Ardara, County Donegal
Ardara is a small town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is located on the R261 roads; the community has a population of 731, per the 2011 Census, an increase of about 30% since 2006. Scenic points near the town include the Glengesh Pass, the Maghera Falls and the views out over the Atlantic from Loughros Point. In 2012, The Irish Times named it the best village in; the Donegal County Directory for 1862 shows the administrative positions that were held in the county in that year, including several in Ardara. Anthony Molloy, captained Donegal in their first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title-winning season in 1992 Pat Shovlin, Donegal goalkeeping coach in their second All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title-winning season in 2012 John Doherty Bibi Baskin Charlie Bennett John Molloy Paddy McGrath Martin Gavigan List of populated places in Ireland Market Houses in the Republic of Ireland Media related to Ardara, County Donegal at Wikimedia Commons Local news and information on Ardara
Lough Swilly
Lough Swilly in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three glacial fjords in Ireland. Located on the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal, the northern extremities of the lough are marked by Fanad Head with its lighthouse and Dunaff Head. Towns situated on the lough include Buncrana on Rathmullan on the western side. At the southern end of the lough lies Letterkenny. In the south of the lough a number of islands were poldered and the land reclaimed during the 19th century for agriculture and the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway constructed embankments on the line from Derry to Letterkenny; these reclaimed lands are now wetlands associated with wildlife conservation and birdwatching, support over 4,000 whooper swans and thousands of Greenland white front, barnacle and brent geese. The lough is known for its wildlife-watching and diving on a number of ship wrecks, including SS Laurentic sunk by a German mine, which went down with 3,211 ingots of gold of which 3,191 were recovered.
The lough, the Grianán Ailigh hill fort at its southeastern bend, were recorded on Ptolemy's map of the world. It has a number of early Stone Age monuments and Iron Age fortifications along its shores, as well as a number of shell middens dated to 7000 BC. Swilly was the departure point for the'Flight of the Earls' in 1607; this event, which followed a failed uprising in September 1607, saw Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, set sail from Rathmullan with ninety of their followers. During a gale on 4 December 1811, the Royal Navy 36-gun Apollo-class frigate HMS Saldanha was shipwrecked in Lough Swilly. There were no survivors out of the estimated 253 aboard, with 200 bodies washed up on shore. Due to its natural shelter and its depth, the lough was an important naval port. In October 1798 prior to the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars, a French fleet carrying Wolfe Tone of the United Irishmen, plus troops to assist in 1798 rebellion, was intercepted and defeated in a naval battle at the entrance to Lough Swilly.
Subsequently Tone was taken ashore at Buncrana on the east side of the Swilly. A subsequent reassessment of the threat of invasion led to the building of a series of fortifications guarding the different approaches and landing points within the lough which were completed between 1800 and 1820. Martello towers were built around 1804 to defend the approaches to Derry; the six on the lough cost €1,800 each, were armed with smoothbore cannon, firing round shot and were completed in six months. Prior to the First World War the War Office improved the Napoleonic forts and their armaments as well as adding another fort at the entrance to the lough at Lenan Head with 9-inch guns – the largest in Ireland at the time; the remains of these fortifications are still at Lenan Head Fort, Fort Dunree, Ned's Point, Inch Fort and on the west coast at Rathmullan and Macamish Point. During the First World War, the lough was used by the Royal Navy as an anchorage for elements of the Grand Fleet, an amalgamation of the pre-war Home and Atlantic Fleets, under Admiral Sir John R. Jellicoe and a gathering/staging point for Atlantic convoys.
During this period a boom was placed across the lough between Macamish Point and Ned's Point, supported by a number of trawlers, to prevent U-boat attacks. After the Irish War of Independence the lough was one of the Treaty Ports specified in the Anglo-Irish Treaty until its final handing over at Fort Dunree in 1938. According to exhibits at Fort Dunree, during World War II Irish troops manned the guns there with explicit instructions to fire at any ship that might threaten Irish neutrality by entering the natural harbour. There was only one serious incident, when a Royal Navy ship entered the lough and did not respond to signals that it should turn back. However, the ship turned around before Irish forces fired upon it. Dundurn. Inishowen: Paintings and Stories from the Land of Eoghan. Dundurn. ISBN 9781900935173. Friel, Deirdre. "The Role of Lough Swilly in WW1". Fanad Lighthouse. Kerrigan, Paul M.. Castles and fortifications in Ireland, 1485–1945. Collins Press. ISBN 1898256128. Kimball, Michael J..
