The harbour we see today was built in 1853 by the Marchioness of Londonderry, however, the first harbour was built in the late 1700s by Phillip Gibbons who married Ann Stewart (daughter of the Earl of Antrim’s Agent). It was a stone pier two hundred feet long which could accommodate ships up to twenty tons and was used for the export of potatoes, grain and limestone, and the importation of coal.

In 1834, the Marchioness of Londonderry, Francis Anne Vane-Tempest inherited the Carnlough Estate from her mother Anne Catherine McDonnell, Countess of Antrim, the eldest of three daughters of the 6th Earl of Antrim, William Randal MacDonnell. Francis Anne subsequently bought further land belonging to the Gibbons family.  Along with her husband the 3rd Marquis (Charles William Stewart) she pioneered the construction of the new harbour which included a road bridge and a 1.5 km mineral railway line to the quarry which overlooks the village.

The harbour was built of limestone blocks, shaped and brought down from the quarry, the primary function of the development was to take limestone from the quarries to the kilns and harbour for export and later by rail to the mill and whiting works, the harbour was eventually able to accommodate ships of up to 300 tons on the south pier.  The railway was operated by the Carnlough Lime Company and eventually extended to some 7 km of track, the first part of the system opened in 1854 and ran for one mile over a 1:25 gradient to the quarries. It was originally operated by gravity and horse power but this was replaced by cables with a winding house.

Today you can follow the old line from the harbour to Cranny Falls, it has been transformed to a footpath and is well worth exploring.  These industrial workings have been abandoned  for over eighty years and left for nature to reclaimed though you can still sense the scale of what went on here.  It now provides a great reserve for wildlife, excellent recreation walks and panoramic views over the village and ocean to Scotland. The waterfall is set in a gorge and reached by a footpath to a viewing point that spans the flowing water.