Name: Highways and byways in Donegal and Antrim;
Author: Stephen Lucius Gwynn (1864–1950)

Teelin Harbour fishing and homespun industry

near Teelin · population centre · Donegal

Teelin Harbour, where the Glen River flows into the sea, is the chief centre of the new fishing industries developed by the Congested Districts Board. Carrick serves as one of two markets for homespun cloth whose production has been recently developed.

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is no better place to stay in for a week than Carrick. Dunfanaghy is the only place I know with rival attractions in the way of scenery, and the hotel at Carrick is decidedly the better. You could spend your week there sight-seeing and never go over the same ground twice. Besides, it is an excellent spot for fishing. Brown trout fishing is free to all guests on two rivers and three lakes, all quite within easy distance of the hotel. Salmon and sea-trout fishing is free also, provided you take out your licence in the hotel. This arrangement will suit admirably on the route I propose, as it is the first fishing hotel you come to and the licence taken there will be available at any other river in the county. You are allowed to keep your fish, and with luck you should get plenty. But the essential thing for you to do is to see Slieve League and Glen Columbkille ; Malin-beg, the caves at Muckross and so forth are minor attractions. The chief centre of the new fishing industries developed by the Congested Districts Board is at Teelin Harbour, where the Glen River flows into the sea, and Carrick is one of the two markets for the homespuns whose production has been so energetically developed of late years. But of these matters I shall speak elsewhere in some detail. Scenery is the business of the moment. To see Slieve League is possible by the use of a boat, a pony, or your legs : not by a bicycle. I recommend a boat for all this cliff scenery, time and weather permitting; there is said to be a cave of extraordinary dimensions in the Slieve League cliff. But I must describe the thing as I saw it from on foot.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 41

Teelin Harbour fishing industry

near Teelin · population centre · Donegal

Teelin Harbour, where the Glen River flows into the sea, is the chief centre of new fishing industries developed by the Congested Districts Board. Carrick serves as one of two markets for the homespuns whose production has been energetically developed.

Read the passage

is no better place to stay in for a week than Carrick. Dunfanaghy is the only place I know with rival attractions in the way of scenery, and the hotel at Carrick is decidedly the better. You could spend your week there sight-seeing and never go over the same ground twice. Besides, it is an excellent spot for fishing. Brown trout fishing is free to all guests on two rivers and three lakes, all quite within easy distance of the hotel. Salmon and sea-trout fishing is free also, provided you take out your licence in the hotel. This arrangement will suit admirably on the route I propose, as it is the first fishing hotel you come to and the licence taken there will be available at any other river in the county. You are allowed to keep your fish, and with luck you should get plenty. But the essential thing for you to do is to see Slieve League and Glen Columbkille ; Malin-beg, the caves at Muckross and so forth are minor attractions. The chief centre of the new fishing industries developed by the Congested Districts Board is at Teelin Harbour, where the Glen River flows into the sea, and Carrick is one of the two markets for the homespuns whose production has been so energetically developed of late years. But of these matters I shall speak elsewhere in some detail. Scenery is the business of the moment. To see Slieve League is possible by the use of a boat, a pony, or your legs : not by a bicycle. I recommend a boat for all this cliff scenery, time and weather permitting; there is said to be a cave of extraordinary dimensions in the Slieve League cliff. But I must describe the thing as I saw it from on foot.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 41

Dungloe fish curing and cooperage trades

Dunglow · town · Donegal

Local tradesmen in Dungloe cured thousands of barrels of fish, and women earned about fourteen shillings a week doing curing work. A cooperage was also established at Burton Port, providing additional employment to the area.

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Rosses — which is a general name for the district between Dungloe and Gweedore — is scattered in the most curious way with a multiplicity of islands, big and little, ranging from Aran downwards, and in fine weather must be exceedingly picturesque. Thirdly, just here are brought into conspicuous juxtaposition a monument of legislative failure and a living evidence of successful help given by the Government. Just inside of Aran lies Burton Port ; and just off Burton Port is Rutland Island, where in 1785, under the Duke of Rutland's Viceroyalty forty thousand pounds was expended in making quays for the herring fishery, a military station ; and general emporium for this part of the country. The sand and storm had their will of this enterprise j but Burton Port looks a more thriving concern, and likely to defy rough weather. Six or seven years ago fishing on any large scale was practically unknown here : what was the use of men's risking their lives to take a haul of herring and mackerel when all they could do with them would be to spread the rotting fish on their fields for manure ? However the parish priest harangued his parishioners on the duty of catching these fish and curing them ; but that was a new idea to Donegal peasants and new ideas are not welcome. Harangues failing, he got a boat and nets and tried the game on his own account to set an example, but was not successful in spite of the apostolic precedents. However one of his flock, a man who had been in America and seen things done, tried the experiment also and made a big haul, then a second and a third, and by that time the neighbourhood was encouraged. Then came in the Government and advanced money to buy boats and nets, established a curing station and brought men over from Scotland to teach the process. What is the result ? Last year there was paid down on the quay upwards of ,£12,000 for the take of fish to almost a hundred boats. Local tradesmen in Dungloe cured, one 3,000 another 4,000 barrels. Women do the curing and can earn, I was told, about fourteen shillings a week at it not working excess in hours ; and it must be remembered that in the agricultural

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 55

As the companion tells it

As you come through Dungloe in Donegal, you are in the heart of the Rosses, the scattered district that runs between here and Gweedore. Not long before this account was written, fishing on any large scale was unknown in these parts. Men saw no point in risking their lives for herring and mackerel when the best they could do was spread the rotting fish on their fields as manure. The parish priest tried urging his flock to catch and cure the fish, and when that failed he took a boat and nets himself, but had no luck. Then a man who had been to America and seen things tried the experiment and made haul after haul, and the neighbourhood took heart. The Government stepped in with money for boats and nets, set up a curing station, and brought men from Scotland to teach the process. The result was striking: last year over twelve thousand pounds was paid on the quay for fish landed by almost a hundred boats. Local tradesmen in Dungloe cured three thousand and four thousand barrels apiece. Women do the curing work and earn about fourteen shillings a week at it. Nearby Burton Port, where a cooperage was established, looks a more thriving concern than Rutland Island, where forty thousand pounds was spent in 1785 under the Duke of Rutland's viceroyalty making quays for the herring fishery, only for sand and storm to have their way with it.

Glendun burying ground with seamen's ship-carved tombstones

near Glendun · valley · Antrim

Near Glendun village, a chapel sits in a burying ground where many tombstones have dates going far back. Some stones bear queer carvings of ships, marking the graves of seamen from the area.

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There are other things, too, to see in Glendun if you care to give the time. As you enter the village you will find a road going to the right which follows at some distance the course of the river ; and up this you ought certainly to go. After about a mile you will pass on the left a chapel which is obviously new, in a burying ground where many of the tombstones have dates going far back, and some of them queer carvings of ships for the graves of seamen. A little further on the right you reach a wood, mostly of oak, nestling close to the hillside, and a cottage by the road. Ask your way there, and they will show where the altar with the " good stone " is. Here, in this corner of the wood, the Roman Catholics used to hold their service, at the foot of an old oak tree. But the people thought it hard there should be no mark of the sacredness of the place ; and talk came that there was a " good stone " in one of the Scotch islands — Staffa or Iona, I know not which. Accordingly some " boys " of the neighbourhood went over one day in a boat, and it was a dangerous journey they were on ; for the people of the island would have had their lives if it were known that they meant to lay a finger on this treasure ; and besides, who could say but if they touched a holy thing the power that guarded it might rise up and drown them for their boldness in the
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 179

MacSwiney Doe and Doe Castle

Doe Castle · electoral division · Donegal

MacSwiney, the owner of Horn Head, was a chief whose headquarters were in Doe Castle. A circular keep on Horn Head also no doubt belonged to him. In Elizabethan maps, MacSwiney Doe is depicted as head of the clan and a vassal of the O'Donnells.

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Further round to the west the ring of cliffs gets a little lower till the)' gradually sink to a mere hundred feet. But at a point where they are still of a very respectable grandeur there is MacSwiney's Gun. A cave runs in from the sea level, and from the end of the cave a blow-hole rises to the top. On a stormy day a wave is driven into the opening and shot out through this narrow funnel in a straight jet — an immense body of water, carrying with it large stones — while there is an explosion like that of a cannon. Tradition lies in saying it can be heard in Derry ; but I have heard it myself at Ards House, on Sheephaven bay, seven or eight miles off as the crow flies ; firing shot after shot at regular intervals. MacSwiney, the owner, was the chief whose headquarters were in Doe Castle ; a little beyond the Gun there is a circular keep on the Head, which no doubt also belonged to him. In Elizabethan maps three great figures" with battle axes are depicted on the waste that stood for Northern Donegal — MacSwiney Doe, the head of the clan, himself a vassal or urraght of the O'Donnells; MacSwiney Banat, whose territory lay westward from the Rosses to Killybegs ; and MacSwiney Fanad, who owned the headland that divides Mulroy from Lough Swilly and had his castle in Rathmullen. Of this I shall have more to say, and also Doe Castle you will meet on
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 101

As the companion tells it

You're coming through the Doe Castle district of Donegal. This was the country of MacSwiney Doe, a clan chief who held Horn Head and kept his headquarters at Doe Castle itself. He was a vassal of the O'Donnells, and on the Elizabethan maps he appears as one of three great figures with battle axes standing on the waste that stood for northern Donegal. A circular keep on Horn Head also belonged to him. Out on that headland there is a cave with a blow-hole the locals call MacSwiney's Gun. On a stormy day a wave is driven into the opening and shot up through the narrow funnel in a straight jet, carrying large stones, with an explosion like a cannon. The writer of the source says he heard it himself at Ards House on Sheephaven Bay, seven or eight miles off, firing shot after shot at regular intervals.

Ramelton's 'Irish Iniquities' lecture anecdote

Rathmelton · town · Donegal

A gentleman proposed to lecture the town of Ramelton on 'Irish Antiquities,' but an old woman with a fair-day stall mistook the title for 'Irish Iniquities,' remarking that there were plenty of them anyway. The anecdote illustrates the survival of local traditions in the area.

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The other highway into Tyrconnell led by LirTord across the fords of the Mourne and Finn ; thence there was a road through Barnesmore Gap to Donegal, which is now followed by a line of rail. Another led by Raphoe to the fords of the Swilly near Letterkenny. It must be remembered that bridges did not exist in this country in the days of Elizabeth ; but except for roads and bridges there is probably no great change in the face of Tyrconnell from Red Hugh's day to ours. It was not a fully civilised country in the days when it had a history ; it is not over-civilised now. Indeed in the business of looking up the local traditions, a certain malapropism has often come into my mind. A gentleman proposed to enlighten the town of Ramelton upon the history of its surroundings, and his lecture on " Irish Antiquities " was duly advertised. One day in the street an old woman who kept a stall on fair days came up to him. " So, your Reverence, you're going to give us a lecture on Irish iniquities. Faith, and there's plenty of them any way."
But it would be a great mistake to suppose that these ancient

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 20

As the companion tells it

As you come through Rathmelton in Donegal, there's a story that captures the flavour of the place. A gentleman once planned to enlighten the town with a lecture on Irish Antiquities, and it was duly advertised about the streets. An old woman who kept a stall on fair days came up to him and said, "So, your Reverence, you're going to give us a lecture on Irish iniquities. Faith, and there's plenty of them any way." She had mixed up antiquities with iniquities, but she wasn't wrong about there being plenty to talk about. The story comes from a time when local traditions still lived close to the surface here, and the author notes that this part of Tyrconnell was never over-civilised, not in Red Hugh's day and not now. The old roads and fords of the Swilly near Letterkenny and the routes through Barnesmore Gap to Donegal were the same ways people travelled when bridges did not yet exist in the country. What you pass through now carries that long, unbroken thread of local memory.

Salmon leaping at Drummonaghan waterfall

Bridge End or Drummonaghan · townland · Donegal

The Drummonaghan waterfall on the Lennan is created by a mill carry about fifteen feet high with a boarded salmon passage. During floods, salmon can be seen leaping up the passage, often swept back if they slew sideways in the rushing water.

