X-Nico

12 unusual facts about Donegal


Alexander Craighead

He was born in Donegal, Ulster, Ireland around on March 18, 1705, and came to North America with his father, the Reverend Thomas Craighead.

An Cumann Gaelach, QUB

William MacArthur, was the first President of the Society, having learned Irish in Cloch Cheannfhaolaidh in west Donegal.

Anne Jane Thornton

Anne Jane Thornton (1817–1877), also spelt Ann Jane Thornton, was a 19th-century adventurer from Donegal who in 1832 posed as a boy to go to sea, in pursuit of a lost lover who had gone to the United States.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, in 1823 her mother died, and her father moved to Donegal in Ireland where he opened a successful shop.

Bud Wolfe

Roland 'Bud' Wolfe January 12, 1918 - January 28, 1994, was an American pilot who parachuted from an RAF Spitfire plane into a peat bog on the Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland, on November 30, 1941.

Chipman, New Brunswick

Immigration to the Chipman area escalated rapidly in the 1820s through the 1850s, with the large majority of new arrivals hailing from the northern counties of Ireland, in particular: Donegal, Londonderry, and Tyrone.

Donegal

The story of Aodh Rua Ó Domhnaill (Red Hugh O'Donnell, also known as Red Hugh II), Lord of Tyrconnell, was the inspiration behind many books and films, not least, Disney's The Fighting Prince of Donegal.

Harthill Trophy

The competition has now taken place nine times, most recently at Ballyliffin Golf Club in Donegal.

Irish Damselfly

The northernmost site is in Co Donegal at Lough Napaste north of Milford and the southern limit is on the eastern edge of the Burren in Co Claree at Lough Skeardeen near Boston.

Keep Ireland Open

Keep Ireland Open has also been involved in several individual access disputes around the country, in Wicklow, Cork, Sligo, Donegal and many other areas.

Thar Sáile

In the first programme, Donegal native Ann Marie Ní Dhubhchóin, explores the musical city of Vienna.

The Home Place

The play is set in the summer of 1878 in the mythical village of Ballybeg, County Donegal, at the house ("The Lodge") of Christopher Gore, his son David, and their housekeeper Margaret.


1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

Declan Bonner kicked left footed his fourth point and Donegal's final point to leave the final score at 0-18 to 0-14.

Donegal won their first All-Ireland, partially thanks to a missed Charlie Redmond penalty.

Ardara

Anthony Molloy, captained Donegal in their first ever All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title-winning season in 1992

Barry Moran

He started in centre field in the 2012 final where Mayo lost by 0-13 to 2-11 against Donegal.

C.L.C.G. Naomh Conaill

Columba later gained further fame as the first Donegal man to win a Senior All-Ireland football winners medal, when he lined out for Cavan in the 1947 final played at the Polo Grounds in New York City.

César Bazán

César lost a light-welterweight bout to Irish fighter Paul McCloskey on a decision in Donegal, Ireland, on 29 March 2008.

Cian Ward

In the 2009 All-Ireland, he was the third highest top scorer after Donegal's Michael Murphy and Kerry's Colm Cooper.

Ciaran Bonner

Bonner voluntarily left Donegal "for good" following the team's penultimate match of the 2008 National Football League, against Laois, a game in which he was substituted.

Clements Café

Clements Café was established in 1999 with the first opening in Donegal Square West, and has since opened several houses throughout Belfast on Lisburn Road, Royal Avenue, Rosemary Street, Botanic Avenue, Stranmillis Road, Queens University Student Union, Queens University Medical Biology Center and Queen's University Physical Education Centre.

Dessie Larkin

Donegal County Council and several media outlets, including Highland Radio, received documentation alleging Larkin was involved in irregularities in expenses payments.

Drumholm

The new friary marked the return of the Franciscan Order to Donegal for the first time since the Four Masters and the dedication of the Church in June 1952 was attended by the then Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera and President Sean T. O'Ceallaigh.

Edmund Hayes

Sir Edmund Samuel Hayes, 3rd Baronet (1806–1860), Member of Parliament for County Donegal

Eithne Coyle

Following the signing of the treaty she toured County Donegal, County Londonderry and County Tyrone and found that many of the local branches had lost much of their membership and was forced to reorganise the movement in Ulster as a more streamlined model.

Enda Varley

He started at Right Corner Forward and scored two points in the 2012 All Ireland Final final where Mayo lost by 0-13 to 2-11 against Donegal.

Gleann Nimhe – The Poison Glen

8: "The Lancers Jig/The Further in the Deeper" are two jigs from the playing of legendary Donegal fiddle player John Doherty.

