County Donegal

In terms of size and area, it is the largest county in Ulster and the fourth-largest county in all of Ireland. Uniquely, County Donegal shares a small border with only one other county in the Republic of Ireland – County Leitrim. The vast majority of its land border is shared with three counties of Northern Ireland: County Londonderry, County Tyrone and County Fermanagh. This geographic isolation from the rest of the Republic has led to Donegal people maintaining a distinct cultural identity[8] and has been used to market the county with the slogan "Up here it's different".[9] While Lifford is the county town, Letterkenny is by far the largest town in the county with a population of just under 20,000. Letterkenny and the nearby city of Derry form the main economic axis of the northwest of Ireland.[10] Indeed, what became the City of Derry was officially part of County Donegal up until 1610.[11]

Baronies

Poison Glen (Gleann Nimhe), in North West Donegal

There are eight historic baronies in the county:

• Banagh
• Boylagh
• Inishowen East
• Inishowen West
• Kilmacrennan
• Raphoe North
• Raphoe South
• Tirhugh

Informal districts

The county may be informally divided into a number of traditional districts. There are two Gaeltacht districts in the west: The Rosses (Irish: Na Rosa), centred on the town of Dungloe (Irish: An Clochán Liath), and Gweedore (Irish: Gaoth Dobhair). Another Gaeltacht district is located in the north-west: Cloughaneely (Irish: Cloich Chionnaola), centred on the town of Falcarragh (Irish: An Fál Carrach). The most northerly part of the island of Ireland is the location for three peninsulas: Inishowen, Fanad and Rosguill. The main population centre of Inishowen, Ireland's largest peninsula, is Buncrana. In the east of the county lies the Finn Valley (centred on Ballybofey) and The Laggan district (not to be confused with the Lagan Valley in the south of County Antrim), which is centred on the town of Raphoe.

As seen from the International Space Station: Ulster coastline including Fanad peninsula, Lough Swilly, Inishowen, Lough Foyle and County Londonderry

Physical geography

Horse riding on Tramore Strand (also known as Rosapenna Strand) in Downings

Slieve League cliffs, the second tallest in Ireland

Glengesh Pass, near Ardara

Map of County Donegal

The county is the most mountainous in Ulster consisting chiefly of two ranges of low mountains; the Derryveagh Mountains in the north and the Blue Stack Mountains in the south, with Errigal at 749 metres (2,457 ft) the highest peak. It has a deeply indented coastline forming natural sea loughs, of which both Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle are the most notable. The Slieve League cliffs are the sixth-highest sea cliffs in Europe, while Malin Head is the most northerly point on the island of Ireland.

The climate is temperate and dominated by the Gulf Stream, with warm, damp summers and mild wet winters. Two permanently inhabited islands, Arranmore and Tory Island, lie off the coast, along with a large number of islands with only transient inhabitants. Ireland's second longest river, the Erne, enters Donegal Bay near the town of Ballyshannon. The River Erne, along with other Donegal waterways, has been dammed to produce hydroelectric power. The River Foyle separates part of County Donegal from parts of both counties Londonderry and Tyrone.

Neolithic portal tomb at Kilclooney More

At various times in its history, it has been known as County Tirconaill, County Tirconnell or County Tyrconnell (Irish: Tír Chonaill). The former was used as its official name during 1922–1927.[24] This is in reference to both the old túath of Tír Chonaill and the earldom that succeeded it.

County Donegal was the home of the once mighty Clann Dálaigh, whose best known branch were the Clann Ó Domhnaill, better known in English as the O'Donnell dynasty. Until around 1600, the O'Donnells were one of Ireland's richest and most powerful native Irish ruling families. Within Ulster, only the Uí Néill (known in English as the O'Neill Clan) of modern County Tyrone were more powerful. The O'Donnells were Ulster's second most powerful clan or ruling-family from the early 13th century through to the start of the 17th century. For several centuries the O'Donnells ruled Tír Chonaill, a Gaelic kingdom in West Ulster that covered almost all of modern County Donegal. The head of the O'Donnell family had the titles An Ó Domhnaill (meaning The O'Donnell in English) and Rí Thír Chonaill (meaning King of Tír Chonaill in English). Based at Donegal Castle in Dún na nGall (modern Donegal), the O'Donnell Kings of Tír Chonaill were traditionally inaugurated at Doon Rock near Kilmacrennan. O'Donnell royal or chiefly power was finally ended in what was then the newly created County Donegal in September 1607, following the Flight of the Earls from near Rathmullan. The modern County Arms of Donegal (dating from the early 1970s) was influenced by the design of the old O'Donnell royal arms. The County Arms is the official coat of arms of both County Donegal and Donegal County Council.