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But the angler staying at Ramelton would, of course, be very foolish — except it may be in February — to limit his fishing to the pool. At any time when there is plenty of water the upper river is a good chance, and after a fresh probably a oetter chance than the stretch below Drummonaghan waterfall. Suppose then you go up it. The waterfall is made by a mill carry some fifteen feet high, with a boarded passage for the salmon to get up by ; and there is no finer sight than to see this on a day of flood when the water comes roaring over the stones, brown and frothy, and every now and then you see a flash of purple, a black back shows itself, scarring the smooth rush up the salmon gap. If the fish keeps perfectly straight he gets over, but let him slew the least to one side, and he is swung broadside on ; then comes a second or two of frantic struggling till he gives up the battle and rolls down on his side, showing silver at ever}7 turn. Sometimes the whole place is alive with them, and you see the fish endeavouring to scramble their way by side nooks and corners in the carry, often almost on the very bank. It is these wild rushes that make salmon the easiest fish in the world to capture, if they are not protected ; you can shoot them, you can gaff them, you could frequently even take them out with your hands. After a long drought, when the first drops of a fresh come down to the lower holes — especially in autumn — the fish go simply wild with desire for the upper waters and the spawning grounds. I have seen them on the Lackagh, when a hundred or so were lying under the bridge in the tideway, on the evening before a
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 193

As the companion tells it

Somewhere close to Bridge End or Drummonaghan, the Lennan has a waterfall made by a mill carry about 15 feet high, with a boarded passage for the salmon to get up by. On a day of flood there is no finer sight. The water comes roaring over the stones, brown and frothy, and every now and then a flash of purple appears, a black back shows itself, scarring the smooth rush up the salmon gap. If the fish keeps perfectly straight he gets over, but let him slew the least to one side and he is swung broadside on. Then comes a second or two of frantic struggling till he gives up the battle and rolls down on his side, showing silver at every turn. Sometimes the whole place is alive with them, and the fish endeavour to scramble their way by side nooks and corners in the carry, often almost on the very bank. It is these wild rushes that make salmon the easiest fish in the world to capture, if they are not protected. They can be shot, they can be gaffed, they could frequently even be taken out by hand. After a long drought, when the first drops of a fresh come down to the lower holes, especially in autumn, the fish go simply wild with desire for the upper waters and the spawning grounds.

The Giant's Grave slab near Slieve League

Slieve League · mountain or mountain range · Donegal

Near the cliffs above Teelin, the author's companion pointed out a slab known as the Giant's Grave, which had an old wives' story attached to it. The author admitted heading his guide off from further antiquarian discussion.

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there is no place in Malinmore or Glen where a smack can find refuge, and even row-boats, if there be any ground-swell, are hard set to it to get in without a shattering. These details, I confess, seemed to me more interesting than scenery, and when my acquaintance broke off to show me a slab called the Giant's Grave with some old wives' story attached to it, I headed him off antiquities. But when one reached the cliff edge and saw the sea a thousand feet below and the Connaught coast stretching away in its interminable line, one felt there was something to be said for scenery. Carrigans Head is below on the left, where stands one of the old signal towers, which communicates with Malin-beg, that with Glen Head, and so on. From this brow the grassy path runs level for a bit along the cliff edge till you come to the side of Bunglass — a sort of horse-shoe bend or bight in the three miles of cliff, and from this you see Slieve League in all its glory. About a thousand feet below you is the blue water, bright green round the rock base, and breaking upon what seems to be smooth fine sand, but really consists of water-worn pebbles big as your two fists. About a thousand feet higher than you stand rises the cliff on the far side of the bay, and its seaward front shows a singular variety, red and yellow in streaks, beside the greys and browns, for Slieve League is not granite. But the extraordinary beauty of the scene was given by a sight which must be common at that point. It was blowing half a gale, the bay was full of spindrift, and the sun striking on this made a rainbow right below us, arched against sea and cliff. I never realised what intensity of colour was before.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 43

Cratlagh Wood road between oak and hazel

Cratlagh · townland · Donegal

A beautiful road runs by Cratlagh Wood, shaded by oak and hazel, offering glimpses across the water to Lord Leitrim's pier, store, and corn mill. The mill ground Indian corn and helped sustain local people during hard times.

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The Leitrim name has a very different repute in the county nowadays. The old Earl's nephew and successor was then an officer in the navy. He inherited nothing that his predecessor could leave away from him : but he came down at once to the scene of the murder, and while making himself conspicuous by his attempts to bring the criminals to justice, rode about the country unattended. The tenants, however, soon found that there was to be a new order. All the victims of arbitrary ejectment, so far as was possible, were reinstated. A very heavy outlay was made on works of drainage and reclamation. But a still greater boon to the countryside was the establishment of a line of steamers to bring the produce of the farms to Glasgow, and, conversely, to bring articles in demand to Milford ; thus saving a transport of — in many cases — fifteen miles, and enabling the local shopkeepers to take nearly a pound per ton off their charges. The result of these and other beneficent measures has been a great improvement in the condition of the people ; and Milford, from being a miserable village, has become one of the most thriving petty towns in the county. When you have ridden a mile or two along the beautiful road by Cratlagh wood, under the oak and hazel which shadow it. you will get a glimpse across the water of a trim-looking pier and store. The building is a mill for grinding Indian corn, which has kept life in the people in times of hard
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 112

As the companion tells it

Somewhere around here, a beautiful road runs by Cratlagh Wood, shaded by oak and hazel. As you pass through, you can catch a glimpse across the water of a trim-looking pier and store, with a mill for grinding Indian corn. That mill kept life in the people during hard times. It was part of a wider change brought by the new Lord Leitrim, the old Earl's nephew, who had been a naval officer and came down to the scene of his predecessor's murder. He reinstated tenants who had been arbitrarily ejected, spent heavily on drainage and reclamation, and set up a line of steamers to carry farm produce to Glasgow and bring goods back to Milford. This saved many people a fifteen-mile transport and let local shopkeepers drop their charges by nearly one pound per ton. The result was a great improvement in the condition of the people, and Milford grew from a miserable village into one of the most thriving petty towns in the county.

Cushendun and Moira O'Neill's literary associations

Cushendun · townland · Antrim

The village of Cushendun is noted for its associations with the writer 'Moira O'Neill,' who lived there for many years and wrote her first songs and tales of the Glenfolk. The author considers these writings among the most admirable contributions to English-speaking Irish literature.

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It is, of course, a little shorter to cross the Glendun river at Cushendun, where it flows into the sea, and so follow the post route. But I advise the other way, for it gives you a pleasant glimpse of Glendun. And if you have prudently decided to avoid the coast road round Torr Head, even so I would have you run into Cushendun, partly to see the " good stone," partly for the sake of a very pretty village, but chiefly for its associations, as it will one day have a name in literature. " Moira O'Neill," of whom I spoke before, lived for many years and wrote there her first songs and tales of the Glenfolk, than which nothing more admirable has been written by any of the several lady writers who have done theij best to redeem Englishspeaking Ireland from the reproach of lacking a literature.
I am permitted to quote one of her songs : —

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 180

Errigal, Donegal's Highest Peak

Errigal · minor feature · Donegal

Errigal, at 2,466 feet, is the highest point in Donegal, described as jagged as a saw. It towers at the head of a valley flanked by Muckish and Dooish, where the road rises steadily for five miles.

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Aghla-beg is another long ridge, but at each end rises a little cone or mamelon, modelled like a woman's breast; and blocking the valley to the north is the towering summit of Errigal, jagged as a saw. That is the highest point in Donegal — 2,466 feet. Well will it be for you going up this valley if the wind blows from the east ; if it sets from almost any other quarter, it will come down in your teeth, and I defy you to drive a machine against it. However, it is a beautiful road, and you can always
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 83

As the companion tells it

Right here is Errigal, Donegal's highest point at 2466 feet, blocking the valley to the north. It rises jagged as a saw above the road. The old writer had advice for anyone coming up this valley: hope the wind blows from the east, because from almost any other quarter it comes down in your teeth, and he defied you to drive a machine against it. He did call it a beautiful road, though.

Horn Head House and the Stewart family

near Horn Head · promontory · Donegal

Horn Head House is a property that has been in the Stewart family since a Stewart raised men to fight for King James against the O'Neills. The road to Horn Head crosses a bridge over the narrowed tideway and passes the house.

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On a still day you can approach in the boat and get into the huge caves, which a blue light — if you have one — will show you opening up mysterious arches higher than a cathedral roof. But it is not by any means all days that tempt the average person to boat round that grim headland, and there are points in favour of taking your walk round the cliffs. The road on to the Horn leads over a bridge, across the arm of tideway, where it narrows and passes Horn Head House, a property that has been in the present family's possession since a Stewart raised men to fight for King James against the O'Neills.
The road winds up, through a numberless colony of rabbits, and finally leaves you in the centre of the headland. Hence you make your way to the cliff, on top of which stands the ruins of a signal station. Keeping on to the north you ultimately reach the Horn, a highest point of the cliff, two jutting crags of rock ; from which you can drop a pebble to the water 626 feet below. You will see, probably, two or three black specks like water-spiders below you • these are curraghs, the native type of boat, which consist of hide or, more often, of tarred canvas stretched over a frame of wicker-work. They are buoyant as corks, but easily upset ; and if you wear boots — the people who use them are generally barefoot — nothing is simpler than to put your heel or toe through the canvas.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 100

Inishowen assigned to Sir Arthur Chichester

near Inishowen · townland · Donegal · 1608–1609

After Sir Cahir O'Dogherty's forfeiture and death in 1608, the whole peninsula of Inishowen was assigned to the Lord-Deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester, as part of the settlement of Ulster that followed the suppression of Cahir's rebellion.

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But Sir Arthur Chichester, the Lord-Deputy, sent out hotfoot after him, and on July 5th one of the divisions advanced by way of Kilmacrenan, and Sir Cahir made his stand by Doon Rock. He was a conspicuous figure, of remarkable height, and distinguished by a great Spanish hat with nodding plumes ; so it is no wonder that a bullet in the first volley reached his brain. His head was cut off, for there was a thousand pounds set on it in Dublin Castle ; and the story is, that the man who got it set out to travel alone with his burden, but slept the night under the roof of an O'Dogherty, who looked into the bundle, recognised the head, and determined at least to keep the profit in the clan. The original captor only reached Dublin in time to ascertain that the price had been paid some hours before. Whoever got the money, the head reached its destination ; Sir Cahir's head was " set on a pole of the East Gate, called New Gate, and his body was quartered between Derry and Culmore." Phelim McDevitt, his chief supporter, was not long after betrayed to the English, who hanged him at LifTord. All this materially assisted the settlement of Ulster ; indeed, it is probable that when Faulet laid his horsewhip on the Irish chief whom Docwra had knighted, he had a shrewd vision of confiscated lands in case of any outbreak. If so, the forecast was a good one, though it happened to benefit, not Paulet, but the Lord-Deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester, to whom the whole peninsula of Inishowen was assigned after Cahir's forfeiture. Such was the last incident of any note in that pacifying of Ireland, a process which is wholly forgotten by those who owe to it their estates, but which the descendants of those who were despoiled remember with a resentment perfectly unintelligible to the winners.
When leaving Doon Rock, you get back on the main road which you left for the Causeway, keep straight along to the left, and it will take you back to Gartan, but there is a hill on it too steep to ride down. You will sight Gartan lake before

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 74

Inishowen disputed between O'Donnells and O'Neills

near Inishowen · townland · Donegal

Inishowen, the peninsula between Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle, was contested territory. The O'Donnells of Tyrconnell and the O'Neills of Tyrone both laid claim to it.

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Three great clans bore rule in Ulster. In the east were the Macdonnells of Antrim, Lords of the Isles, with a foot on each side of the narrow sea that we call the Moyle. Their sway at its height stretched from Larne to the Bann and inwards to Antrim and Coleraine. In the north-west was the lordship of Tyrconnell, which answers roughly to the county of Donegal, though many a time the O'Donnells, its rulers, overstepped their bounds into Sligo ; while on the other hand Inishowen, the peninsula between Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle, was disputed to them by the O'Neills. Between the
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 15

Kilcar village and its wild flowers

Kilcar · town · Donegal

The village of Kilcar sits in a valley with a church and Roman Catholic chapel, reached by crossing the Glen River. The surrounding hill-sides are carpeted with bluebells growing in open meadows, along with marsh marigolds, cuckoo-flower, bogbean, and the golden fronds of the King fern (Osmunda regalis).

