Early in the 19th century, in the reign of William IV, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland reported that the Glens of Antrim were cut off from any reasonable communication by the badness of roads over mountains and slopes varying from 1 in 6 to 1 in 12. The Commissioners conceived a great project to build the Antrim Coast Road to give better access for the inhabitants, open up the Glens for trade, and give a form of unemployment relief.