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Falavee - from 'Traveller in the Glens'The following text is excerpted from Traveller in the Glens by Jack McBride, published in a new paperback edition by Appletree Press.
FalaveeLeaving Ardclinis, we come to a wild-looking part of the road, fringed by tall limestone cliffs, whose extra whiteness seems to indicate that they have been the scene of quarrying operations. Older residents remember that about forty years ago the Falavee quarries and pier were flourishing, many cargoes of limestone being shipped to Glasgow and other ports, until one wild night the sea carried off the end of the pier, badly damaged the remainder, and created such havoc that it was decided by the directors of the company to concentrate all their business at Carnlough.The loads of ‘quarry-redd’ are mute tokens of a once-flourishing industry, and who knows what secrets still lie hidden in the caves that tunnel through the cliffs? During the few years the quarrying operations lasted, a number of skeletons and skulls were found in rock crevices, a reminder – so local residents aver– of the days when the only pass or thoroughfare around the coast was over these rocks. It seems that a gang of robbers made the nearby village of Galbolly their headquarters, and frequently waylaid travellers. One more circumstantial tale than the rest refers to a certain Jaspar Fairey, who accumulated riches in the form of precious stones and a bag of gold. When in Larne, Jaspar must have unwisely allowed somebody to see his store, somebody in league with the Galbolly gang, for the news ofhis coming arrived a couple of days before he was seen making his way over Foran Path and up Deragh Pass on what was to prove his last journey. What happened we can only guess, but the finding of a man’s skull with the track of an axe in it during operations at Falavee quarry seems to hint at one solution of the riddle. To get back to the local story: when Jaspar Fairey did not arrive at his native place (somewhere near Coleraine) his friends instituted inquiries, and when the Galbollians thought a search might be made they hid the jewels, retaining only the gold, which they divided among the gang. Nobody was brought to justice, but it is likely that some crevice at Falavee holds a fortune in jewels awaiting an owner!
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