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shapes of everything were lost in what we in Ireland call a Scotch mist, though we all know Scotland has no monopoly of the article. About the seventh mile you begin to go down a long hill, and at the bottom of that hill is a bridge; on the other side is a sharp rise, and from the top of that you see the village of Kilcar, with a church and chapel down in a valley to the left. Here you may leave the telegraph posts and turn to the right for about a mile, when you will meet the posts again climbing the hill from Kilcar, and they will take you over the wildest of all these wild hills into Carrick; but on the slope you may turn to the left on a new road which will take you over a gentler gradient. Along this part of the way one had little cause to regret that the view was blotted out. I never saw anywhere so many wild flowers as among these marshy meadows. Somewhere on the other side of the hill leading down to Kilcar I had noticed the finest patch I ever saw of the beautiful white bogbean growing in a swamp to the right of the road. Bog-cotton was everywhere through the heather, of course. But this hill-side about Kilcar was simply flooded with bluebells : growing, not in the shelter of trees or hedges — for trees and hedges there are none on these wild moors : but the ocean winds which sweep the heads off whatever resists them deal gently with the soft bluebells and let them carpet the open meadows to the colour of an Italian sky. Sometimes in the same field with them one saw in rushy places a radiant mass of marsh marigolds, shining like the sun ; by the ditches were quantities of pale pink cuckoo-flower, and everywhere in masses some small white umbelliferous blossom. But the most beautiful thing of all was to see here and there the young fronds of the King fern — Osmunda regalis — shooting up straight and strong, not yet come to near their full height and dignity, but wonderful in the glow of golden olive and brown.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 40

As the companion tells it

As the road comes down the long hill and over the bridge, Kilcar lies in a valley with its church and Roman Catholic chapel, and the marshy hillsides around the village are carpeted with wildflowers. Bluebells flood the open meadows, growing not in shelter of trees or hedges, for there are none on these wild moors, but covering the ground to "the colour of an Italian sky." Bog-cotton stands everywhere through the heather, marsh marigolds shine like the sun in rushy places, and by the ditches there is pale pink cuckoo-flower. Somewhere on the hill a fine patch of white bogbean grows in a swamp. The most beautiful sight of all is the young fronds of the King fern, shooting up straight and strong, glowing with golden olive and brown, not yet at their full height and dignity.

Lough Dhu and three lakes atop Fair Head

near Benmore or Fair Head · promontory · Antrim

On top of Fair Head, enclosed by the semi-circular cliffs, are three lakes. Lough Dhu has an outlet by a waterfall over the cliff, while another lake drains into a stream falling over the eastward side into Murlough Bay.

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The head presents a semi-circular front of about two miles of cliffs. On top, in the space enclosed, are three lakes, one of which, Lough Dhu, has an outlet by a waterfall over the cliff ; of the other two, one has a crannog or dwelling built on piles in it. This lake drains into a stream which falls over the eastward side of the Head into Murlough Bay ; a beautiful spot, where the shelter given by the Head has enabled a tasteful proprietor to form plantations about his house ; and a streak of red sandstone which crops out here gives a note of unfamiliar colour to the view. The whole place is open ground, so that detailed directions are almost an impertinence ; when you have explored the Head and bay to your pleasure, you can get back to your machine ; but you should have two or three hours to do the excursion in, and take your lunch with you.
From Fair Head there is a choice of routes, and any one who does not care about walking had better get back to Ballyvoy and follow the post road to Cushendun, which runs inland through a district mostly of heathery mountain for about ten miles. But if you want scenery you should go over the shoulder of Fair Head— following the telegraph wire : only, beware of the road. It is very hilly — mostly against you till you round a corner which is Torr Head and see the wire going straight down an awful hill to the coastguard station, where it ends. You can, if you like, go down there too, and at the bottom of the hill turn to your right, where there is probably a level stretch. Anyhow, nothing can be worse than the alternative, which is to go straight along at the high level, where you get perhaps halfa-mile of a gentle slope ; then the road disappears round a sharp corner, and if you round that corner with feet up or without a brake, heaven help you ! A little stream runs down into Portaleen Bay, and this road falls towards the bridge over it, steep as the roof of a house but by no means so smooth. The

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 175

Parkmore iron ore railway and narrow gauge line to Ballymena

near Parkmore · population centre · Antrim

An old railway cutting on the mountain side in Glen Ariff recalls abandoned iron ore workings. The nearest rail still in use is at Parkmore, at the head of the glen, connected to Ballymena by a narrow gauge line.

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up this, keeping the river on your right ; you will notice on your left the track of an old railway cutting, which has not been used since they gave up working the iron ore on this mountain side. The nearest rail in use is at Parkmore at the head of the glen, which it connects by a narrow gauge line with Ballymena. After about two miles the road turns to the right and crosses a bridge,on your left you will see a gate lodge. The owner of this place kindly permits tourists to pass through his grounds, and your best plan is to keep up the avenue, still having the stream on your right, and you will begin to see that close before you the wide valley divides into two, each arm having its separate stream. That running to the left as you face inland is private property ; and you must cross its stream by a wooden bridge about a mile from the avenue gate to enter the system of paths which the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway has laid out. A few yards below this wooden bridge is a great fall, forty feet in height, called Ess-na-Crubh — the Horseshoe Fall.
One thing to lay to heart is this. If by any chance it should be a day of pelting rain when you think of going to see Glen Ariff, why then, go all the more. These mountain torrents fill with extraordinary rapidity and a finer sight than Ess-na-Crubh, and indeed the whole watercourse, as it was on the day when I saw it, no one need wish for.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 182

Portballintrae: coastguard station and watering place

near Portballintrae · village · Antrim

Port Ballintrae is a little village serving as a coastguard station and watering place on the coast between Dunluce and the Causeway. A steepish road leads to it from the main route, and from there a coastal path continues toward Runkerry and the Causeway.

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Leaving Dunluce and getting back on to the road, you proceed for about three-quarters of a mile round the shoulder of a hill, then you open the valley of the Bush river, lying between you and Runkerry Point. On the other side of Runkerry is the Causeway. Your simplest plan is of course to follow the main road past Bushmills (where is the generating station of the electric railway), altogether a fairly level run of four miles. But this road takes you inland by a considerable detour, and there is a much prettier way by the sea, which I recommend if the tide happens to be low. Just where you round the hill a steepish road runs to the left to the little village of Port Ballintrae, a coastguard station and watering place. Ride through the town keeping close to the sea, and the road will take you to the end of a new terrace : beyond that you have to contend with nature. Lift your machine over a stile and you are on a hillside of short grassy turf with a foottrack well marked across it ; this you can ride for the most part, and admire on the far side of the bay Lord Macnaghten's huge house, Runkerry Castle, standing bare and unprotected on the seaward slope. But it must not engage your whole attention or you may break the back of your machine. After about a quarter of a mile on the grass you come to another stile, and beyond it is the river Bush, flowing out into the sandy bay. About a hundred yards up to your right is a foot- bridge over the quiet, but pretty river, which winds sluggishly through sand-hills. I regret to say that in this river salmon are generally caught with the worm. Having got to the far side, wheel your machine along the river bank to the beach, and at low tide you will get a mile or more of fine hard sand to ride over. At the far side is a cart track, which you must lead over, and it will take you up to the road near the Causeway station and hotels. That was the plan which I had laid out for myself, but, the tide being in, I was reduced to riding my machine
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 161

Rainbow at Slieve League cliffs

Slieve League · mountain or mountain range · Donegal

From Bunglass, the author witnessed a remarkable sight: with a half-gale blowing and the bay full of spindrift, the sun striking on the spray created a rainbow arched against sea and cliff below the viewer. The extraordinary beauty of the scene came from the intensity of colour.

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there is no place in Malinmore or Glen where a smack can find refuge, and even row-boats, if there be any ground-swell, are hard set to it to get in without a shattering. These details, I confess, seemed to me more interesting than scenery, and when my acquaintance broke off to show me a slab called the Giant's Grave with some old wives' story attached to it, I headed him off antiquities. But when one reached the cliff edge and saw the sea a thousand feet below and the Connaught coast stretching away in its interminable line, one felt there was something to be said for scenery. Carrigans Head is below on the left, where stands one of the old signal towers, which communicates with Malin-beg, that with Glen Head, and so on. From this brow the grassy path runs level for a bit along the cliff edge till you come to the side of Bunglass — a sort of horse-shoe bend or bight in the three miles of cliff, and from this you see Slieve League in all its glory. About a thousand feet below you is the blue water, bright green round the rock base, and breaking upon what seems to be smooth fine sand, but really consists of water-worn pebbles big as your two fists. About a thousand feet higher than you stand rises the cliff on the far side of the bay, and its seaward front shows a singular variety, red and yellow in streaks, beside the greys and browns, for Slieve League is not granite. But the extraordinary beauty of the scene was given by a sight which must be common at that point. It was blowing half a gale, the bay was full of spindrift, and the sun striking on this made a rainbow right below us, arched against sea and cliff. I never realised what intensity of colour was before.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 43

Salmon taken on the Lennan in still water

Lennan · townland · Monaghan

On the Lennan river, a salmon was killed in dead still water without a ripple. After repeated drifts of the boat past the fish's lying spot—a small creek by the bank about a yard square—the salmon finally sucked down the fly deep below the surface just before dark.

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Still, that was exceptional, and there is always this about a salmon, that he does not know his own mind. You may fish over him twenty times and the twenty-first he may take you. The odds are that he won't, but there is no certainty against it as there would be with a trout. I saw a salmon killed this year on the Lennan in dead still water, without the ghost of a ripple on it. He had risen some time in the afternoon, but refused to come back in spite of many offers. Just before dark my friend went out again on to the pool. Four times we drifted the boat up and down past that fish, and four times the flies were put into the exact spot — a little creek by the bank about a yard square — where he was lying. Then we tried the head of the pool, and' coming down the cast was made again, and he sucked down the fly somewhere deep below the surface. In the same way, at the Lackagh, I have seen the eel-weir fished for twelve hours on end by a keeper. Within one half-hour in the day he killed two fish, but he had fished the same spot for hours before and hours after without a rise.
It is a great point in the Gweedore river that there is no long pool of this sort above the tideway, with a weir above it for the fish to gather in. The salmon leap is a good half-mile up, and below that there is a series of rapids and holes, in any one of which a fish may lie, so that there is always broken water to fish in. On the Lackagh and the Lennan the fish gather in a long stretch of smooth water, and without wind fishing is hopeless. The Lackagh, flowing from Glen Lough to Sheephaven, is barely two miles long. There is one throw called

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 190

San Martin abandoned as wreck in Killybegs Harbour

near Killybegs Harbour · estuary · Donegal · 1588

The San Martin was abandoned as a wreck in Killybegs Harbour, part of the tally of Armada losses on the Donegal and Antrim coast that included two nameless vessels off the Rosses, the Duquesa Sta. Anna and La Trinidad Valencera on Inishowen headlands, and the Girona near Dunluce.

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The tale of losses, then, as 1 count it, on the Donegal and Antrim coast is this. The San Martin, abandoned as a wreck in Killybegs Harbour ; two nameless vessels lost off the Rosses, the Duqnesa Sta. Anna and La Trinidad Valencera wrecked on the Inishowen headlands ; and the Girona and another near Sorley Boy's Castle of Dunluce.
Any one interested in the matter should read Mr. Froude's Spa?iish Story of the Armada and also a booklet by Mr. Hugh

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 36

Three MacSwiney chiefs of Donegal on Elizabethan maps

Rathmullan · town · Donegal

Elizabethan maps depicted three great figures with battle axes representing northern Donegal: MacSwiney Doe, vassal of the O'Donnells; MacSwiney Banat, whose territory lay westward from the Rosses to Killybegs; and MacSwiney Fanad, who owned the headland dividing Mulroy from Lough Swilly and had his castle in Rathmullan.

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Further round to the west the ring of cliffs gets a little lower till the)' gradually sink to a mere hundred feet. But at a point where they are still of a very respectable grandeur there is MacSwiney's Gun. A cave runs in from the sea level, and from the end of the cave a blow-hole rises to the top. On a stormy day a wave is driven into the opening and shot out through this narrow funnel in a straight jet — an immense body of water, carrying with it large stones — while there is an explosion like that of a cannon. Tradition lies in saying it can be heard in Derry ; but I have heard it myself at Ards House, on Sheephaven bay, seven or eight miles off as the crow flies ; firing shot after shot at regular intervals. MacSwiney, the owner, was the chief whose headquarters were in Doe Castle ; a little beyond the Gun there is a circular keep on the Head, which no doubt also belonged to him. In Elizabethan maps three great figures" with battle axes are depicted on the waste that stood for Northern Donegal — MacSwiney Doe, the head of the clan, himself a vassal or urraght of the O'Donnells; MacSwiney Banat, whose territory lay westward from the Rosses to Killybegs ; and MacSwiney Fanad, who owned the headland that divides Mulroy from Lough Swilly and had his castle in Rathmullen. Of this I shall have more to say, and also Doe Castle you will meet on
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 101

As the companion tells it

As you travel through Rathmullan, you are in the town where MacSwiney Fanad had his castle. He was one of three MacSwiney chiefs the Elizabethan mapmakers drew on northern Donegal, each shown as a great figure with a battle axe. MacSwiney Doe, head of the clan, was a vassal of the O'Donnells and kept his headquarters at Doe Castle. MacSwiney Banat held the land westward from the Rosses to Killybegs. MacSwiney Fanad owned the headland dividing Mulroy from Lough Swilly, and it was here he placed his castle.

