Donegal Annual to be launched at Magill Summer School, August 19th 2023

Looking forward to the launch of the 75th Donegal Annual at the Magill Summer School in Glenties, Co. Donegal, this weekend, at 4pm on Saturday August the 19th in the Highlands Hotel. The Donegal Historical Society are very fortunate that Dr. Joe Mulholland himself will launch the annual, and we’re very grateful to have been included in such a prestigious programme. All are welcome to attend, booking is not required. Copies of the annual will be available for sale at…

Donegal Annual 2023

Copies of the Donegal Annual 2023 are now available to purchase in the bookshop. The Donegal Annual is an annual publication of articles on Donegal local history, published by the Donegal Historical Society since 1947. This year’s Table of Contents is as follows: President of County Donegal Historical Society – Rev. Raymond Alexander Blair Eithne Coyle and the Struggle for Irish Nationhood – Méadhbha Ní Bhaoill Joseph Murray: Revolutionary, Teacher and Garda – Niamh Brennan Untold – Donegal Women in…

From Famine to Festival – Clonmany 1883-2023

As we’re coming back round to the annual country and music spectacular that is the Clonmany Festival, while I won’t be grandad-dancing myself (my granddaughter is now approaching her 25th birthday) I intend to be a spectator in the Square in the village. The scenes of dancing and merriment which we’ve become accustomed to at the festival may give rise to thoughts of how life in the town has changed over time. My thoughts may bring me back 140 years…

Donegal Annual 2022 in Bookshop

Copies of the Donegal Annual 2022 are now available via the Bookshop. Table of Contents The Garda Síochána in Donegal (1922-1923) – Seán Beattie Night of Terror in Mountcharles – Helen Meehan The Border in Finnegans Wake: ‘the sanguine boundary limit’ – Donal Manning In Search of Fahan Mura – L. S. McLaughlin Richard Hayward’s Donegal Connection – Paul Clements Painting Life in the Rosses: W. H. Bartlett (1856-1932) – Raymond Blair Bundoran Golf Club: Unique Sporting Inscription – Anthony…

Feast of Colmcille

Happy Feast of Colmcille Day! To mark the occasion, I was invited to read a short piece on the saint on RTÉ’s Edgeways series this morning, as part of the ‘Rising Time’ early morning show. The image featured here is the cross slab at Port Cille, Shrove, Inishowen Peninsula, where Colmcille stopped off having sailed down Lough Foyle for the last time on his way to Iona. He came ashore to climb the hill hoping to get one last view…

Ballyharry, Carrowmena and Ballymagarraghy

History and Folklore Seán Beattie Recently going through my records, I came across a series of interviews I conducted in the 1990s with the late Johnny O’Donnell of Cruckaveel, Ballyharry. He had a vivid recollection of times past and what follows is a short version of some of our discussions. One hundred years ago, in March 1921, the villages of Carrowmena and Ballymagarraghy became victims of the Black and Tans during the War of Independence. Reports of Volunteer drilling in…

Cist Graves of Trabreaga, Malin

Seán Beattie Sixty years ago this September coming (1961), a group of Council workers were working in a quarry set in a dune landscape, 200 yards behind Lagg Presbyterian church. The quarry can still be seen today from the church grounds. Working with shovels, they came across 3 rectangular box-like stone structures covered by a large flagstone. On opening the first, they found a male skeleton lying in a crouched position; a second slab was raised to reveal a female…

The Church of the Sacred Heart, Carndonagh, Co Donegal 1945-2020: 75 Years of Modern Worship

– Seán Beattie Built in the Romanesque style of Wicklow granite, the Church dominates the landscape of the plain of Maghtochair, an ancient sub-kingdom of the peninsula of Inishowen. Some 1,500 years ago, St Patrick founded a monastery here which became part of the town name. Evidence of Christian worship has been continuous since then, with the Donagh Cross, the Marigold Stone, Mass Rock and the pillar stones standing as emblems of the faith. The ClergyIt was against this background…

Inishtrahull Revisited 2020

This summer there has been a revival of interest in the island, thanks to the service provided by the yacht AMAZING GRACE and INISHOWEN BOATING.  The arrival of a pod of dolphins along the sea route has been an added attraction. In the records relating to the island, there are no reports of the presence of dolphins although seals have been around for many years in the vicinity of the island. Nicholas Worthington of the Inishowen Initiative is preparing an…