Cushendall

Cushendall sits where the Glens of Antrim meet the sea, often called the “Capital of the Glens.” Its best-known landmark is the Curfew Tower in the town centre, built by local landowner Francis Turnly in 1817 to confine “riotous characters” — the same Turnly family behind Red Bay’s arch at Glenariff. Since the mid-1990s the tower has had an unlikely second life: musician and artist Bill Drummond, formerly of The KLF, owns it and runs it as an artists’ residency through a trust called “In You We Trust.” Every August, during the Heart of the Glens Festival, a bronze model of the tower is awarded by public vote to the best work produced there that year.

Ossian’s Grave and Tievebulliagh

About two kilometres northwest of the village, in Lubitavish townland, is Ossian’s Grave — a Neolithic court tomb, built around 3500–4000 BC, named in legend for Ossian, poet and warrior son of Finn McCool. It sits on a ridge coming down from Tievebulliagh, a mountain whose cliffs held one of prehistoric Ireland’s most important axe factories: a source of porcellanite stone quarried and worked into polished axe-heads between roughly 4000 and 2500 BC, traded as far afield as Britain.

Layd Old Church

A mile from Cushendall, Layd Old Church is a 13th-century foundation — the ruin visible today dates mostly from a 1638 rebuild, with a further renovation in 1696. It served as a parish church from 1306 until 1790, and was the chief burial ground of the MacDonnell clan after Bonamargy Friary near Ballycastle. The ruin sits in a steep-sided, wooded valley beside a stream that reaches the sea at Port Obe, still a popular spot with fishermen. Notable graves include Dr. James MacDonnell (1798–1845), a pioneer of chloroform anaesthesia and a founder of both the Royal Victoria Hospital and Belfast Medical School, marked with a Celtic cross in the graveyard.