Donegal Castle, former seat of the O'Donnell dynasty

The modern County Donegal was shired[25] by order of the English Crown in 1585. The English authorities at Dublin Castle formed the new county by amalgamating the old Kingdom of Tír Chonaill with the old Lordship of Inishowen. However, although detachments of the Royal Irish Army were stationed there, the Dublin authorities were unable to establish control over Tír Chonaill and Inishowen until after the Battle of Kinsale in 1602. Full control over the new County Donegall was only achieved after the Flight of the Earls in September 1607. It was the centre of O'Doherty's Rebellion of 1608 with the key Battle of Kilmacrennan taking place there. The county was one of those 'planted' during the Plantation of Ulster from around 1610 onwards. What became the City of Derry was officially part of County Donegal up until 1610.[11]

County Donegal was the worst affected part of Ulster during the Great Famine of the late 1840s in Ireland. Vast swathes of the county were devastated, with many areas becoming permanently depopulated. Vast numbers of County Donegal's people emigrated at this time, chiefly through Foyle Port.

Doe Castle, home of the Sweeney clan

The Partition of Ireland in the early 1920s had a massive direct impact on County Donegal. Partition cut the county off, economically and administratively, from Derry, which had acted for centuries as the county's main port, transport hub and financial centre. Derry, together with west Tyrone, was henceforward in a new, different jurisdiction remaining apart of the United Kingdom, officially called Northern Ireland. Partition also meant that County Donegal was now almost entirely cut off from the rest of the jurisdiction in which it now found itself, the new dominion called the Irish Free State, which in April 1949 officially became the Republic of Ireland. Only a few miles of the county is physically connected by land to the rest of the Republic. The existence of a border cutting Donegal off from her natural hinterlands in Derry City and West Tyrone greatly exacerbated the economic difficulties of the county after partition. The county's economy is particularly susceptible, just like that of Derry City, to the currency fluctuations of the Euro against sterling.

Added to all this, in the late 20th century County Donegal was adversely affected by The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The county suffered several bombings and assassinations. In June 1987, Constable Samuel McClean, a Donegal man who was a serving member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, was shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army at his family home near Drumkeen. In May 1991, the prominent Sinn Féin politician Councillor Eddie Fullerton was assassinated by the PIRA's opponent, the Ulster Defence Association at his home in Buncrana. This added further to the economic and social difficulties of the county. However, the greater economic and administrative integration with Northern Ireland, following the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998 has been of benefit to the county.

It has been labelled the 'forgotten county' by its own politicians, owing to the perception that it is ignored by the Government of Ireland, even in times of crisis.[26][27]

Road signs in Irish in the Gweedore Gaeltacht

The Donegal Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) is the second-largest in Ireland. The version of the Irish language spoken in County Donegal is Ulster Irish.

Of the Gaeltacht population of 24,744 (16% of the county's total population), 17,132 say they can speak Irish.[28] There are three Irish-speaking parishes: Gweedore, The Rosses and Cloughaneely. Other Irish-speaking areas include Gaeltacht an Láir: Glencolmcille, Fintown, Fanad and Rosguill, the islands of Arranmore, Tory Island and Inishbofin. Gweedore is the largest Irish-speaking parish, with over 5,000 inhabitants. All schools in the region use Irish as the language of instruction. One of the constituent colleges of NUI Galway, Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge, is based in Gweedore.

Glenveagh Castle

Donegal County Council (which has officially been in existence since 1899) has responsibility for local administration, and is headquartered at the County House in Lifford. Until 2014, there were also Town Councils in Letterkenny, Bundoran, Ballyshannon and Buncrana. The Town Councils were abolished in June 2014 when the Local Government Reform Act 2014 was implemented[29] and their functions were taken over by Donegal County Council. Elections to the County Council take place every five years. Thirty seven councillors are elected using the system of proportional representation-single transferable vote (STV). For the purpose of elections the county is divided into 5 Municipal Districts comprising the following local electoral areas: Donegal (6), Glenties (6), Inishowen (9), Letterkenny (10) and Stranorlar (6).

For general elections, the county-wide constituency elects five representatives to Dáil Éireann. For elections to the European Parliament, the county is part of the Midlands–North-West constituency.

