The Story of the Cushendun Name

The name Cushendun comes from the Irish Cois Abhann Duinne, meaning “foot of the River Dun” or “beside the River Dun.” Earlier records give the name as Bun Abhann Duinne, with bun meaning the end or mouth of a river. Over time, bun was replaced by cois, meaning the foot or lower end, and the name eventually became Cushendun.

The name perfectly describes the village's setting. Cushendun lies where the River Dun meets the sea, at the foot of Glendun, one of the celebrated Nine Glens of Antrim. Across the North Channel, the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland is only about fifteen miles away, and the connection between the two shores has been important for centuries.

In the sixteenth century, Cushendun witnessed one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of Gaelic Ulster. In 1567, Shane O'Neill, one of the most powerful Gaelic leaders of his age, was killed here by the MacDonnells. The event became part of the turbulent struggle for control of Ulster, and a cairn overlooking Cushendun Bay still commemorates the place associated with his death.

The village later became an important little port. By the nineteenth century, Cushendun had a harbor and traded with Kintyre in Scotland, including cattle and pigs. Fishing was also important, while the surrounding area supplied freestone from its quarries. Regular connections across the North Channel helped make Cushendun a natural meeting point between Antrim and the Scottish coast.

But Cushendun's appearance today owes much to Ronald John McNeill, later Lord Cushendun. Beginning in 1912, McNeill commissioned the architect Clough Williams-Ellis to redesign the village in the style of a picturesque Cornish settlement, partly as a tribute to McNeill's wife, Maud, who came from Penzance. The result is the distinctive collection of whitewashed cottages and carefully arranged buildings that gives Cushendun its almost storybook appearance.

That unusual architectural character, combined with the village's spectacular coastal setting, eventually led to Cushendun being designated a Conservation Area in 1980. Today, much of the village and surrounding parkland is cared for by the National Trust.

Yet beneath those picturesque cottages is a much older story. Cushendun's name reaches back to the River Dun itself, while the surrounding landscape has been shaped by Gaelic clans, medieval travel, maritime trade, fishing and centuries of connections across the narrow sea to Scotland.

A village whose name simply means “the foot of the River Dun” has become one of the most distinctive and beautifully preserved settlements on the Antrim coast.