County Donegal Guide (Dún na nGall)
“Tír Chonaill” - in the province of Ulster. County town: Lifford.
Rugged, remote and wildly beautiful - Slieve League and a strong Gaeltacht.
Remote, rugged and wildly beautiful, Donegal occupies the far north-west, all but cut off from the rest of the Republic by the border. It boasts the towering sea cliffs of Slieve League, the wilderness of Glenveagh, surf-battered beaches and one of the strongest Gaeltacht regions in the country. The “forgotten county”, and gloriously so.
Wild, remote and fiercely proud of it, Donegal occupies the far north-west of the island, tied to the rest of the Republic by only a narrow strip of land around Bundoran. Its name, Dún na nGall, means 'fort of the foreigners', a nod to the Vikings, but the county's soul is thoroughly Gaelic: the Donegal Gaeltacht is one of the largest Irish-speaking regions in the country, and the distinctive Ulster dialect of Irish still rings out in Gweedore, the Rosses and Cloughaneely. The landscape is the county's calling card - the quartzite cone of Errigal, the sea cliffs of Slieve League, and a shattered Atlantic coastline of headlands, sea loughs and golden strands.
Historically this was the heartland of the O'Donnell clan, whose departure in the 1607 Flight of the Earls from Rathmullan marked the end of the old Gaelic order. Emigration shaped Donegal deeply - seasonal 'tattie hokers' crossed to Scotland for generations, and the county's diaspora stretches from Glasgow to Philadelphia. Its economy rests on fishing out of Killybegs, Ireland's premier fishing port, farming, tourism and the famous handwoven Donegal tweed of Ardara and Kilcar. Traditional music thrives here too, with a driving fiddle style all of its own, exported to the world by Clannad, Enya and Altan.
Cities, towns and villages in Donegal
- Lifford - The official county town, seated on the River Foyle opposite Strabane, with a fine 18th-century courthouse now a visitor centre.
- Letterkenny - Donegal's largest town and commercial hub, known as the Cathedral Town for St Eunan's Cathedral and its long Main Street.
- Donegal Town - Historic seat of the O'Donnells, home to Donegal Castle and a traditional centre of the tweed trade.
- Killybegs - Ireland's largest fishing port, where huge pelagic trawlers land mackerel and herring beneath the hills of south-west Donegal.
- Buncrana - The main town of the Inishowen Peninsula, sitting on the shores of Lough Swilly.
- Bundoran - A lively seaside resort in the county's southern corner, regarded as one of Europe's best surfing destinations.
- Ballyshannon - One of Ireland's oldest towns and the birthplace of blues guitarist Rory Gallagher, honoured with an annual festival.
- Ardara - A heritage town famed for handwoven Donegal tweed and knitwear, and a gateway to the Glengesh Pass.
- Gweedore - The heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht and one of Europe's most densely populated rural areas, home to Clannad and Enya.
- Dungloe - Capital of the Rosses and host of the long-running Mary from Dungloe international festival each summer.
Famous people from Donegal
- Enya - One of the world's best-selling solo artists, born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin in the Gaeltacht parish of Gweedore.
- Rory Gallagher - The legendary blues-rock guitarist was born in Ballyshannon in 1948.
- Daniel O'Donnell - The hugely popular singer from Kincasslagh in the Rosses, an ambassador for Donegal worldwide.
- St Colmcille (Columba) - One of Ireland's three patron saints, born at Gartan near Letterkenny in 521 before founding the monastery of Iona.
- Packie Bonner - The goalkeeping hero of Ireland's Italia 90 penalty shoot-out, from Burtonport.
- Seamus Coleman - Long-serving Everton and Republic of Ireland captain, a proud Killybegs man.
- Shay Given - One of Ireland's most-capped goalkeepers, born and raised in Lifford.
- Moya Brennan - Lead voice of Clannad and often called the First Lady of Celtic Music, from the Gweedore Gaeltacht.
- Patrick MacGill - The 'Navvy Poet' from Glenties whose novels chronicled the lives of Donegal migrant labourers, remembered in the annual MacGill Summer School.
- Isaac Butt - Founder of the Home Rule movement, born at Glenfin near Ballybofey in 1813.
Did you know?
- Malin Head on the Inishowen Peninsula is the northernmost point of the island of Ireland - yet Donegal lies in the Republic, further north than anywhere in Northern Ireland.
- The sea cliffs at Slieve League fall some 600 metres to the Atlantic, making them among the highest accessible sea cliffs in Europe.
- Scenes from Star Wars: The Last Jedi were filmed at Malin Head in 2016.
- The Flight of the Earls, which ended the Gaelic aristocratic order in Ireland, departed from Rathmullan on Lough Swilly in September 1607.
- Glenveagh is one of Ireland's national parks, and its castle was once owned by American art collector Henry McIlhenny, who hosted Greta Garbo there.
- Tory Island, nine miles off the coast, maintained the tradition of electing its own 'King of Tory' into the 21st century.
- The Grianán of Aileach, a restored stone ringfort on a hilltop overlooking Lough Swilly, was a royal seat of the northern Uí Néill for centuries.
- Fanad Head Lighthouse, guarding the mouth of Lough Swilly since 1817, is regularly voted one of the most beautiful lighthouses in the world.
Places to visit in Donegal
- Slieve League - Among the highest sea cliffs in Europe - wild and uncrowded.
- Glenveagh National Park - A remote castle and gardens amid mountains and loughs.
Surnames from Donegal: Gallagher · Boyle · Doherty · Sweeney · O'Donnell · Duffy · McLoughlin · Mooney · Ward · McGee · Quigley · McFadden