Voters have a reputation nationally for being "conservative and contrarian", the county having achieved prominence for having rejected the Fiscal Treaty in 2012 and both the Treaty of Lisbon votes.[30] In 2018, Donegal was the only county in Ireland to vote against the repeal of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution which had acknowledged the right to life of the unborn.

Donegal Airport, which is located in The Rosses region

An extensive rail network used to exist throughout the county and was mainly operated by the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee and the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company (known as the L. & L.S.R. or the Lough Swilly Company for short). Unfortunately all these lines were laid to a 3-foot gauge where the connecting lines were all laid to the Irish standard gauge of 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in). This meant that all goods had to be transhipped at Derry and Strabane. Like all narrow gauge railways this became a major handicap after World War 1 when road transport began to seriously erode the railways goods traffic.

By 1953 the Lough Swilly had closed its entire railway system and become a bus and road haulage concern. The County Donegal lasted until 1960 as it had largely dieselised its passenger trains by 1951. By the late 1950s major work was required to upgrade the track and the Irish Government was unwilling to supply the necessary funds, so 'the Wee Donegal', as it was affectionally known, was closed in 1960. The Great Northern Railway (the G.N.R.) also ran a line from Strabane through The Laggan, a district in the east of the county, along the River Foyle into Derry. However, the railway network within County Donegal was completely closed by 1960.[31] Today, the closest railway station to the county is Waterside Station in the City of Derry, which is operated by Northern Ireland Railways (N.I.R.). Train services along the Belfast–Derry railway line run, via Coleraine railway station, to Belfast Lanyon Place and Belfast Great Victoria Street railway stations.

County Donegal is served by both Donegal Airport, located at Carrickfinn in The Rosses in the west of the county, and by City of Derry Airport, located at Eglinton to the east. The nearest main international airport to the county is Belfast International Airport (popularly known as Aldergrove Airport), which is located to the east at Aldergrove, near Antrim Town, in County Antrim, 92 km (57 mi) from Derry City and 127 km (79 mi) from Letterkenny.

The Iron Age fortress Grianan of Aileach (Irish: Grianán Ailigh).

The variant of the Irish language spoken in County Donegal shares many traits with Scottish Gaelic. The Irish spoken in the Donegal Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) is of the Ulster dialect, while Inishowen (parts of which only became English-speaking in the early 20th century) used the East Ulster dialect. Ulster Scots is often spoken in both the Finn Valley and The Laggan district of East Donegal. Donegal Irish has a strong influence on learnt Irish across Ulster.

Like other areas on the western seaboard of Ireland, Donegal has a distinctive fiddle tradition which is of world renown. Donegal is also well known for its songs which have, like the instrumental music, a distinctive sound. Donegal musical artists such as the bands Clannad, The Pattersons, and Altan and solo artist Enya, have had international success with traditional or traditional flavoured music. Donegal music has also influenced people not originally from the county including folk and pop singers Paul Brady and Phil Coulter. Singer Daniel O'Donnell has become a popular ambassador for the county. Popular music is also common, the county's most acclaimed rock artist being the Ballyshannon-born Rory Gallagher. Other acts to come out of Donegal include folk-rock band Goats Don't Shave, Eurovision contestant Mickey Joe Harte and indie rock group The Revs. In more recent years, bands such as in Their Thousands and Mojo Gogo have featured on the front page of Hot Press magazine.

Errigal towers over Gweedore and Cloughaneely. The former Church of Ireland church (now ruined) at Dunlewey can be seen in the foreground.[32] The church was built in the early 1850s.[32]

Five Finger Strand, Inishowen.

Cut turf between Carndonagh and Redcastle.

County Donegal has a long literary tradition in both Irish and English. The Irish navvy-turned-novelist Patrick MacGill, author of many books about the experiences of Irish migrant itinerant labourers in Britain at around the start of the 20th century, such as The Rat Pit and the autobiographical Children of the Dead End, is from the Glenties area. The MacGill Summer School in Glenties is named in his honour, and attracts national interest as a forum for the analysis of current affairs.[33] The novelist and socialist politician Peadar O'Donnell hailed from The Rosses in west Donegal. The poet William Allingham was also from Ballyshannon. Modern exponents include the Inishowen playwright and poet Frank McGuinness and the playwright Brian Friel. Many of Friel's plays are set in the fictional Donegal town of Ballybeg.