Wilds of Errigal and the Rosses contrast

Errigal · minor feature · Donegal

The author describes the striking contrast between the apparent emptiness around Errigal, where one can stand on the road and see no house for twenty miles, and the densely settled stony coast of the Rosses ten miles away, where cottages cluster thickly.

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It is a country for the most part remote, lonely, and stormbeaten ; in many districts so wild and barren that to this day no industry of man (even in places where the land hunger makes the main fact of existence) has attempted to reclaim it. But, inhospitable though it looks, welcome is ready enough where there are human faces ; and desolate as the place seems, it is not so in reality. You may stand where the road winds over the shoulder of Errigal, and look back and forward for twenty miles, and never see a house j yet ten miles off, on the stony sea coast of the Rosses, cottages cluster like the suburb of a great town. And stormbeaten though the land is, the fiercest winds there blow fresh and soft from off the Atlantic ; they have no cruel edge to them. Bleak it may seem to a stranger — a wilderness among lands ; but, wilderness or not, it is a country much beloved, a country to which men return from over seas gladly, and where many hearts in America, New Zealand, and Australia still hold fast to their rocky anchorage.
For strangers, of course, it will never have this irresistible magic ; yet those who come there need not be afraid of going home shocked and haunted by the nakedness of the land. Donegal can never be a thriving county, but it may cease to be clouded by the shadow of famine ; and it is in the meantime no worthless appanage of the Empire. While human beings in these islands increase and multiply as they are doing, every year will give an added value to these lonely regions which become the breathing spaces and playgrounds of our laborious race. And for a playground, I do not believe, that as things stand, there is a better to be had in Great Britain or the Continent, for the ordinary man with the ordinary purse, who seeks his pleasure most willingly in some form of open air exertion.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 1

As the companion tells it

Right here, where the road winds over the shoulder of Errigal, you can look back and forward for twenty miles and never see a house. The country is remote, lonely, and storm beaten. In many districts it is so wild and barren that to this day no industry of man has attempted to reclaim it, even where the land hunger is the main fact of existence. It looks inhospitable, but welcome is ready enough where there are human faces. Desolate as it seems, it is not so in reality. Ten miles off, on the stony sea coast of the Rosses, cottages cluster like the suburb of a great town. The contrast is striking. Twenty miles of emptiness here, and there a coast thick with dwellings. Stormbeaten though the land is, the fiercest winds blow fresh and soft from off the Atlantic. They have no cruel edge to them. Bleak it may seem to a stranger, a wilderness among lands. But wilderness or not, it is a country much beloved. Men return to it from overseas gladly, and many hearts in America, New Zealand, and Australia still hold fast to their rocky anchorage. For strangers, it will never have this irresistible magic. Yet those who come need not be afraid of going home shocked and haunted by the nakedness of the land. Donegal can never be a thriving county, but it may cease to be clouded by the shadow of famine. While human beings in these islands increase and multiply, every year gives an added value to these lonely regions, which become the breathing spaces and playgrounds of a laborious race. And for a playground, there is no better to be had in Great Britain or the Continent, for the ordinary man with the ordinary purse who seeks his pleasure in some form of open air exertion.

Ballyshannon salmon fishery

Ballyshannon · town · Donegal

Ballyshannon is the best-known salmon fishery in Donegal, where the river's large volume makes it more or less continuously fishable. The charges there are naturally high compared to other Donegal fisheries. It stands as the premier angling destination in the county.

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Salmon fishing in England, and in most parts of Scotland, has become almost exclusively a rich man's amusement. In Donegal it is still within the reach of everybody who can afford to pay five or ten shillings a day for his pleasure. Of course, to get the pick of it, you must pay more than that \ but it is a great point that you can get it by paying for a single day or a week. The best known of the Donegal fisheries is that at Ballyshannon, where the river being of large volume is more or less continuously fishable, but the charges are naturally high.
Next to that comes, I should say, the Gweedore fishing, which has many points to recommend it. There is a good hotel to stay at, where things are arranged for the convenience of anglers, and the river is the ideal thing of its kind ; about five miles of water from lake to sea, and no still water in the whole of it. Runs succeed each other with the infinite and beautiful variety that makes it a pleasure merely to put a fly over the waters of a mountain stream. The whole river can be fished from either bank, and there is no tree along the course of it. Down near the sea it flows through a cliffy gorge, and one is often fishing a deep swirling pool, pent in between rock sides fifteen or twenty feet high ; and though

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 188

As the companion tells it

Coming up through Ballyshannon in Donegal, you are passing the best-known salmon fishery in the county. In Donegal, unlike England and most of Scotland, salmon fishing is still within reach of ordinary people who can pay 5 or 10 shillings a day, though to get the pick of it costs more. Ballyshannon stands at the top of the list because the river there is of large volume, which makes it more or less continuously fishable. The charges are naturally high, as you would expect for the premier angling destination in the county. The book notes that what sets Donegal apart is that you can pay for a single day or a week, so the fishing is not exclusively a rich man's amusement. Ballyshannon commands the highest prices, but the size of the river means it keeps fishing when other waters might not.

Coleraine priory from Columba to destruction

near Coleraine · town · Derry · 590–1213

Columba visited the priory at Coleraine in 590, and records of its abbots continue until 1122. In 1213 the English destroyed the monastery, ending its long ecclesiastical tradition.

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These are the modern interests of the town ; but it has a history too. St. Patrick having arrived in the neighbourhood, was offered a site for a church, and he chose a spot overgrown with ferns which some boys were then clearing. So was founded the church which came to be known as Coolrathen "the ferny corner." Columba visited it in 590, and from that date up till 1 122, we have records of the names of abbots who ruled the priory there. In 12 13, the English destroyed the monastery. Later on, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the Scots began to settle on the Antrim coast, Coleraine was the scene of battles between the Macdonnells and O'Neills. In 1 613, the whole of O'Kane's country was granted to London Companies, and from that time dates Coleraine's importance, though Coleraine itself came within the grant made to the Macdonnells. The salmon fishing on the Bann was taken away from the Earls of Antrim, and became a lucrative source of revenue to English proprietors ; though not so valuable as it is in these days of quick transport. Old men can remember a time when servants in this neighbourhood used to stipulate that they should not be asked to eat salmon more than four days a week !
The populous English colony was, of course, an object of attack in times of rebellion. Coleraine stood a siege in 1641, and again in 1689 ; on the latter occasion, the garrison were

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 153

Columba ordained at Glasnevin monastery

Glasnevin · townland · Dublin

St. Columba was ordained and lived for a time in a monastery at Glasnevin near Dublin. He then returned to his own country in the north to begin his series of monastic foundations.

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was ordained and lived for a while in a monastery at Glasnevin near Dublin; thence he returned to his own country and founded his first monastery at Deny — the first of those many foundations which earned him his title Columbkille— they are too many to enumerate here; those in Donegal are Kilmacrenan — (that is Cill Macnenain — the church of the sons of Enain, who married Columba's sister Mincholeth) ; Gartan; Glen Columbkille; Tory island; Raphoe, Temple Douglas between Gartan and Letterkenny ; and Ballymagroarty (Drumhome) where the Cathach of Columba was kept.
But this Dove of the Churches was no dove in disposition, and there were bitter feuds between him and Diarmaid the Ardri or High King of Ireland. A manslayer who sought sanctuary with Columba was dragged away and killed by Diarmaid's order, and in return for this Columba stirred up the northern Clan na Niall — the folk descended like himself from Niall of the Nine Hostages— and they defeated Diarmaid, head of the southern Clan na Niall, at Cooldrevny. Another quarrel arose over a matter of literary right. Columbkille was a great scribe, and is said to have made 300 copies of the New Testament with his own hand. He had copied also a Psalter from a book of St. Finian's, and much store was set upon it, for this became the famous Cathach. St. Finian claimed the copy as his own, the matter was referred to Diarmaid and Diarmaid laid down the law that, as the calf went with the cow, so the copy went with the book. It is not certain whether this second dispute was cause or consequence of the fight at Cooldrevny ; at all events Diarmaid's decision was disregarded, for the Cathach remained an heirloom with the heads of Kinel Conaill. The battle of Cooldrevny is always regarded as a youthful error of St. Columba's, and is said to have occasioned him bitter repentance. But it was not the only one which he provoked. The second also arose out of a quarrel with another saint — Comgall of Bangor — who claimed jurisdiction over a church at Rostorathair near Coolrath or Coleraine. Columbkille was

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 62

As the companion tells it

Somewhere around here, St. Columba was ordained and lived for a time in a monastery at Glasnevin, near Dublin. From here he returned north to his own country and founded his first monastery at Derry, the beginning of many foundations across Donegal that earned him his name Columbkille.

Columba studies under St. Finian at Strangford

near Strangford · population centre · Down

As a youth, Columba went to Strangford, where he studied under St. Finian. This was during the era when Ireland was renowned as a home of universities frequented by students from all lands.

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Columba was born in 521 and lived to 597. He was son of a chief Feidilmid, and grandson's grandson to Conall Gulban. His mother was Ethne, who by divine monition, say the chroniclers, went to Gartan for the birth. His fosterers were the O'Ferghails (Freels) who lived at Kilmacrenan, then known as Doire Eithne (Ethne's Grove). After he came to be a youth he went to Strangford, where he studied under St. Finian. In those days Ireland was the great home of universities, an island remote from the wars that ravaged Europe, honoured for its scholars and resorted to by students from all lands. Columba
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 61

Exquisite strand near Ballintra

Ballintra · town · Donegal

A mile-long strand near Ballintra trends toward Donegal, reachable at low tide along the water's edge. Beyond it, sandhills full of pink cranesbill and blue and yellow pansies lead up to a road into Ballintra.

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roads to the left, which lead nowhere, and after about four miles you come to a sharp downward hill, and at the bottom is a path leading on to a mile of exquisite strand all trending in the direction of Donegal. If the tide is not full in, get your bicycle down on the sand and spin along the water's edge with nothing but blue sea between you and America. Unfortunately like all good things this strand has got an end, a projecting point — it extends no further than you can see — and about a quarter of a mile on the near side of the point a road runs up from the strand to Ballintra. It is not a good road when you get to it; but to get it you go through sand hills full of pink cranesbill and innumerable blue and yellow pansies, and all the other delightful things that grow on sandhills. After about a mile it lapses into the ordinary jog trot of roads. Just about that point avoid one more road to the left which leads you nowhere — and you have three miles easy going to Ballintra. Then you strike the main road — and excellent it is — with telegraph posts to see you safe all the way to Donegal. What is more you travel through a wellwooded country rich with lush grass, showing prosperity in its well-kept hedges ; altogether as prosperous-looking a district as you would see in Ireland. Decidedly the O'Donnells knew what they were doing when they settled at Donegal. No part in the English Pale looks richer or trimmer, yet here you are in purely Celtic Ireland. Something perhaps must be allowed for the magic of May on a sunny morning when every hawthorn bush was dashed with white and made the air heavy with delicious scent, and all the trees were decked out in the first freshness of verdure, or, lovelier still, in a gold that was not yet changed to green. Donegal town comes at last with a surprise on you as you round a shoulder of hill and come in sudden view of the pool and quay with the old town clustered about it. You ride past the quay and up into the Diamond, and there you will find excellent quarters at the Arran Arms, a hotel kept by a retired officer. The day I got there the Diamond was full of people and of carts and cars tilted on their end ; I counted over

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 29

As the companion tells it

Coming up near Ballintra, there is a mile of strand that trends toward Donegal. At low tide you can get down on the sand and go along the water's edge, with nothing but blue sea between you and America. The strand has an end, a projecting point, and on the near side of that point a road runs up from the shore. To reach it you pass through sandhills full of pink cranesbill and blue and yellow pansies, and the other things that grow on sandhills. After about a mile that road settles into the ordinary run of roads, and from there it is three miles easy going to Ballintra itself. Beyond Ballintra you strike the main road, excellent and well-telegraphed, running through well-wooded country with lush grass and well-kept hedges, as prosperous-looking a district as you would see in Ireland. The writer notes that no part in the English Pale looks richer or trimmer, yet you are in purely Celtic Ireland, and reckons the O'Donnells knew what they were doing when they settled at Donegal.

