On 21 October 1914, the White Star liner Olympic left New York but was directed to lie at anchor in Lough Swilly. The Captain was warned about the dangers of German mines off the mouth of the Swilly and successfully sailed his ship into the Lough. Europe was at war and questions were raised in Buncrana about the purpose of the visit as the ship lay at anchor for four days. There was no communication of any kind with the…
W. James Doherty wrote ‘Inis-Owen and Tirconnell – being some account of Antiquities and Writer in the County of Donegal’ in 1895. Running to 609 pages, it contains wood engraved illustrations with information on Donegal bells, Cardinal Logue, Donegal poets, the cross of St. Boden, Seán Óg O’Dochartaigh, the Cathach, Isaac Butt, Sir George Ferguson Bowen of Bogay, Newtowncunningham, William Elder of Malin, Bernard Doherty, Josias Porter of Burt, Robert Patterson of Letterkenny and John Joseph Keane of Ballyshannon. Dictionary…
On 9 June 1923, the newspaper ÉIRE THE IRISH NATION published a letter from an unnamed Buncrana lady who complained bitterly about conditions in Mountjoy jail, Dublin. The banner headline ran BRUTALITY TO WOMEN IN BUNCRANA. Her jailers were not British soldiers but officers of the newly-established Irish Free State, (referred to as Staters who were pro-Treaty) in the final days of the Civil War. At the time of writing, her parents lived in Buncrana but she had been…
In 1879, several thousand acres of land were offered for sale to tenants in West Inishowen. The lots below contain interesting maps of the estates and townlands that were listed in the catalogue. This is an important document in the history of Donegal landed estates, as tenants who bought land in this sale avoided involvement in the Land War of the next decade. There is also very interesting information about the townlands and their special features contained in the catalogue,. This…
I have been reading the minutes of Buncrana Urban Council for 1916 and have been struck by how much life in the town changed in a mere four years. The town minutes of 1915 record that Major Baillie, recruiting officer for Donegal,, was given the support of the council to proceed with army recruitment in the town. Conscription was not yet on the cards. In 1914, the council agreed to take Belgian refugees. The Royal Dublin Fusiliers and Royal Engineers…