Gustav Hamilton

From father's side, In 1684, the English-held government, fearful of the Mac Sweeney clan, placed a garrison in Doe Castle, County Donegal, commanded by Major Gustavus Hamilton.

Gustavus Hamilton

Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Viscount Boyne (1642–1723), Vice-Admiral of Ulster, Irish MP for Donegal County 1692–1713 and Strabane

Irish National Invincibles

Carey was shot dead on board the Melrose Castle off Cape Town, South Africa, on 29 July 1883, by Donegal man Patrick O Donnell, for giving evidence against his former comrades.

Irish property bubble

These reports were met with hostility by the political establishment; on 4 July 2007 Taoiseach Bertie Ahern stated at a conference in Donegal that he did not understand why people sitting on the sidelines, "cribbing and moaning" about the economy, did not commit suicide.

John K. Beatty

"Mr. Beatty’s headlong execution on his superb set of pipes was as much of a surprise to Tarlach Mac Suibhne, the “Donegal Piper,” as was his lilting. After watching his acrobatic performance on the huge instrument for a time, McSweeney remarked quizzically: “Begor, Mr. Beatty, you have a great shower of fingers.”

Kevin Cassidy

While young, Cassidy's childhood football heroes were Derry's Anthony Tohill, Seán Óg de Paor of Galway and Donegal's Anthony Molloy.

Kevin Keane

He started at right corner back in the 2012 final where Mayo lost by 0-13 to 2-11 against Donegal.

Kinlough

It borders Donegal and Fermanagh, is in close proximity to Yeats Country, 2.5 miles from Bundoran, Co.

Lough Eske

Other locals interviewed, such as bed and breakfast owners Annabel and Kieran Clarke, repeated some of the local folklore when they told the paper that ‘some lakes in Donegal are said to be connected by current to Scotland’, trying to make a link with the much more famous Loch Ness Monster.

Luke Wadding

Wadding collected the funds for the establishment of the College of St. Isidore in Rome, for the education of Irish priests, opened 24 June 1625, with four lecturers—Anthony O'Hicidh of a famous literary family in Thomond, Martin Breathnach from Donegal, Patrick Fleming from Louth, and John Punch from Cork.

Mickey Moran

In his managerial career he has had three stints managing Derry and has also managed Sligo, Donegal, Mayo and Leitrim.

Mountcharles

The English name for the village owes its origin to the Scottish plantation runner, Charles Conyngham, who arrived in Donegal during the Plantation of Ulster and asserted a landlord control over the area, renaming the region Mount Charles after himself.

Muiris mac Seaán Ulltach Ó Duinnshléibhe

Ó Duinnshléibhe was one of two Donegal men named Father Muiris Ulltach who attended Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill (d. 1602) on his death-bed in Simancas Castle, Spain, with Archbishop of Tuam Fláithrí Ó Maol Chonaire.

Paddy Glackin

Glackin's primary influence came from Donegal fiddlers, most prominently John Doherty the legendary travelling fiddler whom Glackin always cites as his main influence.

Pearse Doherty

On 11 June 2004, he ran simultaneously in the 2004 European Parliament elections and in the local elections for Donegal County Council.

Ralph Gore

Sir Ralph Gore, 4th Baronet (died 1733), Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, MP for Donegal Borough, Donegal County 1713–1727 and Clogher

Sir Ralph Gore, 2nd Baronet (died c. 1651), Irish MP for Donegal County 1639–1648

Ralph Gore, 1st Earl of Ross (1725–1802), his son, Irish general and MP for Donegal County 1747–1764

River Eske

In the town, it passes several tourist attractions, one of which is Donegal Castle, the former seat of the O'Donnell Clan, the ancient rulers of the Lordship of Tyrconnell (roughly similar to modern day County Donegal without the Inishowen Peninsula).

Thomas Curran

Thomas Bartholomew Curran (1870–1929), his son, barrister and MP for the constituencies of Kilkenny City and North Donegal

Thomas Emlyn

Emlyn was born at Stamford, Lincolnshire and served as chaplain to the presbyterian Letitia, countess of Donegal, and then to Sir Robert Rich, afterwards (1691) becoming colleague to Joseph Boyse, presbyterian minister in Dublin.

Tommy McCafferty

He is coached by the former three-time world kickboxing champion Paddy Toland at PT's Kickboxing Gym in Carrigans, County Donegal.

Traffic Blues

The series was filmed over six months, putting the Dublin Metropolitan division based in Dublin Castle, the Louth division taking in stations in Drogheda and Dundalk and the Donegal division focusing on Burnfoot and Letterkenny areas in the centre of attention.

William Yolland

The interest in Yolland’s work in Ireland survives to this day: as a young man he appears as a leading character in Translations, a modern play set in nineteenth century Co Donegal.