What is it like now?
The Clachan visit is very important so that children may experience at first hand what physical evidence remains. They get a feel for the area. Many of these sites are in very scenic locations and the views of the surrounding countryside are spectacular.
This is Lough na Crannog on Fairhead which is near the clachans of Coolanlough and Crookancarragh.
Who can we ask for information?
There is a wealth of knowledge in local areas, much of it as yet untapped. It is when people get together to do a project, or when children start asking around for information about the past that memory is jogged and people start sharing information and local history.
Sometimes there are local historians or historical societies in the area who may be able to give children information on- site. Most schools taking part in the project were able to take advantage of this.
For Coolanlough and Crookancarragh, Mrs Dennis and Mr McBride, two local people who are interested in the history of the area, were willing to talk to schools. Sometimes they drew attention to features like ancient monasteries and graveyards in the area. Here is a fact that St. Olcan’s found out from Mrs Dennis:
‘the houses in the clachan would be facing east so that the wind would not be blowing in the door.’
They asked a parent to come in and tell the children about her childhood in Turnarobert, the clachan they studied.
Can the local library help?
St. Mary’s used the ’local reference’ section of the library in Cushendall. They were able to find out the meaning of the townland name.
Paul writes:
‘At the library we started our research on Carnahaugh. We were put into pairs to look for information. Some people were looking in files, some looked in books and others looked on the Internet. We were looking for maps, books and files about Carnahaugh and we found names of people who lived there from the 1850s onward. We found their hobbies and the food they ate and lots more. I enjoyed researching the Clachan Project.’
Most libraries have a local section which will have copies of Griffith’s Valuation for the area. The Local Studies Branch Library in Ballymena had lots of maps, census material and local information which were made available to schools.
Old Photographs and artefacts:
Most schools were lucky enough to find old photographs of the area and some were able to compare the present clachan buildings with how they looked in the past. There are collections of old photographs kept in PRONI and The Ulster Museum 
Visit to the Ulster Folk Museum, Cultra
As some of the clachans studied were in a derelict state and children were not in a position to see the insides of those cottages which are inhabited, schools were brought on a visit to Cultra.
Here they could see various types of traditional housing and, as they are furnished with typical artefacts for the period and type of dwelling, children found the visit invaluable. They were able to empathise with the cottagers and indeed, having done so much background research on the period, the visit was very profitable.
Sometimes old letters and diaries have been kept in families and schools may have access to these. Of course there are now many websites, such as this one, dealing with local history and they are a useful source.