Mr. Denis McKay, of Ballycleagh, gives the following account of how the ferry from Dunavertie used to come into Cushendun. He recalls old John McNeill, of Sleans, telling him, as a lad on his way home from school, that the schooner used to enter the river at high tide, and turn in the basin below the bridge, ready to go out again. She tied up alongside, somewhere near McBride’s Hotel, which was then a flax mill. At that time the basin was considerably larger and deeper than it is at present. A line of large stones, which acted as a breakwater, ran out to sea on the north side of the entry and gave shelter to boats lying within the basin.
The late Mr. Morris Finlay, who held the rights, considered the breakwater to be detrimental to the salmon fishery, and caused it to be breached. Previously, the breakwater so constricted the river mouth that a race developed with the ebb tide. Its speed was sufficient to scour the basin effectively and carry out to sea whatever sand accumulated there. Breaching the line of stones gave the water within easy escape, and so reduced the scour that the basin subsequently silted up.
Some four or five of the old Breakwater stones still remain, giving a fair indication of where it used to lie; and the southern boundary line of the townland of Cushendun, as shown on the current six inch ordnance survey map, confirms that the basin was formerly larger than it is at present.
From The Glynns, Volume 2, 1974.