The Lough Swilly Archaeological Survey: Investigations Into the Neolithic Transition in Eastern Donegal, Volume 1. University of Wisconsin, Madison. Pierce, Seán. "Sweeping swiftly over Swilly". Irishtimes.com. Irish Times. Scoltock, Jack. We Own Laurentic. CreateSpace. ISBN 9781523742080. was mined at the mouth of Lough Swilly, Ireland in 1917. It sank in forty metres of water with the loss of 354 men. From 1917 to 1921 royal navy divers salvaged over 3,000 gold bars Stephen. "Map Sheds New Light on Hundreds of Inishowen Shipwrecks". Donegal Daily. Stevenson, Ian. "Two Irish Loughs". Redan: Journal of the Palmerston Forts Society. Gosport. List of loughs in Ireland Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway
Ballyliffin
Ballyliffin is a small village located at the north-western tip of Inishowen, County Donegal, Ireland. The surrounding landscape includes Binion Hill and Crockaughrim hill. Local history of the area is covered in Charles McGlinchey's publication, ‘The Last of the Name’, it includes accounts of feuds between landlords and tenants and other nuances. A small island off Pollan Bay called Glashedy is located one mile off the coast; the English translation of the name is the Island of the Green Cloak derived from the layer of grass present on the top. Throughout the ages various ships have become wrecked near to the island, which provide rich fishing grounds and contributed the rat population to the island. Isle of Doagh is nearby, though no longer separate from the mainland. Ballyliffin railway station opened on 1 July 1901, but closed on 2 December 1935, it is now a private residence. Ballyliffin has two 18 hole golf courses. Among Nick Faldo's favourite links courses, they were designed by course designers, Eddie Hackett, Pat Ruddy and Tom Craddoc.
In 2006 the old course was upgraded by Nick Faldo. Ballyliffin Golf Club hosted the 2008 Irish Seniors Open in June 2008, it was confirmed in July 2017. John Toland philosopher and "heretic" who coined the ideals of Pantheism was born in Ballyliffin. List of populated places in Ireland
Mark Farren
Mark Farren was an Irish footballer who played as a forward for Derry City in his prime. Farren began his football career with a unsuccessful period, throughout which he was dogged by injury, in the youth setup at Tranmere Rovers. Following this and a spell at Huddersfield Town, he returned to his home county to play for Finn Harps. After only one substitute League appearance in the 2000–01 League of Ireland season and a lack of first-team opportunities saw Farren move south to fellow League of Ireland First Division side Monaghan United, he became a regular in the Monaghan team and gained a reputation as a promising, pacy striker with lots of potential. He earned a move to Derry City in 2003 with a free transfer. Farren stayed clear of injury in the 2005 season to produce some magnificent displays, he finished the season as second top scorer with 18 league goals in 31 appearances and 22 goals in all competitions. It was this excellent form. With the signing of Kevin McHugh and the establishment of Gary Beckett as a top forward in League of Ireland football, Farren's starting place was placed under threat for the 2006 season.
However, he returned to the form he showed in 2005 and did manage to hold down a regular spot in the team, with an strong finish to the season, which helped Derry win the FAI Cup. His efforts helped keep Derry in the league title race up until the last day of the season, only to see his club lose the title to Dublin rivals, Shelbourne, on goal difference. In all, Farren finished the 2006 season with 18 goals to his name. In 2010 Farren was instrumental in Derry gaining promotion from the First Division scoring 20 goals in the season. Farren, who scored in the 1–0 victory in the last game over Monagahan United to give Derry the championship, may however be forced to put his playing career on hold due to a brain tumour, he was named in the squad travelling to Sligo to play in a crucial league match at the start of September 2011. Commenting on Farren attempting to surpass Liam Coyle's goal tally, Kenny stated: In August 2012 it was announced that he would be moving to Glenavon in January 2013 after signing a pre-contract agreement.
