The Life Within by Bernie McGill

THE BUSHMILLS INN - The following audio is a dramatisation of a scene in Kane’s Commercial & Family Hotel, now the Bushmills Inn, on the evening of market day, in the last years of the nineteenth century https://youtu.be/TT5dZgKC78Y.

THE OLD COURT HOUSE - The following audio is a dramatisation of a number of genuine cases that came up before the magistrates at Bushmills Petty Sessions in the last years of the nineteenth century https://youtu.be/mZefys95UtQ.

Two of five linked audio plays that are designed to be heard in the following order: Shell Row; the Old National School (later Legion Hall); the Clock Tower & Market Square, the Old Court House and the Bushmills Inn (formerly Kane’s Commercial & Family Hotel).

This project was commissioned by Big Telly Theatre Company and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) – Sharing Heritage Programme with support from the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council. 

Special thanks to Bushmills Folklore & History Group and their publication Portcaman, to Art Ward, Raymond McMullan and Antony Macnaghten, and to all the people of Bushmills who contributed stories.

The Bushmills Inn

Written by Bernie McGill

Directed by Caitriona McLaughlin

Thomas Brown: Keith Lynch

Francie (Market Clerk): Andy Porter

Granny: Louise Conaghan

Mrs. Hatty: Orla Mullan

Molly: Caitlin Bell-Porter

Squareface: Orla Mullan 

Mixed and edited by Darren Murphy

Recorded in the Secret Library at Bushmills Inn, with thanks.

The Old Court House

Written by Bernie McGill

Directed by Caitriona McLaughlin 

Lord Macnaghten: George Brien

Court Clerk: John Mulkeen

Constable Oates: Andy Porter

Miss Richardson: Catherine Wegwermer

Granny (Isabella Kane): Louise Conaghan

Mrs Hatty: Orla Mullan

Doherty: Keith Lynch

Tweedy: Keith Lynch

Mixed and edited by Darren Murphy

Recorded at Flowerfield Art Centre, Portstewart, with thanks.