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THE GREEN GLENS OF ANTRIM SONG
Far across yonder blue lies a true fairyland
With the sea rippling over the shingle and sand.
Where the gay honeysuckle is luring the bee
And the Green Glens of Antrim are calling to me.
Sure it's there you can see how the light of the moon
Turns a blue Irish bay to a silver lagoon;
Just imagine the picture of heaven it would be
Where the Green Glens of Antrim are calling to me.
Soon I hope to return to my own Cushendall
It's the one place for me that can outshine them all;
Sure I know every stone, I recall every tree,
Where the Green Glens of Antrim are calling to me.
For it's there that the people are simple and kind,
And among them there's one who is aye in my mind,
So I pray that the world will in peace let me be
Where the Green Glens of Antrim are heaven to me.
The Nine Glens of Antrim radiate outwards towards the Irish coast from the mountainous heartland of the county, cut through the black basalt by rivers and further gouged by ancient glaciers. The names of the glens, from south to north, are: Glenarm, Glencloy, Glenariff, Glenballyeamon, Glenaan, Glencorp, Glendun, Glenshesk and Glentaisie.
Their meanings are not known for certain but the popular translations are: glen of the army, glen of the hedges, ploughman's glen, Edwardstown glen, glen of the rush lights, glen of the slaughter, brown glen, sedgy glen, and Taisie's glen. In legend Taisie was a princess of Rathlin Island.
They lay within the old Celtic kingdom of Dal Riada which included eastern Ulster and the Scottish Isles. For the most part, the people are the descendants of both the ancient Irish and their cousins the Hebridean Scots across the narrow Sea of Moyle, and the Glens were one of the last places in Northern Ireland where Gaelic was spoken
Each of these nine green valleys has a character of its own. Together they form a beautiful realm of rivers, waterfalls, wild flowers and birds.
But 150 years ago, the remoteness of the Glens was daunting. Rushing rivers bisected the land from west to east and the inland track from Cushendun to Ballycastle crossed Loughareerma, 'the vanishing lake'. One day it was empty, the next day it was full of water! It was not unknown for coach horses to gallop into this watery grave, taking the passengers with them.
Physical isolation and intimacy with elemental beauty have left the Glens with a great store of Irish myth and legend. Glens folk are great storytellers. They will tell you that the main haunts of the 'wee folk' - the 'gentle' (supernatural) places - are Lurigethan mountain and Tiveragh Hill. Mischievous creatures at the best of times, the fairies are said to take devastating revenge on anyone rash enough to cut down a fairy thorn tree.
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