Coshkib Hill Farm
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This house had a fine reputation as a local ceilidh house - a house noted for informal social occasions of story-telling, conversation, discussion, music-playing and singing. It was the home of the Hyndman family. In 1900 Dan Hyndman and his wife, Margaret, lived in the house and worked the farm. The last owner was Dan's son, also called Dan, who died in the early 1950s. He was a well-known fund of traditional stories and folklore and a noted contributor to several folklore collections.
The dwelling originated about 1850 as a single-storey thatched house, not unlike the Duncrun Cottier's house in its basic layout. Improvements were carried out in the early 1900s. The house was 'riz and slated' - raised to a two-storey house and the thatch replaced with a slate roof. The ground-floor bedroom became a parlour and the stairs to two first-floor bedrooms inserted just inside the door which didn't upset the layout of the kitchen.
This is a typical hill farm from Glenballyemon, one of the nine glens of Antrim. The 27 acres (10.9 hectares) farm comprised mostly moorland and mountain grazing. Milk and beef cattle and sheep were reared, and hay, oats and potatoes grown. Domestic poultry, chickens and ducks were also kept.
Original location: Coshkib townland, Cushendall, County Antrim
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