Ballygalley Bay

County Antrim

The coastal road from Larne to Cushendall takes you to the Nine Glens of Antrim. On this route, lye's Ballygalley, which looks out to two lighthouses called "The Maidens".

Some years ago, a boat drifted into Ballygalley Bay. The boat contained a dead woman and a baby girl. The baby girl was still alive but no one knew where they had come from. A coast guard took the baby girl home and named her Marina Jane.

The once baby girl grew into a beautiful woman and married a sailor. The sailor owned a farm where he worked as a farmer, as well as a sailor for a number of years. They led a happy life.

One night, Jane had a premonition whilst asleep, that her husband would never return from a sea voyage that he was currently on. Every day thereafter she went to the beach hoping for his boat to be visible. The farm was neglected, the dream had become a reality ~ her husband never returned. Soon after the bailiffs arrived and Jane had the indignity of having to leave the cottage.

With her own hands she built a hut on the beach where she would now live. Food wise, she gathered limpets to eat. Brinie, her loving dog, become a close friend, and gave birth to four tiny pups in the little hut.

A vicious storm arrived one night and the sea rose to alarming levels. One of Jane's neighbours offered her shelter, but still hoping her husband would return, she did not leave the hut.

Her faithful dog Brinie tried to pull her from the hut by her dress, but Jane refused to budge. All Brinie could do was to pull her fragile pups to safety.

The next morning the storm had died down, but there was no sign of Jane or her hut on the beach. It was if she had returned to whence she had come ~ the sea.