Kilmacrenan: church of Columba's nephews

Kilmacrenan · town · Donegal

Kilmacrenan, meaning Cill Macnenain or the church of the sons of Enain, was one of Columba's monastic foundations in Donegal. Enain had married Columba's sister Mincholeth, linking the foundation to the saint's family.

Read the passage

was ordained and lived for a while in a monastery at Glasnevin near Dublin; thence he returned to his own country and founded his first monastery at Deny — the first of those many foundations which earned him his title Columbkille— they are too many to enumerate here; those in Donegal are Kilmacrenan — (that is Cill Macnenain — the church of the sons of Enain, who married Columba's sister Mincholeth) ; Gartan; Glen Columbkille; Tory island; Raphoe, Temple Douglas between Gartan and Letterkenny ; and Ballymagroarty (Drumhome) where the Cathach of Columba was kept.
But this Dove of the Churches was no dove in disposition, and there were bitter feuds between him and Diarmaid the Ardri or High King of Ireland. A manslayer who sought sanctuary with Columba was dragged away and killed by Diarmaid's order, and in return for this Columba stirred up the northern Clan na Niall — the folk descended like himself from Niall of the Nine Hostages— and they defeated Diarmaid, head of the southern Clan na Niall, at Cooldrevny. Another quarrel arose over a matter of literary right. Columbkille was a great scribe, and is said to have made 300 copies of the New Testament with his own hand. He had copied also a Psalter from a book of St. Finian's, and much store was set upon it, for this became the famous Cathach. St. Finian claimed the copy as his own, the matter was referred to Diarmaid and Diarmaid laid down the law that, as the calf went with the cow, so the copy went with the book. It is not certain whether this second dispute was cause or consequence of the fight at Cooldrevny ; at all events Diarmaid's decision was disregarded, for the Cathach remained an heirloom with the heads of Kinel Conaill. The battle of Cooldrevny is always regarded as a youthful error of St. Columba's, and is said to have occasioned him bitter repentance. But it was not the only one which he provoked. The second also arose out of a quarrel with another saint — Comgall of Bangor — who claimed jurisdiction over a church at Rostorathair near Coolrath or Coleraine. Columbkille was

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 62

Road through Barnesmore Gap to Donegal

near Barnesmore · pass · Donegal

An ancient highway into Tyrconnell led across the fords of the Mourne and Finn, then through Barnesmore Gap to Donegal, a route now followed by a railway line. Bridges did not exist in this country in Elizabethan times.

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The other highway into Tyrconnell led by LirTord across the fords of the Mourne and Finn ; thence there was a road through Barnesmore Gap to Donegal, which is now followed by a line of rail. Another led by Raphoe to the fords of the Swilly near Letterkenny. It must be remembered that bridges did not exist in this country in the days of Elizabeth ; but except for roads and bridges there is probably no great change in the face of Tyrconnell from Red Hugh's day to ours. It was not a fully civilised country in the days when it had a history ; it is not over-civilised now. Indeed in the business of looking up the local traditions, a certain malapropism has often come into my mind. A gentleman proposed to enlighten the town of Ramelton upon the history of its surroundings, and his lecture on " Irish Antiquities " was duly advertised. One day in the street an old woman who kept a stall on fair days came up to him. " So, your Reverence, you're going to give us a lecture on Irish iniquities. Faith, and there's plenty of them any way."
But it would be a great mistake to suppose that these ancient

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 20

Gweedore salmon river and angling

near Gweedore · locality · Donegal

The Gweedore river offers about five miles of water from lake to sea with no still water along its course, combining rapids, deep pools and a cliffy gorge near the sea. A good hotel caters for anglers, and the river can be fished from either bank with no trees obstructing the course. Over twenty salmon have been killed by one rod in a single day.

Read the passage

Next to that comes, I should say, the Gweedore fishing, which has many points to recommend it. There is a good hotel to stay at, where things are arranged for the convenience of anglers, and the river is the ideal thing of its kind ; about five miles of water from lake to sea, and no still water in the whole of it. Runs succeed each other with the infinite and beautiful variety that makes it a pleasure merely to put a fly over the waters of a mountain stream. The whole river can be fished from either bank, and there is no tree along the course of it. Down near the sea it flows through a cliffy gorge, and one is often fishing a deep swirling pool, pent in between rock sides fifteen or twenty feet high ; and though
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 188

As the companion tells it

As you pass through Gweedore in Donegal, you are travelling along the course of a fine salmon river that runs about 5 miles from lake to sea. There is a good hotel here arranged for the convenience of anglers. The river has no still water in the whole of it, just runs succeeding each other with the kind of variety that makes it a pleasure to put a fly over a mountain stream. It can be fished from either bank, with no trees along the course to obstruct a cast. Down near the sea the river flows through a cliffy gorge, and you may find yourself fishing a deep swirling pool pent between rock sides 15 or 20 feet high. Over 20 salmon have been taken by one rod in a single day.

Ards, the Wray estate at Dunfanaghy

Ards · townland · Donegal

Ards, described as a great and beautiful estate at Dunfanaghy, was the Wray family's most prominent property but passed from its owners three generations before the author's writing. It represented the extent of Wray holdings established after the Plantation.

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That was not the only struggle between the two great clans fought out on the Swilly shores. If you leave the Ramelton road at Ballymaleel, three miles from Letterkenny, and turn to the right, the road takes you along the eastern arm of the lough, and here you pass the places of several gentry, set among fine wooding on the south-west shore. The first of them, Oak Park, belongs to the YVray family, who date from the earliest forfeitures in Tyrconnell. John Wray, for his services against the Earls, received in 1603 1000 acres near Letterkenny, and his descendants are there yet ; though Castle Wray, the next place to Oak Park, is now in the hands of the Mansfield family, who were among the settlers in 1610 after the Plight of the Earls ; and Ards, the great and beautiful Wray estate, at Dunfanaghy, passed from its owners three generations ago. Next to Castle Wray is Castle Grove, then Ardrummon, another house of the Mansfields ; and next to that again Fort Stewart, an estate which is still held by the lineal representative of one of James I.'s baronets; but the old mansion stood near the adjoining house of Shellfield. All these prosperous Protestant gentry represent the descendants of those who came in when the disaster at Kinsale and the final crash of 1607, left Ulster with neither an O'Neill nor an O'Donnell to resist the English. But there is trace of the older nobility and the older creed in the ruins of Killydonnell Abbey, close to Fort Stewart, which an O'Donnell founded in the sixteenth century for the Franciscan Brothers : (Killydonnell means the Church of the O'Donnells). In 1558 Hugh Boy O'Donnell (the Fair) died there in the odour of sanctity, as his father, Hugh Duv, (the Dark) had died in the Donegal Abbey. But in this very same year Calvagh O'Donnell, the redoubtable son of Manus, to whom the Earldom of Tyrconnell was offered for the first time, had attacked the still more redoubtable Shane O'Neill. Shane and Calvagh should have been friends, for their positions were very similar.
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 76

Ballycastle: gateway to the Glens

near Ballycastle · town · Antrim

Ballycastle is described as a clean little town at the mouth of a pleasant stream, serving as a preface to the Glens of Antrim. It stands about half a mile from the sea, connected by a fine broad tree-lined avenue to the beach quarter with golf links and the Marine Hotel.

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At Ballycastle you leave the Route and reach the Glens, and a prettier preface to them you could not wish for than this clean little town standing at the mouth of a pleasant stream — but, like all the streams in the Glens, of little account for fishing — with plenty of wooding about it. Inland, Knocklayd rises to 1,600 feet at the head of Glen Shesk, whence the river flows, and beyond the bay Fair Head rises, a huge mass ; the shore has the bright clean sand, so delightful a feature of this coast. Inside the beach are golf links, quite good enough for the ordinary performer and on the bay itself is a very comfortable hotel— the Marine Hotel — which I saw at Easter contending feverishly with too much prosperity. However it is presumably not always overfull, and that was the only fault that one could find with it.
The town proper stands about half-a-mile from the sea, and in it is the station of the narrow gauge Railway which runs down Glen Shesk from Ballymoney on the main line between Portrush and Belfast. A fine broad avenue with trees at either side connects the old town with the quarter down by the beach. Broad as this road is, on a fair day a bicyclist will have his work cut out to ride down it ; bolting pigs, jibbing heifers, and anxiously rushing drivers, make a series of hazards that can be dealt with singly, but are very awkward to get by when they happen to concentrate themselves in one spot. It is a thrilling but an amusing experience.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 164

Battles of Macdonnells and O'Neills at Coleraine

near Coleraine · town · Derry · 1400–1599

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as Scots settled on the Antrim coast, Coleraine became the scene of battles between the Macdonnells and the O'Neills, reflecting the struggle for control of the region.

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These are the modern interests of the town ; but it has a history too. St. Patrick having arrived in the neighbourhood, was offered a site for a church, and he chose a spot overgrown with ferns which some boys were then clearing. So was founded the church which came to be known as Coolrathen "the ferny corner." Columba visited it in 590, and from that date up till 1 122, we have records of the names of abbots who ruled the priory there. In 12 13, the English destroyed the monastery. Later on, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the Scots began to settle on the Antrim coast, Coleraine was the scene of battles between the Macdonnells and O'Neills. In 1 613, the whole of O'Kane's country was granted to London Companies, and from that time dates Coleraine's importance, though Coleraine itself came within the grant made to the Macdonnells. The salmon fishing on the Bann was taken away from the Earls of Antrim, and became a lucrative source of revenue to English proprietors ; though not so valuable as it is in these days of quick transport. Old men can remember a time when servants in this neighbourhood used to stipulate that they should not be asked to eat salmon more than four days a week !
The populous English colony was, of course, an object of attack in times of rebellion. Coleraine stood a siege in 1641, and again in 1689 ; on the latter occasion, the garrison were

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 153

Belfast castle destroyed and rebuilt under Tudor conquest

near Belfast · city · Antrim · 1503–1612

Belfast castle was destroyed by Edward Bruce during his kingship at Carrickfergus. The Earl of Kildare burnt Belfast in 1503 and 1512, and after various changes of hands the castle, town, and manor were granted to Sir Arthur Chichester in 1612, marking the beginning of Belfast's history as a town.

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difficulty in securing the port when he advised the establishment of shipwrights there — a far-sighted policy, but not followed, as the growing strength of Tyrone made it impossible for the English to venture beyond the Pale. Tyrone and his party fell, and in 1612 the castle, town, and manor of Belfast were granted
Garrcn Tower.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 186

Drummonaghan Bridge and wooded gorge

Bridge End or Drummonaghan · townland · Donegal

Drummonaghan Bridge is described as one of the prettiest spots in the country, with the river racing over the fall and through a shaded gorge where trees almost meet overhead. Above the carry the water stretches smooth past a green slope and a snipe-haunted bog, with Drummonaghan wood beyond.

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From above the Drummonaghan carry there is a very long stretch — about a mile and a half of deep smooth water. Indeed, Drummonaghan bridge is one of the prettiest spots in the country, with the river racing and tearing over the fall, under the bridge and down through a shaded gorge where trees almost meet above it ; while above the carry it stretches smooth past a green slope on its right bank and on its left a fringe of snipe-haunted bog, inside of which lies the road and inside that again Drummonaghan wood, full of bilberries in summer and woodcock in winter — a place of pleasant recollections. If you follow the stream on its right bank, you pass along a range of " holms " or water meadows, largely filled with rushes and cut by drains not easy to cross. This part of the river is little fished, and it is much hampered by trees, but there are good throws for salmon in it, and it is certainly full of trout. „ Probably, on a good day, if one could get a wind on it, it would be the best chance of all for a full basket, and the fish would run heavier. But in that country people turn up their noses at trout fishing, and in point of fact, when the good day comes, one is off after the delusive salmon. But I should very much like to see what a skilful dry fly fisher could do there on a calm evening in summer, dodging in and out between the trees. The ordinary Lennan trout is almost herring size — three or four to the pound. I have killed hundreds of them and not one in the hundred over a pound weight. But I have twice killed four dozen to my own rod, and that is a good day anywhere. Also I have known of big trout — 2lbs. and upwards— being got in the evenings about Claragh by dapping under the trees. However, this water between Claragh bridge and Drummonaghan
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 194

As the companion tells it

Somewhere close to Bridge End or Drummonaghan, you have one of the prettiest spots in the country. The river races over the fall and under the bridge, down through a shaded gorge where the trees almost meet overhead. Above the carry, the water stretches smooth for about a mile and a half, past a green slope on one bank and a snipe-haunted bog on the other, with Drummonaghan wood beyond, full of bilberries in summer and woodcock in winter. If you follow the stream along the right bank, you pass water meadows filled with rushes and cut by drains. This part of the river is little fished and hampered by trees, but it holds good throws for salmon and is full of trout. The ordinary Lennan trout runs almost herring size, three or four to the pound, and on a good day with a wind, it might be the best water of all for a full basket. The writer twice killed four dozen to his own rod, though few in that country bother with trout when salmon are about. Big trout of 2lbs. and upwards have been taken in the evenings near Claragh by dapping under the trees.

