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THE GLENS OF ANTRIM (S8x32)
Betty Smith Belfast Book
1- 4
1s+3s set facing diagonally with 1L+3M advancing turning to face
partner in a diagonal line & turn partners 2H
5- 8
1s+3s dance ½ diagonal reel of 4 (1s+3s end in opposite places)
9-16
3s+2s+1s circle 6H round & back
17-24
1s & 3s petronella turn into next place on right & set, repeat to
original places & set
25-32
1s+2s dance the Knot
From the County Antrim town of Larne, rugged cliffs stretch north for 80 miles, broken only by 9 deep green
glens, each with its own unique character. The Glens are an area of outstanding natural beauty and a major
tourist attraction. The main towns and villages in the Glens are Ballycastle, Cushendun, Cushendall, Waterfoot,
Carnlough and Glenarm. The inhabitants of the glens are descended mainly from native Irish, Ulster Scots and
Hebridean Scots.
The Lordship of the Glens first belonged to the Scoto-Irish Norman Bissett family (mid-13
th
C) and in the mid-16
th
C
it came into the ownership of the MacDonnells of Antrim.
The nine glens, from northernmost to southernmost, are:
Glentaisie - after Taisie, princess of Rathlin Island
Glenshesk - glen of the sedges (reeds) or barren valley
Glendun - brown glen or valley of the river Dun
Glencorp - glen of the dead
Glanaan - glen of the burial chambers or glen of the little fords
Glenballyemon - valley of Ó Dhíomáin's or Éamonn's town
Glenariff - glen of the plough
Glencloy - valley of the sword or glen of the dykes
Glenarm - glen of the army
Glenariff, “Queen of the Glens”, is fairest of them all with the wild beauty of its waterfalls and trail skirting a
sheer plunging gorge. It is a perfect u-shaped valley bounded by rugged precipices 200 to 400 metres in height,
the two most famous being Carneil and Lurigedan, and at its mouth lies a one mile sandy beach where the glen
meets the sea at the small village of Waterfoot.
The song ‘The Green Glens of Antrim’ is in waltz time and written by Kenneth North, telling of a traveller who
has left Ulster and longs to return to the beautiful scenery of the glens, and to one particular person that he left
behind.