09 Feb Cushendun
As you travel along the coastal road on our North Coast tour we pass through the village of Cushendun. Unlike coach tours of Ireland we at Ireland Luxury Tours like to stop and take in the atmosphere of these little villages along the coast. Even on your tour of Belfast a trip along this coast can be accomodated. So if you are in Belfast in 2010 on a cruise ship contact us for details.
Cushendun stands on an elevated beach at the outflow of the Glendun and Glencorp valleys. The name in Irish is Cois an Duine, meaning Foot of the Dun, identifying the village’s location at the mouth of the River Dun. The pretty village was designed by Clough William Ellis in 1912 at the request of Ronald John McNeill, Baron Cushendun. The picturesque Cornish appearance was deliberate, to please the Baron’s Penzance-born wife, Maud. Ellis designed a village square with seven houses which are today run as craft shops and tea rooms. After Maud’s death in 1925, Ellis designed a row of whitewashed, quaint cottages in her memory. Baron Cushendun also commissioned neo-Georgian Glenmona House with all the mock pomposity of eighteenth century architecture.
Centuries before this genteel village was built, Cushendun was a safe landing place and harbour for the frequent travellers between Ireland and Scotland. Rival Irish clans often landed on the beach near Carra Castle. Built in the fourteenth century over a Mesolithic flint site, the ruins of the castle remain today. Close to the ruins, lie several Bronze Age standing stones. The poets Moira O’Neill and John Masefield lived in Cushendun and found the landscapes and settings inspirational.