Noreen Delargy & Josephine McCallin:-
The Glens of Antrim Historical Society had been aware for some time of the need to provide information for visitors to the Glens area and to meet this need an information centre was set up in May 1988 in a Portacabin Office behind the Branch Library in the Cushendall Car Park.
Tourists are frequently amazed at the amount of information available in such a small centre. As well as a full range of promotional material supplied by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and the Moyle District Council we have on our shelves a good selection of historical material relevant to the Nine Glens e.g. The Glynns:Journal of the Glens of Antrim Historical Society, McCahan’s Local Histories, The MacDonnells of Antrim, The Nine Glens, Ulster Local Studies :The Journal of the Federation for Ulster Local Studies, Farming in Ulster, Shipwrecks of the Ulster Coast, Memories in Focus, Purely Watercolour, Kintyre Country Life, The Bard of Ballycarry and much more.
We also have copies of the relevant information from the primary school registers of Knocknacarry, Culraney, Ballyemon and St. Mary’s, Cushendall and have a catalogue of all the legible gravestones in Layd Old Graveyard.
There seems to be an increasing desire for people to learn more about not only the scenic areas of the Glens but also about the cultural heritage and customs.
Our work is most interesting and varied and we have welcomed an increasing stream of visitors during the past eleven months. It is our pious hope that, when the tourists from America, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Argentine, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, England, Scotland, Wales and Eire return to their native places, they will reminisce for years to come about the warm, friendly and hospitable atmosphere of the Glens of Antrim Historical Society’s Tourist Centre.