Authors in County Donegal have been creating works, like the Annals of the Four Masters, in Irish and Latin since the Early Middle Ages. The Irish philosopher John Toland was born in Inishowen in 1670. He was thought of as the original freethinker by George Berkeley. Toland was also instrumental in the spread of freemasonry throughout Continental Europe. In modern Irish, Donegal has produced a number of (sometimes controversial), authors such as the brothers Séamus Ó Grianna and Seosamh Mac Grianna from The Rosses and the contemporary (and controversial) Irish-language poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh from Gortahork in Cloughaneely, and where he is known to locals as Gúrú na gCnoc "Guru of the Hills".

County Donegal is known for its textiles, whose unique woolen blends are made of short threads with tiny bits of colour blended in for a heathered effect. Sometimes they are woven in a rustic herringbone format and other times in more of a box weave of varied colours. These weaves are known as donegal tweeds (with a small 'd') and are world renowned.

There is a sizeable minority of Ulster Protestants in County Donegal and many Donegal Protestants trace their ancestors to settlers who arrived during the Plantation of Ulster throughout the 17th century. The Church of Ireland is the largest Protestant denomination with Presbyterianism in second. The areas of Donegal with the highest percentage of Protestants are The Laggan area of East Donegal around Raphoe, the Finn Valley and areas around Ramelton, Milford and Dunfanaghy – where their proportion reaches up to 30–45 percent. There is also a large Protestant population between Donegal Town and Ballyshannon in the south of the county. In absolute terms, Letterkenny has the largest number of Protestants (over 1000) and is the most Presbyterian town (among those settlements with more than 3000 people) in the Republic of Ireland.

The Earagail Arts Festival is held within the county each July.

People from Donegal have also contributed to culture elsewhere. Francis Alison was one of the founders of the College of Philadelphia, which would later become the University of Pennsylvania.[34] Francis Makemie (originally from Ramelton) founded the Presbyterian Church in America. David Steele, from Upper Creevaugh, was a prominent Reformed Presbyterian, or Covenanter, minister who emigrated to the United States in 1824. Charles Inglis, who was the first Church of England bishop of the Diocese of Nova Scotia, was the third son of Archibald Inglis, the Rector in Glencolmcille.

Glenveagh National Park, the largest in Ireland

Donegal was voted number one on The National Geographic Traveller (UK) 'cool list' for 2017,[35] and the area's attractions include Glenveagh National Park (formerly part of the Glenveagh Estate), the only official national park anywhere in the Province of Ulster. The park is a 140 km² (about 35,000 acre) nature reserve with scenery of mountains, raised boglands, lakes and woodlands. At its heart is Glenveagh Castle, a late Victorian 'folly' that was originally built as a summer residence.

Fintown Railway on the track of County Donegal Railways Joint Committee next to Lough Finn near Fintown railway station.

The Donegal Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking district) also attracts young people to County Donegal each year during the school summer holidays. The three-week-long summer Gaeltacht courses give young Irish people from other parts of the country a chance to learn the Irish language and traditional Irish cultural traditions that are still prevalent in parts of Donegal. The Donegal Gaeltacht has traditionally been a very popular destination each summer for young people from Northern Ireland.[36] Scuba diving is also very popular with a club being located in Donegal Town.

Higher education within the county is provided by Letterkenny Institute of Technology (L.Y.I.T.; popularly known locally as 'the Regional'), established in the 1970s in Letterkenny. In addition, many young people from the county attend third-level institutions elsewhere in Ireland, especially in Derry and also at the Ulster University at Coleraine (U.U.C.), Ulster University at Jordanstown (U.U.J.), Queen's University Belfast ('Queen's'), and NUI Galway. Many Donegal students also attend the Limavady Campus of the North West Regional College (popularly known as Limavady Tech) and the Omagh College of Further Education of South West College (popularly known as Omagh Tech or Omagh College).

• List of Donegal people
• List of monastic houses in County Donegal
• List of National Monuments in County Donegal
• List of public art in County Donegal
• List of townlands of County Donegal
• List of towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland
• List of abbeys and priories in the Republic of Ireland (County Donegal)
• People from County Donegal
• Donegal County (Parliament of Ireland constituency)
• Earagail Arts Festival
• High Sheriff of Donegal
• Lord Lieutenant of Donegal
• SS Donegal
• The Troubles
• Wild Atlantic Way

