A description of the Rathlin dialect is hardly complete without a few remarks on the Irish of the opposite mainland, especially as it was spoken between Fair Head and Glenarm. This form of Irish was so closely related to the Rathlin dialect that the people could easily understand one another, and certain details in the one are further better explained by comparing with the other. The Irish of the Glens may easily be said to be dead, although there were three ‘native speakers’ living in 1937. But in a certain way the Antrim Irish still lives for a number of people in Glenariffe and Glenarm, chiefly those who attended the classes of the late Father Toale (O Tuathail), and who had known his principal informant, Marie (Mhor) Nic Chormaic. These people must have retained the old Antrim pronunciation with remarkable accuracy, as appears from comparison of their Irish mutually and with that of the ‘native speakers.’ I here give the list of people whom I heard in the Glens, of whom the first three (including 1b) had Irish from their childhood.
1. Mr. James Stewart, Murlough, and his sister
1b Mrs Casey, Ballycastle.
2. Barney (Bhriain) McAuley, Glenariff
3. Mrs McVeagh, Craigagh, Cushendun.
4. Mrs Robins, Glenariffe.
5. Miss Mary Robins, Glenariffe.
6. Mrs. Murray, Parkmore, Glenariffe.
7. Miss Maggie McAuley, P.O., Waterfoot, Glenariffe.
8. Mrs McNeill, Glenarm.
The Irish Language in Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim. Royal Irish Academy, Todd Lecture Series,
Vol XVIII by Nils M. Holmer. Hodges, Figgis. 1942.