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DONEGAL. 



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iost at theeommenoement of the wild, rugged mountain-tract. ' 

 hM wry little trade. In the neighbourhood are tome bleacl. 

 The extensive demesne of I >nimboe adjoins Bally bofey. Jiallyyormrtn, 

 situated on the peniniul* of Mnlin Head, it the mt northerly Tillage 

 in Ireland: population of the townland, 467. Near the Tillage i Malm 

 Head, the extreme point of the peninsula. Puna-ana, 14 mile* 

 N N W. from Londonderry, a market and pott-town on the right 

 bank of Lough Swilly, population 77, is an agreeable little town, 

 much frequented by summer visitor* as a bathing-place. The church, 

 which hat a fine tpire, some Dissenting chapels, the sessions-house, 

 and infantry barracks, are the chief public buildings. Flax and corn- 

 mills in the vicinity are worked by water-power obtained from the 

 Castle and Mill rivuleta. Buncrana is an inconsiderable fishing- 

 station. Buncrana Castle, in the immediate vicinity, was founded by 

 the O'Donnells, the ancient chieftains of the district. Fairs are held 

 on May 0th and July 27th. Carndmagh, or Cam, 20 miles N. by E. 

 from Londonderry, a mnall market-town ou the road from London- 

 derry to Malin Head, population 708, and Inishowen workhouse 647, 

 it a neat, well-built town, with some trade. Cattlefnn, population 

 637, is a small market-town, situated on the river Finn, about 7 miles 

 S.W. from Lifford. The tide-water flows up to the town. The valley 

 of the Finn is well cultivated. Manor courts are held here, and there 

 are seven fairs in the course of the year. Dungloe, 25 miles N.N.W. 

 from Donegal, population 484, is a small and sequestered village, 

 which, from iU being the largest within an extensive and dreary tract 

 of wild country, U a place of some importance. It contains a church, 

 a chapel, and police-barracks. Large portions of the surrounding 

 bogs have been reclaimed by the villagers. Fishing is carried on, but 

 the bay being shallow the takings ore small. Killybegt, 15 miles W. 

 from Donegal, is a market and sea-port town : population, 819. The 

 town is irregularly built, and the streets are narrow and inconvenient. 

 The harbour U good, but the exports are few and of little value : at 

 some seasons large numbers of fishing-boats resort to the harbour. 

 The market is held on Tuesday, and there are fairs in January, April, 

 June, August, and November. The town was formerly called Calle- 

 begge, and is a place of considerable antiquity : it was created a 

 borough in the reign of James II., and sent two members to Parlia- 

 ment, but it has long been disfranchised. Lifford, 13 miles E.N.E. 

 from Londonderry, U a market and assize-town ; it was formerly a 

 parliamentary borough : population, including the suburb of Strabane, 

 570, and 183 inmates of the jail. It is a very small and poor town, 

 consisting principally of two streets, and is built on the river Foyle, 

 formed here by the junction of the rivers Finn and Mourne. The 

 town has scarcely any trade, and bears evident marks of decline. 

 The old jail was used until very lately as a place of confinement for 

 idiots and lunatics ; the new jail is a semicircular building of con- 

 siderable extent, and is remarkable for neatness, cleanliness, and good 

 order. The county infirmary is situated here. Lifford gives the title 

 of viscount to the Hewit family. Mountcharlei, 4 miles W. by S. 

 from Donegal, population 444, is situated on the Bay of Donegal, and 

 is built along the summit of a rocky eminence. The Hall, a small 

 residence of the Marquis of Conyngham, to whom Mountcharles 

 gives the title of viscount, is close to the village. Fairs are held here 

 monthly. Morille, population 776, situated on the west shore of 

 Lough Foyle, about 20 miles S.E. from Carudonagh, is a pleasant 

 little watering-place. During the summer there is regular commu- 

 nication with Londonderry by steam-vessels. The neighbourhood is 

 exceedingly picturesque. There are several chapels in the town. 

