The Children of Lir is among the best known stories of Irish literature. The jealous stepmother Aoife turned Lir's four children, Fionnghuala and her three brothers, into swans for nine hundred years, three hundred each at Loch Dairbhreach, the Sea of Moyle and Iorras Domnann and Inis Gluaire in County Mayo. The curse broke when St Patrick arrived and a monk named Mochaomhog baptised the swans, after which they died and were buried.
The Sea of Moyle, Sruth na Maoile, is the narrow sea between Ireland and Scotland. Fair Head overlooks it, and the rock bearing the name of the sea god Manannan lies not far offshore. IrishCentral says the swans spent their most miserable time in these waters. The tale is told here as a story attached to the coast, which has become part of Ballycastle's sense of itself, and not as local folklore of the same age.
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