Lurigeadan (1154ft) ‘the ridge of the face or brow’ or Lurig as it is commonly called, looks down on Cushendall and Waterfoot. On the top can still clearly be seen the remains of fortifications which once enclosed about 40 acres (16 hectares).
Promontory forts, were likely permanent settlements rather than just refuges in times of danger. Probably constructed by Bronze Age people (2500-500BC) and overlapped and used by the Iron Age Celts (500BC) who don’t seem to have started building their own Raths and Cashels until at least 500 AD. On the face towards Waterfoot are the famous ladder-farms designed to share out equally the better land towards the bottom, progressing to the poorer land higher up.
There are also some interesting place-names on Lurig, e.g. ‘lig na bhfiann’ (Hollow of the Fianna) and the name of Ossian of the Fianna is preserved in the name of the hurling club, Glenariff Ossians.
This post is part of the What’s That? Project. Funded by The Community Arts, Culture and Heritage Fund & The Community Foundation for NI. The aim of the project is to highlight local historical sites and give people a short history of what is there. Photos by John Healy.