 Petty sessions are held monthly, and seven fairs are held in the course 

 of the year. Pettigot, population 390, is prettily situated about a 

 mile from the embouchure of the Tarmon into Lough Erne. Besides 

 the church there are here chapels for Roman Catholics and Wesleyan 

 Methodists. Petty sessions are held in the town : there are fairs on 

 the 20th of each month. Rathmtlton, or Hamilton, 25 miles N.E. 

 from Donegal, population 1428, is a market-town, situated on the 

 right bank of the river Leanan, near the place where it falls into 

 Lough Swilly. The town has a clean and somewhat cheerful appear- 

 ance. There are corn-mills, a brewery, and bleaching-grounds ; linen 

 U woven in the weavers' houses. Besides the church there are 

 Presbyterian and Methodist chapels. Three annual fain are held. 

 The valley of the Leanan in the neighbourhood of Rathmelton is 

 extremely beautiful : the river flows through a picturesque and well- 

 wooded glen, and the heights on either hand are considerably 

 diversified. A few miles from Rathmelton, on the same side of Lough 

 Swilly, it the fishing village of KalAmullen: population, 639. It is a 

 poor place of one irregular street. Then.- are some ruins of a 



The southern part of Donegal, down to the plantation of Ulster, 

 wss known as Tyrconnell, and was the patrimony of the O'Donnells. 

 The most distinguished of the chieftains of Tyrconnell waa Hugh 

 O'DonneU, surnamed the Red, whoa* entrapment by Sir John I'errot, 

 and subsequent inipruoouent at Dublin as a hostage for the good 

 conduct of his clan, caused much hostility against the government of 

 Queen Elizabeth in this part of Ulster. O'DonneU, after more than 

 three yean' confinement, escaped, and took an active part in the 

 rebellion of the Earl of Tyrone. In December, 1601, Tyrone and 

 O'DonotU attempted the relief of Kinsalc, in which their Spanish 

 auxiliaries were besieged by the lord .Iq. uty. but ..wing, it is said, to 



a di.iput* about precedence, their armi.-< iliil not act in conori ' 

 a total defeat was the consequence. <>'|><>micll then sailed f.>r 

 to solicit in person new succours from 1'hilip. After spending a year 

 and a Imlf in fruitiest negotiation, he was seized with fever ami <lil 

 t Valladolid, where he wu interred with royal honours in the i -i 



! rancis. In the meantime a town had been walled in at Derry 

 by Sir Henry Dockwra, who had also built a castle at Lifford t 

 control of Tyrconnell. The vicinity of an English garrison proved to 

 unsatisfactory to the proprietor of Inisbowen, Sir Cabir < 

 that on some vague assurances of aid from Spain, communicat < 

 the exiled earls, he broke into open revolt May 1st, 1608, and having 

 surprised Culmore and put the garrison to the sword, advanced on 

 Derry next day, which he carried with little resistance and burned to 

 the ground. He then fell back on Kilmacrenan, and took up a strong 

 position on the rock of Doune, where he held out for five months 

 until ho was killed by a Scotch settler, who shot him as he leaned 

 over the edge of the rock. O'Dogherty being thus slain in rebellion 

 unil the exiled earls attainted of high treason, Donegal, along with 

 five other counties of Ulster, escheated to the crown. On tin- plan- 

 tation of Ulster, the district about Lifford was allotted t KiiL-li-h 

 undertakers, of whom the chief were Sir Ralph Bingley ami Sii- John 

 Kingsmill. In Iniehowen Muff was granted to Grocers' Hall. I 

 kcnuy owes its origin to Sir George Marburie, and Rathmelton to 

 Sir William Stewart. There were some few forfeitures among the 

 proprietors of Irish descent at the time of the Act of Setdi-ment. 

 The forfeitures consequent on the war of the revolution of 1688 did 

 not extend into Donegal. The last historical event connected with 

 this county was the capture of the French fleet off Tory Island by 

 Sir John B. Warren in 1798. 