In September 2012 he overtook Liam Coyle as Derry's top scorer with 113 goals. He made his IFA Premiership debut for Glenavon on 5 January 2013 and scored his first goal at Dungannon Swifts. Farren died of cancer on 3 February 2016. In his honour, Derry City retired the number 18 jersey. FAI Cup: 2006 and 2012. League of Ireland Cup: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011. League of Ireland First Division: 2010. League of Ireland Premier Division Top Scorer: 2008. League of Ireland First Division Top Scorer: 2010. Source
Lough Foyle
Lough Foyle, sometimes Loch Foyle, is the estuary of the River Foyle, on the north coast of Ireland. It lies between County Londonderry in Northern Ireland and County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Sovereignty over these waters has been in dispute since the Partition of Ireland; the Lough Foyle Ramsar site is 2204.36 hectares in area, at latitude 55 05 24 N and longitude 07 01 37 W. It was designated a Ramsar site on 2 February 1999; the site consists of a large shallow sea lough which includes the estuaries of the rivers Foyle and Roe. It contains extensive intertidal areas of mudflats and sandflats, salt marsh and associated brackish ditches; the site qualified under Criterion 1 of the Ramsar Convention because it is a good representative example of a wetland complex which plays a substantial hydrological and ecological system role in the natural functioning of a major river basin located in a trans-border position. It qualified under Ramsar criterion 2, as it supports an appreciable number of rare, vulnerable or endangered species of plant and animal.
A range of notable fish species have been recorded for the Lough Foyle estuary and the lower reaches of some of its tributary rivers. These include allis shad, twait shad and sea lamprey, all of which are Irish Red Data Book species. Important populations of Atlantic salmon migrate through the system to and from their spawning grounds; the site qualified under Ramsar criterion 3, as it supports a large numbers of wintering waterfowl including internationally important populations of whooper swan, light-bellied brent goose and bar-tailed godwit, as well as wildfowl species which are nationally important in an all-Ireland context, including red-throated diver, great crested grebe, mute swan, Bewick's swan, greylag goose, common teal, Eurasian wigeon, common eider, red-breasted merganser. Nationally important wader species include Eurasian oystercatcher, Eurasian golden plover, grey plover, red knot, Eurasian curlew, common redshank and greenshank. A survey of Lough Foyle was June 1939 by H. Blackler.
In this, a map shows the distribution of certain species of algae in the lough and a full annotated list of the algae recorded along with photographs of the different sites. The list included: Cyanophyceae, Phaeophyceae, Rhodophyceae and two species of Zostera; the marine algae of Lough Foyle are included in Morton. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has a reserve at the lough. In 1792 the four-mile Strabane Canal was constructed from the tidal waters of Lough Foyle at Leck, to Strabane; the canal fell into disuse in 1962. In June 2006 the Strabane Lifford Development Commission awarded a £1.3m cross-border waterways restoration contract. The project involves the restoration of one and a half miles of canal and two locks to working order. Work began on the Lough Foyle side of the canal in the summer of 2006, but by 2010 the partial restoration was deemed unsatisfactory and the local council refused to continue to maintain the canal; the Broharris Canal was constructed in the 1820s when a cut – some two miles long on the south shore of Lough Foyle near Ballykelly – was made in the direction of Limavady.
It served both as a drainage channel and a navigation, with goods being brought from the Londonderry Port, shellfish and kelp from the sand banks along the shore. In the summer time, a ferry service operates between Magilligan across Lough Foyle. Northern Ireland Railways runs from Londonderry railway station along the scenic shore of Lough Foyle – with views of Inishowen in County Donegal as well as the Atlantic Ocean – via Coleraine to Belfast Central and Great Victoria Street; the strategically important Belfast-Derry railway line is to be upgraded to facilitate more frequent trains and improvements to the permanent way, such as track and signalling to enable faster services. From Londonderry railway station the next stop is Bellarena followed by Castlerock Coleraine en route to Belfast. Walkers alighting from trains arriving at Castlerock can walk to Mussenden Temple owned by the National Trust and can see the mouth of Lough Foyle and Greencastle some distance away in County Donegal; the main character of Alfred Bester's famous science-fiction novel, The Stars My Destination, is named Gulliver Foyle.