Ess-na-Crubh, the Horseshoe Fall in Glen Ariff

near Glenariff · village · Antrim

A great waterfall forty feet in height called Ess-na-Crubh, the Horseshoe Fall, lies in Glen Ariff below a wooden bridge. In times of heavy rain the mountain torrents fill rapidly and the whole watercourse becomes a spectacular sight.

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up this, keeping the river on your right ; you will notice on your left the track of an old railway cutting, which has not been used since they gave up working the iron ore on this mountain side. The nearest rail in use is at Parkmore at the head of the glen, which it connects by a narrow gauge line with Ballymena. After about two miles the road turns to the right and crosses a bridge,on your left you will see a gate lodge. The owner of this place kindly permits tourists to pass through his grounds, and your best plan is to keep up the avenue, still having the stream on your right, and you will begin to see that close before you the wide valley divides into two, each arm having its separate stream. That running to the left as you face inland is private property ; and you must cross its stream by a wooden bridge about a mile from the avenue gate to enter the system of paths which the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway has laid out. A few yards below this wooden bridge is a great fall, forty feet in height, called Ess-na-Crubh — the Horseshoe Fall.
One thing to lay to heart is this. If by any chance it should be a day of pelting rain when you think of going to see Glen Ariff, why then, go all the more. These mountain torrents fill with extraordinary rapidity and a finer sight than Ess-na-Crubh, and indeed the whole watercourse, as it was on the day when I saw it, no one need wish for.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 182

Killarney fern discovered in Poisoned Glen under Errigal

Poisoned Glen · valley · Donegal

In the savage Poisoned Glen beneath Errigal, described as the wildest of all Donegal's wild places, a land commissioner discovered the Killarney fern growing. This plant is so delicate that it is difficult to keep even in a specially arranged fernery.

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Folklore of course abounds, but it is not easy to come by ; the peasantry are shy of telling stories about the good folk and others, because they believe themselves and see that you do not. The botanist will find Donegal at least, a happy hunting ground; the oddest things grow in the oddest places. On the face of Slieve League, the huge cliff that looks out straight towards America, maidenhair fern grows freely, and in the savage Poisoned Glen under Errigal, the wildest of all these wild places, an enterprising land commissioner discovered the Killarney fern, a plant so delicate that it is hard to keep even in a specially arranged fernery. But these are matters for specialists whom I do not profess to enlighten or direct.
The object of study which will attract most people in Donegal is that of social conditions. Here you have to begin with, in many of the wildest parts from Inishowen to the Rosses, a population living in houses set closely together upon a soil manifestly incapable of supporting them, yet willing to pay exorbitant prices for the right to occupy these holdings.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 10

Lough Swilly, the Lake of Shadows

near Lough Swilly · estuary · Donegal

The author describes a sweeping view of Lough Swilly from the road between Letterkenny and Ramelton, calling it the Lake of Shadows. The landscape features Dunree Head, the mountain island of Inch, the Scalp, the Knockalla range, and Slieve Snacht of Inishowen rising in the centre.

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I do not on the whole recommend this line of travel, because to miss the great chain of mountains from Errigal to Muckish, besides Horn Head, Sheephaven and Mulroy, is to miss perhaps the very best things in Donegal : but it is a way of knocking sixty miles off the tour, and it takes you through a pleasant inland country full of historic associations. Nearly opposite Rathmullen Lough Swilly divides ; one short arm running up to Ramelton and becoming the estuary of the Lennan ; the other longer one, with Letterkenny at the head of it, receives the Swilly. There is no more beautiful view in Ireland, to my thinking, than that which is before you for the last three miles from Letterkenny to Ramelton. Lough Swilly, the Lake of Shadows, lies before you, to all appearance wholly land-locked ; Dunree Head projects from the Inishowen shore, and the course of the water swerves westward beyond Buncrana. You cannot see the Atlantic, but only this great sheet of blue water encompassed by mountains ; in the centre of them Slieve Snacht of Inishowen — the highest point of the peninsula — rises to a point, falling away on each side in beautiful curves. To your right, a little east of it and nearer you, is the mountain island of Inch ; behind it, opposite Rathmullen, the Scalp ; on the west of the lough the Knockalla range, serrated and fanciful in outline, runs north towards the sea. There is no want of wooding in the landscape, and the white houses of Buncrana and Rathmullen, seen in the far distance, subdue the wildness into something perhaps more human and lovable than the barren grandeur of Slieve League.
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 75

O'Gallagher lordship at Pettigo

Pettigo · town · Donegal

Sir Owen O'Gallagher was lord of the territory north by Pettigo and served as marshal of the O'Donnells during the great days of Tyrconnell. The Lough Erne shores were under O'Donnell influence at this time.

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Most of the shores of Lough Erne were under the O'Donnell influence in the great days of Tyrconnell. Enniskillen and Fermanagh were the country of the Maguire who stood loyally by Red Hugh. North by Pettigo Sir Owen O'Gallagher was lord, and he was the marshal of the O'Donnells. South-west of the Lake the MacClancy's country stretched towards Lough Melvin, on which a few Spaniards under Captain Cuellar held out in a castle after their shipwreck in a vessel of the Armada. The river Erne was the frontier of the O'Donnell's own country, and across it ran the highway from Connaught into Tyrconnell, passing through Bundoran and Ballyshannon. All the north of Donegal from the Rosses to Fanad was held by the three divisions of the MacSwineys. Inishowen was the country of the O'Doghertys, and to this day they say you cannot beat a bush in Inishowen without starting an O'Dogherty.
The other highway into Tyrconnell led by LirTord across the fords of the Mourne and Finn ; thence there was a road through Barnesmore Gap to Donegal, which is now followed by a line of rail. Another led by Raphoe to the fords of the Swilly near Letterkenny. It must be remembered that bridges did not exist in this country in the days of Elizabeth ; but except for roads and bridges there is probably no great change in the face of Tyrconnell from Red Hugh's day to ours. It was not a fully civilised country in the days when it had a history ; it is not over-civilised now. Indeed in the business of looking up the local traditions, a certain malapropism has often come into my mind. A gentleman proposed to enlighten the town of Ramelton upon the history of its surroundings, and his lecture on " Irish Antiquities " was duly advertised. One day in the street an old woman who kept a stall on fair days came up to him. " So, your Reverence, you're going to give us a lecture on Irish iniquities. Faith, and there's plenty of them any way."

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 20

Signal station ruins on Horn Head

near Horn Head · promontory · Donegal

On top of the cliff of Horn Head stand the ruins of a signal station. From there one can walk north to the Horn, the highest point of the cliff, consisting of two jutting crags of rock from which a pebble can be dropped to the water 626 feet below.

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The road winds up, through a numberless colony of rabbits, and finally leaves you in the centre of the headland. Hence you make your way to the cliff, on top of which stands the ruins of a signal station. Keeping on to the north you ultimately reach the Horn, a highest point of the cliff, two jutting crags of rock ; from which you can drop a pebble to the water 626 feet below. You will see, probably, two or three black specks like water-spiders below you • these are curraghs, the native type of boat, which consist of hide or, more often, of tarred canvas stretched over a frame of wicker-work. They are buoyant as corks, but easily upset ; and if you wear boots — the people who use them are generally barefoot — nothing is simpler than to put your heel or toe through the canvas.
The cliff front to the north is somewhat bow-shaped and almost overhanging — but it is possible, by scrambling between the two Horns, to get down some way ; and an old gentleman, whom I know well, has been up and down it in his youth ; not that I recommend it as a promenade. There is a very curious result of this concavity of the cliff. As you walk up, if the wind is blowing off the sea, you will find yourself in one of the breeziest places imaginable, and may have a hard fight to get

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 100

The One Man's Path on Slieve League

One Man's Path · road · Donegal

The One Man's Path is a narrow edge of stone about two feet across, mounting steeply for about fifteen yards along the cliff top of Slieve League. It must be crossed on hands and knees, with a steep slope falling to a tarn on the landside and a near-vertical drop on the seaward side.

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From this point you begin a really stiff climb, following the edge of the cliff in its upward winding. The stiffest of the actual climb is over when you get to the One Man's Path. Here the cliff top is literally a narrow edge of stone about two feet across, mounting very steep for about fifteen yards. It must be done on hands and knees. On your right inland is a very steep slope running down towards a tarn ; on the seaward side is practically a straight drop, but only over a heathery
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 43

The Poisoned Glen near Dunlewy

Poisoned Glen · valley · Donegal

The Poisoned Glen runs up into the Derryveagh mountains and is described as a sinister-looking spot. Its name is said to derive from a spurge plant that grows there.

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way back to civilisation. From the top of this pass the road lies downhill to Gweedore, a good six or seven miles. Pedal down it as fast as you like, and rounding to the west of Errigal you see far below you the beautiful Dunlewy valley, with fine plantations on the further side of Lough Nacung, under the hill's shelter — a strange contrast to all the savagery of the mountains. To your left the Poisoned Glen runs up into the Derryveagh mountains, a sinister-looking spot ; it gets its bad name, they say, from a spurge that grows there. Now if the day is clear, and you feel energetic, you should leave your bicycle at the first wayside hut you come to, and climb Errigal ; it only takes about an hour from where you are, and with clear air it gives you a map of Ireland from Inishowen Head to Sligo and even Galway.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 84

Torr Head on the steep coast road

near Torr Head · promontory · Antrim

Torr Head is a corner on the steep coast road from Fair Head toward Cushendun, where the telegraph wire goes straight down an awful hill to the coastguard station where it ends.

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From Fair Head there is a choice of routes, and any one who does not care about walking had better get back to Ballyvoy and follow the post road to Cushendun, which runs inland through a district mostly of heathery mountain for about ten miles. But if you want scenery you should go over the shoulder of Fair Head— following the telegraph wire : only, beware of the road. It is very hilly — mostly against you till you round a corner which is Torr Head and see the wire going straight down an awful hill to the coastguard station, where it ends. You can, if you like, go down there too, and at the bottom of the hill turn to your right, where there is probably a level stretch. Anyhow, nothing can be worse than the alternative, which is to go straight along at the high level, where you get perhaps halfa-mile of a gentle slope ; then the road disappears round a sharp corner, and if you round that corner with feet up or without a brake, heaven help you ! A little stream runs down into Portaleen Bay, and this road falls towards the bridge over it, steep as the roof of a house but by no means so smooth. The
270 LADY LONDONDERRY'S COACH chap.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 175

Ardara's free and preserved fishing waters

Ardara · town · Donegal

Ardara offers a free river and several brown trout loughs, while the Ownea river is preserved. Mr. McNelis, the hotel proprietor, rents about two miles of the Ownea above the tideway, described as beautiful fishing water where the author once lost a fine salmon.

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The first place is Carrick, where you are offered two salmon rivers and several lakes absolutely free of charge, and are allowed to keep your fish— only, you must take out a salmon license in the hotel even if you already have one. I have not tried the fishing, but mean to do so before long, for it is a tempting offer. Next comes Ardara, where the Ardara river is free, so are several brown trout loughs, but the Ownea is preserved, and Mr. McNelis, the hotel proprietor, rents about two miles of it above the tideway —beautiful fishing water where I lost a fine salmon. They say that in August the tide-
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 196

As the companion tells it

Up ahead is Ardara in Donegal. The Ardara river is free fishing, and there are several brown trout loughs that are free as well. The Ownea river, though, is preserved. Mr. McNelis, the hotel proprietor, rents about two miles of it above the tideway. It is beautiful fishing water, and the author once lost a fine salmon there.