The moat remarkable piece of antiquity in Donegal is the Orianan 

 of Aileach, the palace of the northern Irish kings from the most 

 remote antiquity down to the 12th century. It stands on a small 

 mountain 802 feet in height, near the head of Lough Swilly. The 

 summit of the mountain, which commands a noble prospect, is sur- 

 rounded by three concentric ramparts of earth intermixed with 

 uncemented stones. The approach by au ancient paved road leads 

 through these by a hollow way to a dun or stone fortress in the ci'tit iv. 

 This port of the work consists of a circular wall of Cyclopean architec- 

 ture, varying in breadth from 15 feet to 11 feet 6 inches, and at 

 present about 6 feet high, inclosing on area of 77 feet 6 inches in 

 diameter. The thickness of this wall is diminished at about 5 feet 

 from the base by a terrace extending round the ink-rim-, from whii-li 

 there are flights of steps somewhat similar to those at Steague 

 another remarkable Cyclopean erection in the county of K. n-y. 

 There was probably a succession of several such terraces bef. 

 upper part of the wall was demolished. Within the thickness of '.las 

 wall, opening off the interior, are two galleries, 2 feet 2 inches wide at 

 bottom and 1 foot 1 1 inches at top by 5 feet in height, which extend 

 round one-half of the circumference on each side of the entrance 

 doorway, with which however they do not communicate : their use 

 has not been determined. The remains of a small oblong buil<i 

 more recent date, but of uncertain origin, occupy the centre. Th.- 

 space contained within the outer inclosure is about 5j acres ; within 

 the second, about 4 acres ; within the third, about 1 acre ; ami within 

 the central building, or cashel, a quarter of an acre. The stone* of tin- 

 wall are generally of about 2 feet in length, polygonal, not laid in 

 courses, or chiselled, and without cement of any kind. 



The description is thus minute, as from an ancient Irish poem 

 published in the first port of the ' Memoir of the Ordnance Survey of 

 livUinl,' nnd which bears conclusive internal evidence of having been 

 written before A.D. 1101, the building of Aileach (' the stone fortress') 

 is attributed with every appearance of accuracy to Eochy Ollahir, 

 whose reign is one of the very earliest historical epochs in Irish 

 history. In this poem are preserved the names of the archite< 

 number of the ramparts, and the occasion of the undertaking. I'ntil 

 the publication of the Memoir, the uses and history of this remarkable 

 edifice were totally unknown. It was reduced to its present state of 

 ruin in 1101, by Murtagh O'Brien, king of Minister, who, in revenge 

 for the destruction of Kiucora by Donnell Mac Loughlin, king of Ulster, 

 A.D. 1088, invaded this district and caused a stone of the demolished 

 fortress of Aileach to be brought to Limerick for every sack of plunder 

 carried homo by his soldiery. This event was remembered as late as 

 151)9, when the plunder of Thomoud by Hugh O'DonneU was regarded 

 as a just retaliation. On Tory Inland also are some Cyclopean 

 remains, not improbably connected with the very ancient tradition of 

 the glass tower mentioned by Nennius. Tory signifies the ' inland of 

 the tower.' On the same island are alto a round-tower and the 

 remains of seven churches aud two stone crosses. Throughout the 

 county are numerous memorials of St. Columba, or St ('olumhkill. 

 the name by which he is more usually known in Ireland. This 

 distinguished saint, the apostle of the Picts and founder of the ( '. 

 of lona, was born at (iraton, a small village south of Kilmer. -nun. 

 where he founded an abbey which was afterward* richly endowed by 

 the O'Donnells. Near Kilmacrenan is the rock of Doune, on which 

 the O'DonneU was always inaugurated. The remains of the abbey of 

 Donegal still possets interest for the antiquary, and on the north of 

 Glen Vetgh are tome very ancient remains of churches. But by much 

 the most celebrated ecclesiastical locality in this county in tl,.- 