Bester took the names of his characters from various locations in Great Britain. The United States Navy established a Naval Air Station Lough Foyle on 1 July 1918 to operate seaplanes during World War I; the base closed shortly after the First Armistice at Compiègne. At the end of World War II after the Allied victory, the remainder of the German Atlantic fleet of U-boats used to attack supply lines from North America to Britain during the Battle of the Atlantic were assembled in Lough Foyle and scuttled – as part of Operation Deadlight. Lough Foyle is a disputed territory between the Republic of Ireland and the UK. Although this dispute is still ongoing, there are no negotiations as to its ownership; the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office underlined its view on 2 June 2009 that all of Lough Foyle is in the United Kingdom, a spokesperson stating:'The UK position is that the whole of Lough Foyle is within the UK. We recognise that the Irish Government does not accept this position... There are no negotiations in progress on this issue.
The regulation of activities in the Lough is now the responsibility of the Loughs Agency, a cross-border body established under the Good Friday A
Ballyshannon
Ballyshannon is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is located at the southern end of the county where the N3 from Dublin ends and the N15 crosses the River Erne. Incorporated in 1613, it is the oldest town in Ireland. Ballyshannon, which means "the mouth of Seannach's ford", after a fifth-century warrior, slain there, lies at the mouth of the river Erne. Just west of the town, the Erne its waters meander over a long sandy estuary; the northern bank of the river rises steeply away from the riverbank, while the southern bank is flat with a small cliff that runs parallel to the river. From its idyllic setting, the town looks out over the estuary and has panoramic views of mountains and forests. Archaeological sites dating as far back as the Neolithic period have been excavated in Ballyshannon and surrounding areas, representing settlement and ritual activity from early periods of human settlement. Finds have ranged from fulachta fiadh dating from the Bronze Age, to a possible brushwood trackway thought to date to an earlier Neolithic period, to the recent discovery of a unknown medieval church and cemetery containing hundreds of skeletons thought to date from between 1100 and 1400.
This site yielded numerous artefacts including silver long cross pennies and halfpennies dating from the reign of Henry III and Edward I. Other finds included bone beads, shroud pins, pieces of quartz which were found placed in the hands of many of the skeletons. Numerous other sites from various periods are thought to exist, including a neolithic tomb, the grave of Aed Ruad, High King of Ireland, upon which St. Anne's church was built, occupying the highest of the town's vantage points—Mullgoose. Nothing remains to mark either tomb, the last vestige of the mound on Mullaghnashee having been obliterated in 1798 when a fort was constructed on the hill-top; the 18th-century churchyard and the paupers' burial ground were both referred to as Sidh Aedh Ruaidh, the Fairy Mound of Red Hugh. The'sheeman' in Mullgoose means'fairies'. Popular belief assigned the interior of hills to fairies' dwelling places and local tradition has handed down accounts of the exploits of the fairy folk among the Finner sand-hills and in the Wardtown district of Ballyshannon.
The Vikings, according to the Annals of Ulster, attacked nearby Inishmurray Island in 795. They used the River Erne to attack inland, burning Devenish Island Monastery in 822; the Annals record that in 836, all the churches of Loch Erne, together with Cluain Eois and Daimhinis were destroyed by the "gentiles". In 923 and 916 "a fleet of foreigners on Loch Erne plundered the islands of the lake", as well as the surrounding territories. In March 1613, Ballyshannon was incorporated as a borough by James I. In 1775 the salmon-leap of Assaroe at Ballyshannon was praised by the traveller Richard Twiss in A Tour in Ireland: The Giants Causeway is an object, scarcely worthy of going so far to see, but the salmon-leap at Ballyshannon is a scene of such a singular nature, as is not to be found elsewhere, is as peculiar to Ireland as the bullfights are to Spain..... It was in Ballyshannon, around 1793, that Viscount Castlereagh, the future Chief Secretary for Ireland and British Foreign Secretary, had his famous vision of the radiant boy.