Belleek pottery works and the river fall

Belleek · townland · Galway

At Belleek, the narrow winding end of Lough Erne plunges over a fall and becomes a river. The town is known for the Belleek pottery works, producing ware of curious and admirable quality.

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Your best way to Donegal from London or elsewhere is to go first to Enniskillen. That is about fifteen hours from Euston. Sleep in Enniskillen— where I may as well say that I found the Royal Hotel comfortable, and the sort of place where service appears to be an inheritance and waiters — not German — grow into confidential advisers. Any time after June ist a steamer leaves Enniskillen which will take you down the twenty-three miles of Lough Erne, threading its way through the innumerable islets. It leaves at 10 o'clock all days except Saturdays, when it starts at 12 : and it takes about 2 J hours to do the journey. I cannot speak at first hand of this trip, having reached Enniskillen just before June ist, but to judge from the glimpses of the lough got from the train, all that is reported of its beauty may be implicitly believed. You will reach Castle Caldwell at the western end of the lake about half past twelve and a train will take you on to Ballyshannon, or if you are energetic you can send on your things and ride the six miles yourself : or again you can get out at Belleek, where the narrow winding end of the lake plunges over a fall and definitely becomes a river.
If so you should notice the pottery works, where is made the well-known Belleek ware, whose curious and admirable quality should some day find an artist to turn them to really decorative purpose. Cross the river at Belleek and follow this famous

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 14

Derry's origin as Daire Calgach

near Derry · city · Derry

Derry's oldest name was Daire Calgach, meaning the grove of Calgach, from the Irish word for oak grove. After the year 1000 it became known as Daire Columbkille, reflecting its association with Columba.

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Derry is the Irish Daire, an oak grove, and its oldest name was Daire Calgach, the grove of Calgach. It stood in what was then Tir Ely, or the province of Aileach, and there can be little
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0

Donegal castle and riverside walk

Donegal · town · Donegal

The author recommends visiting Donegal castle, which is really worth seeing, and describes a charming walk down by the river with seats along it on the side opposite the town. Visitors are advised not to hurry through Donegal.

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thence by mailcar to Carrick j that involves despatching them early in the morning. At Killybegs I recommend Rogers' Hotel, which is clean and comfortable ; but it is better to get on to Carrick. An alternative is to make your way on the first day to Donegal in time to catch a 7.20 train, and sleep that night at Killybegs, and have only the ten miles' ride to Carrick next day. But it is a pity to be hurried in Donegal, as the castle is really worth seeing, and there is a charming walk down by the river, with seats along it, on the side opposite the town.
Killybegs is not a place with an exciting past ; but it may be a place with a future. It has the best harbour on the West of Ireland, and there is talk of arranging to make it a place of call for steamers bound to America ; in that case Killybegs will grow rich and prosperous. Its harbour has always given it some touch with the outside world. In 1598 a vessel put in there with ambassadors from Spain, and Red Hugh O'Donnell and Tyrone interviewed them in the port. But ten years earlier, Spanish vessels in a very different trim had put into Killybegs in their stress.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 34

As the companion tells it

As you pass through Donegal, don't be in too much of a hurry. The author of Highways and byways in Donegal and Antrim felt it was a pity to be rushed here. The castle is really worth seeing, and there is a charming walk down by the river, with seats along it, on the side opposite the town.

Ess-na-Craoibhe, ninety-foot fall in Glen Ariff

near Glenariff · village · Antrim

Below the meeting of the two streams in Glen Ariff stands the great fall Ess-na-Craoibhe, where the stream from the northern glen tumbles over a rock ninety feet high. A system of paths laid out by the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway provides tourist access.

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Having crossed the bridge there are paths to right and left. That to the right leads down stream to the point where the waters meet, and here are two attractions. One is the great fall Ess-na-Craoibhe, where the stream from the northern glen tumbles over a rock ninety feet high. The other is a neat pavilion where you can be provided with tea. It is well to remember that by following either of the two streams downward you will come to refreshment.
But unless you are faint with the way, when you have crossed the bridge, take up stream to the left — the path leaves the stream and winds up hill through woods which at the right season must be a perfect heaven of bluebells, and when I saw

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 182

Glenties as a market for hand-knitted goods

Glenties · town · Donegal

Glenties is noted as a great market for hand-knitted goods produced in western Donegal. These hand-knitted items, along with handwoven stuffs, were being promoted for sale in England.

Read the passage

Ardara is the centre of the hand-weaving industry which has always existed in Western Donegal, but has been recently developed by the Congested Districts Board and the Irish Industries Association, founded by Lady Aberdeen. Many efforts have been made to popularise in England their stuffs and also the hand-knitted things of which Glenties is a great market. But they will probably continue to be produced chiefly for local use, and long may they continue ; as it is, you will see everywhere poor men wearing stuff admirable in colour and pattern, which costs them no more than the cheap and nasty products of Manchester factories. The industry, for local purposes, is an old one ; from time immemorial Donegal women have spun the wool of their own sheep, and Donegal weavers have woven. But up till quite recent times, the wool was left in its natural colour and the product was a grey frieze, which you may still see occasionally, especially in Inishowen. I can well remember old Lord George Hill's picturesque figure, which was never clad in anything else. Some twenty years back, however, Mrs. Ernest Hart started at Derrybeg near Gweedore an institution for teaching the peasants to use dyes ready to their hand ; heather, lichen and the rest. Since then skilled supervision has improved the spinning and weaving ; better looms have been introduced, and a standard set to the workmen : and the few — or many — who choose to dress themselves in Donegal homespuns will find them very pleasant to look at, and comfortable and serviceable to wear. They are to be seen in the shops in any of these western towns and in the hotels at Carrick and Gweedore. But it maybe as well to quote an account of the industry given by Mr. T. W. Rolleston, who was secretary of the Irish In-
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 52

Horn Head cliffs and Sheephaven Bay landscape

near Horn Head · promontory · Donegal

Horn Head rises sheer 600 feet above the sea and is best viewed from the water. The cliffs host myriads of sea-birds in all seasons, especially puffins, and the bay below is everywhere shallow and sandy with bright orange and salmon-pink sand.

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the most beautiful of these loughs or arms of ocean that indent the whole northern coast of Donegal. If you look at the map you will see that Lough Svvilly forms the base of a rough equilateral triangle, whose corners lie in Letterkenny, Dunaff Head, and Horn Head ; the whole space enclosed is a chequered network of land and water. Sheephaven lies broad and open to the sea, between Horn Head and the Rossgull promontory, which is capped by the peak of Ganiamore. One arm of the bay runs up past Dunfanaghy, making the square bulk of Horn Head all but an island. Another arm runs straight inland; and as you look up it from the bay the huge gable-end of Muckish seems to fill the whole view. The bay is everywhere shallow and sandy, and never anywhere have I seen such bright contrasts of colour. The sand is almost orange, and the great banks of it, dazzling in the sunlight, can be traced shading away into a salmon pink, where the blue water lips them. Here certainly you will be wise to stop a day, for Horn Head is not a thing to pass without seeing it. If the weather be fine I should advise a boat ; the cliffs, rising a sheer 600 feet, look their best from the water, and the myriads of sea-birds that build there and haunt it in all seasons are a sight in themselves; especially the quaint little puffins, funniest of all British birds, whether on the wing, the water, or the rocks. It is worth while taking a gun or something that will make a noise to scare the incredible swarms that come circling out from the cliffs. A native of Dunfanaghy used to spend days on these rocks with a long pole knocking down sea-birds as they flew over him, that their feathers might go to decorate pretty women. Whether his trade still exists I cannot tell, but his by-name, " Jimmy the Wallopper," is not forgotten in Dunfanaghy. Off the eastward point of Horn Head is a salmon net, fixed a couple of hundred yards from the cliffs, and stretching perhaps another two hundred. It seems a futile trap in a place where the bay opens eight miles ; but ' the fish have their known tracks in the sea, and that net two hundred yards further in or further out would,

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 99

Maidenhair fern on the face of Slieve League

Slieve League · mountain or mountain range · Donegal

On the cliff face of Slieve League, the huge cliff looking out towards America, maidenhair fern grows freely. The author notes it as one of the remarkable botanical features of Donegal, where unusual plants grow in unexpected places.

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Folklore of course abounds, but it is not easy to come by ; the peasantry are shy of telling stories about the good folk and others, because they believe themselves and see that you do not. The botanist will find Donegal at least, a happy hunting ground; the oddest things grow in the oddest places. On the face of Slieve League, the huge cliff that looks out straight towards America, maidenhair fern grows freely, and in the savage Poisoned Glen under Errigal, the wildest of all these wild places, an enterprising land commissioner discovered the Killarney fern, a plant so delicate that it is hard to keep even in a specially arranged fernery. But these are matters for specialists whom I do not profess to enlighten or direct.
The object of study which will attract most people in Donegal is that of social conditions. Here you have to begin with, in many of the wildest parts from Inishowen to the Rosses, a population living in houses set closely together upon a soil manifestly incapable of supporting them, yet willing to pay exorbitant prices for the right to occupy these holdings.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 10

Mulroy Bay's labyrinth of channels and islands

near Mulroy Bay · bay · Donegal

Mulroy Bay enters by a narrow inlet and spreads out like a fan, sending a backwater up towards Fanad through another narrow gut, and sprinkling its surface with rocks and islands. Navigating its tides and channels is described as requiring exceptional seamanship.

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It is an easy climb to the top of this. The view is one of the most beautiful in Ireland. You have under you Sheephaven, lying like a map, with the huge gable end of Muckish rising up beyond it. To the west is Horn Head and the battlemented outline of Tory, while on the other side of the Rossgull peninsula you are able to track out all the devious mazes and windings of that extraordinary piece of water, Mulroy Bay, which enters by a narrow inlet and spreads out like a fan, and not content with that sends out a great backwater up towards Fanad through another narrow gut, and to finish everything sprinkles the whole of its surface with rocks and islands, so that to know and navigate its tides and channels is a proof of very exceptional seamanship. But you will see Mulroy in all its extent when you start on your next stage to Portsalon. The shortest way, if you like to take it, involves two ferries across two channels of this bewildering lough, but I would certainly have you ride down to Bunlinn Glen at the very foot of Mulroy. It is about ten miles to the lower end of Mulroy from the hotel. The road takes you straight out over the hill past Lady Leitrim's house until you strike the side of the main body of the lake. Thence it winds along, prettily enough, a long heathery slope with steep hills to the right and the lough and its islands lying on the left, and beyond the water the Knockalla mountains rising jagged and fantastic. Presently you come in sight of the first fringe of Cratlagh wood, which runs mostly between the road and the lake for about three miles from Bunlinn, and you are in sight of the scene of a very tragic and bloody episode in which wood and lough had to play their part. About 200 yards from you is the place where the third Lord Leitrim was murdered in 1878.
The third Earl of Leitrim had served in the army, rising to be a colonel, before he succeeded his father in the title. He was a man by no means wholly bad and possessed qualities which might, under happier circumstances, have made him famous — absolute courage and a perfectly indom-

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 109

As the companion tells it

Up ahead, Mulroy Bay opens out in Donegal, a stretch of water the road winds near for miles. It enters by a narrow inlet and then spreads out like a fan, sending a great backwater up towards Fanad through another narrow gut, and sprinkling its whole surface with rocks and islands. To know and navigate its tides and channels is, in the words of one writer, a proof of very exceptional seamanship. Beyond the water the Knockalla mountains rise jagged and fantastic, and the road runs along a long heathery slope with steep hills on one side and the lough and its islands on the other. As you come in sight of the first fringe of Cratlagh wood, you are near the scene of a bloody episode. About 200 yards off is the place where the third Lord Leitrim was murdered in 1878. He had served in the army, rising to be a colonel, before he succeeded his father in the title. He was a man by no means wholly bad, and possessed qualities which might under happier circumstances have made him famous — absolute courage and a perfectly indomitable will.

Murlough Bay's plantations and red sandstone

near Murlough Bay · bay · Antrim

Murlough Bay is a beautiful spot sheltered by Fair Head, where a tasteful proprietor has formed plantations about his house. A streak of red sandstone cropping out gives an unfamiliar note of colour to the view.

