The Original Harbour

In 2024, after Storm Kathleen roared through, much of the sand was washed away to reveal old timbers, which many initially assumed were parts of a long-abandoned boat.

But it was soon explained by a local history buffs as the last remnants of an old wooden footway and the Fishermans Walk/Way that stretched across the river and bar to the dunes to Ballymoney and Tara Hill.

By using this old right of way they didn't have to trespass on the Courtown Estate.

The timbers seem to have been preserved by a layer of bluey marl and sediment that was washed down the river over the year's that blocked out oxygen that would normally leads to the decay of this oak planking and round upright poles structure that probably dates from the early 1800s and possibly before.

The artifacts are now back under the sand, which should keep the timbers preserved for future archeologists to ponder over!

As a famine relief system, a canal was blasted and dug through solid rock that diverted the Ounavrragh away from the bar and down the channel into the harbour or basin as most of us called it.

In heavy flood the river often reverts to it's natural course out over the bar and into the sea.