 acres) about 1 kilometre west of Cushendun and 17 kilometres south-east of Ballycastle in County Antrim, Norther ...

is nearby.

History

Four miles north of Cushendun is the carnanmore passage cairn. This well-preserved cairn is located on a hilltop, is 75 feet in length and is visible is for miles. The chamber has a corbelled roof and is capped with a massive stone slab. Two stones are decorated with lozenges and spirals. Cushendun is where Shane O'Neill, chief of the Tyrone

O'Neill dynasty The O'Neill dynasty ( Irish: ''Ó Néill'') are a lineage of Irish Gaelic origin that held prominent positions and titles in Ireland and elsewhere. As kings of Cenél nEógain, they were historically one of the most prominent family of the N ...

, was killed by the

MacDonnells The MacDonnells of Antrim (Gaelic: ''Mac Domhnaill''), also known as the MacDonnells of the Glens, are a branch in Ireland of the Scottish-based Clan Donald. Initially part of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg (Clan Donald South), the MacDonnells of Ant ...

in 1567. Cushendun village was designed for Ronald McNeill, the Conservative MP and author, later

Lord Cushendun Ronald John McNeill, 1st Baron Cushendun, PC (30 April 1861 – 12 October 1934), was a British Conservative politician and writer. Background and education McNeill was born in Torquay. He was the son of Edmund McNeill, DL, JP and Sheriff of ...

, in the style of a Cornish village by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Clough Williams-Ellis Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Military Cross, MC (28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate architecture, Italianate village of Portmeirion in North ...

. He is buried in the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

graveyard near his nationalist cousin Ada or Ide McNeill,

Roger Casement Roger David Casement (; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during World War I. He worked for the Britis ...

's friend and admirer who died in 1959. The

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

has owned and cared for most of the village and the parkland around Glenmona House since 1954. Cushendun was designated as a conservation area in 1980, due to its architectural history and location within the Antrim Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In the early 21st century, the caves near Cushendun were used as backdrop in the TV series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

''.

Sport

In 1904, the first

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

(GAA) club was founded in Cushendun. Originally known as the Brian Boru's, the club participated in the first Feis-na-nGleann in 1904 and, after defeating

Glenarm Glenarm () is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies on the North Channel coast north of the town of Larne and the village of Ballygalley, and south of the village of Carnlough. It is situated in the civil parish of Tickmac ...

, lost to Carey in the final of the “Shield of Heroes”. The club later became known as Robert Emmets GAC and, in 2004, celebrated its centenary. During most of their existence, Cushendun has been a junior

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

club but on a few occasions has moved up to the senior ranks. In 1931, the club won the

Antrim Senior Hurling Championship The Antrim Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Bathshack.com Antrim Senior Hurling Championship and abbreviated to the Antrim SHC) is an annual club hurling competition organised by the Antrim GAA, Antrim County B ...

. Cushendun Emmets have also won the

Antrim Intermediate Hurling Championship The Antrim Intermediate Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition, organised by Antrim GAA. The championship forms the second-tier of Hurling in Antrim. It is contested by the eleven clubs ranked 9–19 in the Antrim championship sy ...

on three occasions: 1973, 1992 and 2007. The Junior Hurling Championship was also secured in 1963 and again in 2018, along with several

Feis A () or () is a traditional Gaelic arts and culture festival. The plural forms are () and (). The term is commonly used referring to Irish dance competitions and, in Ireland, to immersive teaching courses, specialising in traditional musi ...

competitions and leagues. While primarily a hurling club, Cushendun Emmets has also intermittently fielded

camogie Camogie ( ; ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game "hurling" (which is played by men only), it is organised ...

and

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

teams. The club built a new pitch in 1967/68, and a new pavilion was officially opened by then president of the GAA

Jack Boothman John Henry "Jack" Boothman (12 October 1935 – 10 May 2016) was the 31st president of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) between 1994 and 1997. He was an active member of his local Blessington GAA club in County Wicklow. He was chairman of ...

in 1995. A second floodlit pitch was added at Lig-na-Arigid Park in 1999.

Notable people

Moira O'Neill Moira O'Neill was the pseudonym of Agnes Shakespear Higginson (1864–1955), an Irish-Canadian poet who wrote ballads and other verse inspired by County Antrim, where she lived at Cushendun. In 1895, she and her husband Walter Skrine lived on ...

's, poet, lived across the bay from Cushendun at Rockport Lodge.

References

External links

Cushendun on northantrim.com
(archived 2006)

(archived 2006)
Cushendungac.com - Brief Club History
{{authority control Villages in County Antrim Planned communities in Northern Ireland