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The head presents a semi-circular front of about two miles of cliffs. On top, in the space enclosed, are three lakes, one of which, Lough Dhu, has an outlet by a waterfall over the cliff ; of the other two, one has a crannog or dwelling built on piles in it. This lake drains into a stream which falls over the eastward side of the Head into Murlough Bay ; a beautiful spot, where the shelter given by the Head has enabled a tasteful proprietor to form plantations about his house ; and a streak of red sandstone which crops out here gives a note of unfamiliar colour to the view. The whole place is open ground, so that detailed directions are almost an impertinence ; when you have explored the Head and bay to your pleasure, you can get back to your machine ; but you should have two or three hours to do the excursion in, and take your lunch with you.
From Fair Head there is a choice of routes, and any one who does not care about walking had better get back to Ballyvoy and follow the post road to Cushendun, which runs inland through a district mostly of heathery mountain for about ten miles. But if you want scenery you should go over the shoulder of Fair Head— following the telegraph wire : only, beware of the road. It is very hilly — mostly against you till you round a corner which is Torr Head and see the wire going straight down an awful hill to the coastguard station, where it ends. You can, if you like, go down there too, and at the bottom of the hill turn to your right, where there is probably a level stretch. Anyhow, nothing can be worse than the alternative, which is to go straight along at the high level, where you get perhaps halfa-mile of a gentle slope ; then the road disappears round a sharp corner, and if you round that corner with feet up or without a brake, heaven help you ! A little stream runs down into Portaleen Bay, and this road falls towards the bridge over it, steep as the roof of a house but by no means so smooth. The

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 175

O'Donnells' choice of Donegal as seat

Donegal · town · Donegal

The author observes that the well-wooded, prosperous country around Donegal town explains why the O'Donnells chose it as their seat. The landscape rivals anything in the English Pale, yet it lies in purely Celtic Ireland.

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roads to the left, which lead nowhere, and after about four miles you come to a sharp downward hill, and at the bottom is a path leading on to a mile of exquisite strand all trending in the direction of Donegal. If the tide is not full in, get your bicycle down on the sand and spin along the water's edge with nothing but blue sea between you and America. Unfortunately like all good things this strand has got an end, a projecting point — it extends no further than you can see — and about a quarter of a mile on the near side of the point a road runs up from the strand to Ballintra. It is not a good road when you get to it; but to get it you go through sand hills full of pink cranesbill and innumerable blue and yellow pansies, and all the other delightful things that grow on sandhills. After about a mile it lapses into the ordinary jog trot of roads. Just about that point avoid one more road to the left which leads you nowhere — and you have three miles easy going to Ballintra. Then you strike the main road — and excellent it is — with telegraph posts to see you safe all the way to Donegal. What is more you travel through a wellwooded country rich with lush grass, showing prosperity in its well-kept hedges ; altogether as prosperous-looking a district as you would see in Ireland. Decidedly the O'Donnells knew what they were doing when they settled at Donegal. No part in the English Pale looks richer or trimmer, yet here you are in purely Celtic Ireland. Something perhaps must be allowed for the magic of May on a sunny morning when every hawthorn bush was dashed with white and made the air heavy with delicious scent, and all the trees were decked out in the first freshness of verdure, or, lovelier still, in a gold that was not yet changed to green. Donegal town comes at last with a surprise on you as you round a shoulder of hill and come in sudden view of the pool and quay with the old town clustered about it. You ride past the quay and up into the Diamond, and there you will find excellent quarters at the Arran Arms, a hotel kept by a retired officer. The day I got there the Diamond was full of people and of carts and cars tilted on their end ; I counted over

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 29

As the companion tells it

As you come through Donegal, you are passing through the place the O'Donnells chose as their seat, and it is not hard to see why. The country around the town is well wooded and rich with lush grass, showing prosperity in its well-kept hedges. The author of this passage reckoned it as trim and prosperous-looking a district as you would see anywhere in the English Pale, yet here you are in purely Celtic Ireland. Donegal town itself comes with a surprise as you round a shoulder of hill and come in sudden view of the pool and quay with the old town clustered about it.

The Lackagh river from Glen Lough to Sheep Haven

Lackagh · townland · Donegal

The Lackagh river flows from Glen Lough to Sheep Haven and is barely two miles long. Fish gather in a long stretch of smooth water below a weir, making fishing hopeless without wind. A keeper once fished the eel-weir for twelve hours, killing two fish in a single half-hour while catching nothing before or after.

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It is a great point in the Gweedore river that there is no long pool of this sort above the tideway, with a weir above it for the fish to gather in. The salmon leap is a good half-mile up, and below that there is a series of rapids and holes, in any one of which a fish may lie, so that there is always broken water to fish in. On the Lackagh and the Lennan the fish gather in a long stretch of smooth water, and without wind fishing is hopeless. The Lackagh, flowing from Glen Lough to Sheephaven, is barely two miles long. There is one throw called
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 190

As the companion tells it

Somewhere close to Lackagh, the river runs barely two miles from Glen Lough to Sheep Haven. The fish gather in a long stretch of smooth water below a weir, and without wind the fishing is hopeless. It is not like the Gweedore river, where the salmon leap sits a good half-mile up and a series of rapids and holes gives broken water to fish in. The Lackagh offers no such advantage.

Fair Head basalt cliffs of Antrim

near Benmore or Fair Head · promontory · Antrim

Fair Head's mass of basalt inevitably suggests the hand of some artificer, contrasting with the granite cliffs of Donegal. The Antrim coast's succession of strata—trap, chalk, greenstone, red sandstone and mica slate—gives it peculiar scenic charm.

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The district also has for a long time been well known. Its natural curiosities in the strange forms of basalt rock, culminating in the marvel of the Causeway, attracted attention in days when mere grandeur of cliff scenery was counted repellent. For, bold as the coast is, it is tame after that of Donegal. Instead of granite you have chalk, and red sandstone, which give delightful colour, but have not the sombre beauty of Slieve League and Horn Head, even if they had equal height ; and the basalt even in the mass of Fair Head inevitably suggests the hand of some artificer. A more scientific account of the matter is supplied to me by a friend who writes :
" The surface of Antrim is mostly trap ; this rests on beds of indurated chalk, below which is a stratum of greenstone. The next stratum is new red sandstone, and the lowest bed is mica slate. The trap rises on both sides of the Bann, and the whole field shows the same scarped features and succession of strata towards the Roe river in Deny from the Atlantic, North Channel and Belfast Lough. It is this succession of strata which gives the .peculiar charm to the coast scenery of Antrim. At the Causeway and eastward to Fair Head the trap assumes a crystalline character, descending to the sea in the vast masses of basaltic columns for which this part of the coast is famous."

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 151

Ballyvoy village near Fair Head

Ballyvoy · townland · Antrim

Ballyvoy is a little village with a post office, about two miles of somewhat hilly road from Ballycastle. A local poem laments leaving 'sweet Ballyvoy' and speaks of Rachray's cold sea caves and blackneck divers.

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Going on from Ballycastle, your next day is plainly mapped out ; you must see Fair Head and reach Cushendal, unless indeed you prefer to go in a boat round the head to Murlough Bay and walk back, an excellent suggestion which I find in Murray. But suppose you keep to dry land. You have about two miles of somewhat hilly road till you reach the little village of Ballyvoy, where there is a post office. Keep straight on up the hill, avoiding the road which runs inland to the right ; and a little higher up you will find a path running to the left up to some houses where you can leave your machine while you walk round the Head. It is an enormous round promontory, at the highest point 639 feet above the sea, and all of it basalt rock at top. As you look at it from the sea the likeness to a castle is extraordinary, for you have first a steep slope of shale, and then about halfway up the basalt springs from these lower strata in enormous upright columns, silhouetting against the sky the profile of buttresses, battlements, and towers. To get down to the sea you must follow the edge of the cliff till you reach a huge fissure where a slip seems to have occurred, and a great pillar, one solid stone, has fallen transversely over the chasm. Under this runs the Grey Man's Path, haunted by the spirit of the Head. The path itself is easy for any modei ately active person, and it is well worth going down
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Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 174

Barren land between Dunfanaghy and Gweedore

Dunfanaghy · town · Donegal

The country between Dunfanaghy and Gweedore appears incapable of yielding any return for cultivation, making it seem impossible that anyone would find it profitable to pay rent for farming it. The passage underscores the desperation of tenant farmers in this rocky landscape.

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The country, for instance, between Dunfanaghy and Gweedore looks incapable of yielding any return for cultivation. It would seem impossible that a man should find it profitable to pay anything for the privilege of farming it — any rent, that is. Moreover, that impression is confirmed when one sees on the farms, now

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 91

As the companion tells it

Coming up is Dunfanaghy in Donegal. The land stretching out toward Gweedore looks incapable of yielding any return for cultivation. It would seem impossible that a man should find it profitable to pay anything for the privilege of farming it — any rent, that is. The impression only deepens when you see the farms themselves.

Dunlewy Valley and Lough Nacung

Dunlewy · electoral division · Donegal

The Dunlewy valley lies below Errigal with fine plantations on the further side of Lough Nacung under the hill's shelter, described as a strange contrast to the savagery of the surrounding mountains. A conspicuous Roman Catholic church stands by the road.

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way back to civilisation. From the top of this pass the road lies downhill to Gweedore, a good six or seven miles. Pedal down it as fast as you like, and rounding to the west of Errigal you see far below you the beautiful Dunlewy valley, with fine plantations on the further side of Lough Nacung, under the hill's shelter — a strange contrast to all the savagery of the mountains. To your left the Poisoned Glen runs up into the Derryveagh mountains, a sinister-looking spot ; it gets its bad name, they say, from a spurge that grows there. Now if the day is clear, and you feel energetic, you should leave your bicycle at the first wayside hut you come to, and climb Errigal ; it only takes about an hour from where you are, and with clear air it gives you a map of Ireland from Inishowen Head to Sligo and even Galway.

Internet Archive highwaysbywaysin00gwyn_0, Chapter 84

Highways and byways in Donegal and Antrim;

The stories, best first

Teelin Harbour fishing and homespun industry

Teelin Harbour fishing industry

Dungloe fish curing and cooperage trades

Glendun burying ground with seamen's ship-carved tombstones

MacSwiney Doe and Doe Castle

Ramelton's 'Irish Iniquities' lecture anecdote

Salmon leaping at Drummonaghan waterfall

The Giant's Grave slab near Slieve League

Cratlagh Wood road between oak and hazel

Cushendun and Moira O'Neill's literary associations

Errigal, Donegal's Highest Peak

Horn Head House and the Stewart family

Inishowen assigned to Sir Arthur Chichester

Inishowen disputed between O'Donnells and O'Neills

Kilcar village and its wild flowers

Lough Dhu and three lakes atop Fair Head

Parkmore iron ore railway and narrow gauge line to Ballymena

Portballintrae: coastguard station and watering place

Rainbow at Slieve League cliffs

Salmon taken on the Lennan in still water

San Martin abandoned as wreck in Killybegs Harbour

Three MacSwiney chiefs of Donegal on Elizabethan maps

Wilds of Errigal and the Rosses contrast

Ballyshannon salmon fishery

Coleraine priory from Columba to destruction

Columba ordained at Glasnevin monastery

Columba studies under St. Finian at Strangford

Exquisite strand near Ballintra

Kilmacrenan: church of Columba's nephews

Road through Barnesmore Gap to Donegal

Gweedore salmon river and angling

Ards, the Wray estate at Dunfanaghy

Ballycastle: gateway to the Glens

Battles of Macdonnells and O'Neills at Coleraine

Belfast castle destroyed and rebuilt under Tudor conquest

Drummonaghan Bridge and wooded gorge

Ess-na-Crubh, the Horseshoe Fall in Glen Ariff

Killarney fern discovered in Poisoned Glen under Errigal

Lough Swilly, the Lake of Shadows

O'Gallagher lordship at Pettigo

Signal station ruins on Horn Head

The One Man's Path on Slieve League

The Poisoned Glen near Dunlewy

Torr Head on the steep coast road

Ardara's free and preserved fishing waters

Belleek pottery works and the river fall

Derry's origin as Daire Calgach

Donegal castle and riverside walk

Ess-na-Craoibhe, ninety-foot fall in Glen Ariff

Glenties as a market for hand-knitted goods

Horn Head cliffs and Sheephaven Bay landscape

Maidenhair fern on the face of Slieve League

Mulroy Bay's labyrinth of channels and islands

Murlough Bay's plantations and red sandstone

O'Donnells' choice of Donegal as seat

The Lackagh river from Glen Lough to Sheep Haven

Fair Head basalt cliffs of Antrim

Ballyvoy village near Fair Head

Barren land between Dunfanaghy and Gweedore

Dunlewy Valley and Lough Nacung