• Seán Beattie (2004). Donegal. Sutton: Printing Press. ISBN 0-7509-3825-0.(Ireland in Old Photographs series)
• Morton, O. 2003. The marine macroalgae of County Donegal, Ireland. Bull. Ir. biogeog.soc. 27: 3–164.
• Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland (Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) by the Four Masters, from the earliest period to the year 1616, compiled during the period 1632–36 by Brother Michael O'Clery, translated and edited by John O'Donovan in 1856, and re-published in 1998 by De Burca, Dublin.
• Parks, H.M. 1958. A general survey of the marine algae of Mulroy Bay, Co. Donegal. Ir. Nat. J. 12: 277–83.
• Parks, H.M. 1958. A general survey of the marine algae of Mulroy Bay, Co. Donegal: II Ir. Nat. J. 12: 324–30.
• Patrick Buckland, A History of Northern Ireland. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1981.
• John Bowman, De Valera and the Ulster Question, 1917–1973 (Paperback Edition). Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1982.
• Brian Lacy (Editor), Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. Donegal County Council, Lifford, 1983.
• Willie Nolan, Máiread Dunleavy and Liam Ronayne (Editors), Donegal: History & Society. Geography Publications, Dublin, 1995.
• Gerald O'Brien (Editor), Derry & Londonderry: History & Society. Geography Publications, Dublin, 1999.
• Patrick McKay, A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names. The Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, 1999.
• Paul Bew and Gordon Gillespie, Northern Ireland: A Chronology of the Troubles, 1968–1999. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1999.
• Enda Staunton, The Nationalists of Northern Ireland, 1918–1973 (Paperback Edition). The Columba Press, Blackrock, County Dublin, 2001.
• Prof. Michael Lynch (Editor), The Oxford Companion to Scottish History. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001.
• John Hume, Derry Beyond The Walls. Ulster Historical Foundation, Belfast, 2002.
• Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (Pevsner Guides). Penguin, London, 1979 (Republished by Yale University Press, London, 2003).
• Brian Lalor (General Editor), The Encyclopaedia of Ireland. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 2003.
• Tom Ferris, The Great Northern Railway: An Irish Railway Pictorial. Midland Publishing, 2003.
• Samuel Lewis, Counties Londonderry & Donegal: A Topographical Dictionary. Friar's Bush Press, Belfast, 2004 (originally published as part of A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland by S. Lewis & Co., London, 1837).
• Jonathan Bardon, A History of Ulster. Blackstaff Press, Belfast, 2005.
• John McCavitt, The Flight of the Earls. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 2005.
• Avril Thomas, Irish Historic Towns Atlas No. 15: Derry-Londonderry. Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 2005.
• Jim MacLaughlin (Editor), Donegal: The Making of a Northern County. Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2007.
• Seán Beattie, Ancient Monuments of Inishowen, North Donegal. Lighthouse Publications, Carndonagh, Inishowen, County Donegal, 1994 & 2009.
• Paul Larmour and Shane O'Toole, North by Northwest: The life and work of Liam McCormick. Gandon Editions, Kinsale, County Cork, 2008.
• Carole Pollard, Liam McCormick: Seven Donegal Churches. Gandon Editions, Kinsale, County Cork, 2011.
• Lios-seachas o iar Thir Chonaill, A.J. Hughes, Donegal Annual 37, 1985, pp. 27–31.
• Orthographical evidence of developments in Donegal Irish, A.J. Hughes, Eigse 22, 1987, pp. 126–34.
• Rang scoile a teagascadh i dTir Chonaill?, A.J. Hughes, Donegal Annual 39, 1987, pp. 99–102
• Ian Donnachie and George Hewitt, The Birlinn Companion to Scottish History. Birlinn Ltd., Edinburgh, 2007.
• John Crowley, William J. Smyth and Mike Murphy (Editors), Atlas of the Great Irish Famine. Cork University Press, Cork, 2012.
• Jim MacLaughlin and Seán Beattie (Editors), An Historical, Environmental and Cultural Atlas of County Donegal. Cork University Press, Cork, 2013.
• Willie Cumming, Duncan McLaren and T.J. O'Meara, An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of County Donegal. National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (N.I.A.H.), Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin, 2014.
• Catriona J. McKenzie, Eileen M. Murphy and Colm J. Donnelly (Editors), The Science of A Lost Medieval Gaelic Graveyard: The Ballyhanna Research Project, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (in association with The Queen's University of Belfast and Donegal County Council), Dublin, 2015.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to County Donegal.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for County Donegal.

• Official County Donegal Portal
• County Donegal Gaelscoil stats 2010–11
• Census 2011 – Donegal Gaeltacht stats
• Census 2006 – Irish language stats for the county
• Donegal County Council
• Donegal County.com & Dún-na-nGall.com Bi-lingual County Site
• A site of information
• DylanFest in Moville
• Beatlesfest on the Lough
• On an Irish Jaunting Car through Donegal and Connemara (1902)