Known at the time as The Hon. Robert Stewart, he was serving as a young Army officer and M. P. for Down in the Irish Parliament at the time. Lodging in the old Military Barracks in the town, Stewart retired for the night. Looking into the fire he saw the form of a boy emerge from the flames, grow larger and larger and vanish; the radiant boy is a well-known figure in English and Irish folklore, is supposed to foretell death. William Allingham wrote a poem about the incident; the Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway had a station at Ballyshannon. The Great Northern Railway operated the E&BR line from 1876 and absorbed the company in 1896; the partition of Ireland in 1922 turned the boundary with County Fermanagh into an international frontier. Henceforth Ballyshannon's only railway link with the rest of the Irish Free State was via Northern Ireland, as such was subject to delays for customs inspections; the Government of Northern Ireland closed much of the GNR network on its side of the border in 1957, including the E&BR as far as the border.
This gave the Republic no practical alternative but to allow the closure of the line through Ballyshannon between the border and Bundoran. Thereafter the nearest railheads for Ballyshannon were Sligo in the Republic and Omagh in Northern Ireland, until in 1965 the Ulster Transport Authority closed the line through Omagh as well. A hydroelectric power station was built in the town in the 1950s; the project, or'Scheme' as it was referred to, brought engineers and specialists in hydroelectricity from many parts of the country and abroad to the town, which experienced a boom during the decade-long construction period. The scheme involved building a dam upriver from the town and digging out a deep channel or tailrace to lower the riverbed through the town to increase the head of water at the dam to drive the turbines; the new plant was named Cathaleen's Fall hydroelectric power station. Before the station was built, the river was wide, the water level much higher than it is today. A long bridge spanned from the northern shore to the'port' o
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. Donegal County Council Lifford the county town; the population was 159,192 at the 2016 census. It has been known as Tyrconnell, after the historic territory of the same name. 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 greater part 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 and has been used to market the county with the slogan "Up here it's different". While Lifford is the county town, Letterkenny is by far the largest town in the county with a population of 19,588. Letterkenny and the nearby city of Derry form the main economic axis of the northwest of Ireland.
Indeed, what became the City of Derry was part of County Donegal up until 1610. There are eight historic baronies in the county: Banagh Boylagh Inishowen East Inishowen West Kilmacrennan Raphoe North Raphoe South Tirhugh The county may be informally divided into a number of traditional districts. There are two Gaeltacht districts in the west: The Rosses, centred on the town of Dungloe, Gweedore. Another Gaeltacht district is located in the north-west: Cloughaneely, centred on the town of Falcarragh; the most northerly part of the island of Ireland is the location for three peninsulas: Inishowen and Rosguill. The main population centre of Inishowen, Ireland's largest peninsula, is Buncrana. In the east of the county lies the Finn Valley; the Laggan district is centred on the town of Raphoe. According to the 1841 Census, County Donegal had a population of 296,000 people; as a result of famine and emigration, the population had reduced by 41,000 by 1851 and further reduced by 18,000 by 1861. By the time of the 1951 Census the population was only 44% of what it had been in 1841.
As of 2016, the county's population was 159,192. The county is, it has a 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 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 Tyrone. A survey of the macroscopic marine algae of County Donegal was published in 2003; the survey was compiled using the algal records held in the herbaria of the following institutions: the Ulster Museum, Belfast.
Records of flowering plants include Dactylorhiza purpurella Soó. The animals included in the county include the European badger. There are habitats for the rare corn crake in the county. At various times in its history, it has been known as County Tirconaill, County Tirconnell or County Tyrconnell; the former was used as its official name during 1922–1927. This is in reference to both the earldom that succeeded it. County Donegal was the home of the once mighty Clann Dálaigh, whose most well-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 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 all of modern County Donegal.
The head of the O'Donnell family had the titles Rí Thír Chonaill. Based at Donegal Castle in Dún na nGall, the O'Donnell Kings of Tír Chonaill were traditionally inaugurated at Doon Rock near Kilmacrennan. O'Donnell royal or chiefly power was ended in what was the newly created County Donegal in September 1607, following the Flight of the Earls from near Rathmullan; the modern County Arms of Donegal 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 County Council; the modern County Donegal was shired by order of the English Crown in 1585. The English authori
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