County Donegal
County Donegal (Contae Dhún na nGall), regarded by many as the most beautiful parts of Ireland, features a deeply indented coastline, impressive mountains and wild isolated valleys. One of three counties in Ulster that were not included in Northern Ireland, its proximity to the border, along with its geographic isolation from the rest of the Republic of Ireland, has led to a rather special outlook.
Large parts of Co. Donegal are designated Gaeltacht areas. The Donegal variant of Irish is distinctive, sharing traits with Scottish Gaelic. Scots is also spoken in east Donegal. Like other areas of Western Ireland, Donegal has a distinctive fiddle tradition.
Donegal has one of the most important collections of megaliths in Europe. The many wedge-tombs, cist burials and examples of rock art are evidence of settlement during the Bronze Age, as are artefacts including gold lunalae and ribbon torcs. Stone Circles at Beltany recall the Celtic springtime festival of Beltane (the ancient equivalent of May Day), traditionally associated with the lighting of hill-top fires to regenerate the sun.
Local History
In the C5th AD most of the area was conquered by the northern Ui Neill / O’Neill clan, the Cenel Conaill, and thereafter was known as Tír Chonaill. Based in Dún na nGall, their main branch became the Ui Domhnaill / O’Donnell clan, while the Cenel Eogain and the Cenel Enna continued as O’Neills. The story of Donegal could in large part be said to be the story of these two great Ulster dynasties, whose rivalry lasted a thousand years.
By the C12th the O’Donnells had, with the aid of the O’Doherty clan of Inishowen, pushed the O’Neills back as far as Tyrone, and they successfully resisted the Anglo-Normans for several centuries more. At its zenith their kingdom extended to parts of modern Sligo and Derry. Their Lucht Tighe (Royal Household) comprised several hereditary offices performed by members of other families, and they also employed Scottish gallowglasses (gall óglaigh or foreign soldiers). The C15th and C16th are recalled as a Golden Age of enlightened rule, prosperity and trade with Britain and the Continent.
Feuding between the O’Donnells and O’Neills continued. By the time the O’Donnells finally united with the O’Neills and other Gaelic chieftains to fight the English in the Nine Years War at the end of the C16th it was too late. Following the disastrous Battle of Kinsale and the death of Red Hugh O’Donnell in 1602, the last king of Tír Chonaill was his brother Ruairí Ó Domhnaill / Rory O’Donnell (1575-1608), who, having submitted in London to King James I, was created 1st Earl of Tyrconnell in 1603, and was further granted the territorial Lordship of Tyrconnell in 1604. When he and Hugh O’Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, discovered they were both to be arrested and imprisoned, they set sail from Lough Swilly with their families and followers for exile in Spanish Flanders and Rome – the Flight of the Earls, 14th September 1607. Their titles were attainted and their lands forfeit to the Crown in 1614.
Although the County of Donegal had been officially shired in 1585. by amalgamating the kingdom of Tír Chonaill with the lordship of Inishowen, Crown authorities were unable to establish any control over the area until the C17th was well advanced. Along with most of Ulster, Donegal was divided into plantation estates, initiating an era characterised by religious rivalry, poverty and subversion.
County Donegal was one of the worst affected parts of Ulster during the Great Famine, which left many areas permanently depopulated. Vast numbers of the county’s people emigrated at this time, mainly through the Port of Derry. Many settled in southern Scotland, creating a strong link between County Donegal and Glasgow that has endured to this day.
A few converted railway stations are all that remain of Co. Donegal’s extensive C19th British government subsidised narrow gauge rail network, closed in 1953. Poor public transport in the region has led to the development of private local bus lines, often the best transport links in the area; one such is still called the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway company.
More soon!
