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The following chapters are chiefly the reprint of a series of papers which appeared in the Londonderry Journal, on the history, traditions, and antiquities of the district of Inishowen. Those papers, which were merely written for the amusement of the readers of the Journal, met with a favourable reception, and, towards their conclusion, a desire prevailed to have them in a separate and more enduring form; so, in compliance therewith, I have revised and arranged them as they are now offered to the public. On revision it was deemed advisable to omit some portions of the original series, but additions have been made of matter hitherto unpublished, which, it is hoped, may prove not only interesting but useful. No pains have been spared to obtain the most reliable information, from both public and private sources, regarding the old peninsula. That invaluable repertory of Irish history, Dr. O'Donovan's edition of the Annals of the Four Masters, has been carefully consulted; the statistics of the several parishes are given from the records of the State Paper Office and the Ordnance Survey ; and transcripts from the archives of continental libraries are introduced, where it was necessary to establish the truth of some things previously uncertain. Our legends and traditions are dying away, the customs and habits of the olden time are nearly extinct, but in order to preserve some of them from total oblivion I thought it well to insert a few in this collection. They will be found trustworthy, for they too have been obtained from the best sources, and carefully examined. Not the least difficulty I experienced was to condense the materials at my disposal, so as to give the greatest amount of matter in the least possible space, and thus by confining the size of the work within moderate limits, and consequently its cost, to place it within the reach of all. Whatever intrinsic merits it may possess, they are left to develop themselves.

20TH JULY, 1867.

INISHOWEN.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

The ancient territory of Inishowen is now a barony of the County of Donegal, and in it is Malin Head, the most northern point of Ireland. Inishowen lies between the parallels of 55° and 55° 22′ 10′′, north latitude, and between 6° 48′ and 7° 31' west longitude. Its length is 26 miles, and greatest breadth about 25 miles. It comprises an area of 197,860 statute acres, or about 309 square miles. There are 246a. 3r. 27p. of the above under water, being the area of a few small lakes, and the tideway of one or two rivers. Its population, according to the census of 1861, was 45,675.

It

On its northern shores is the Atlantic Ocean; Lough Foyle forms its eastern boundary, and Lough Swilly its western. is connected with the mainland on the south, and is, therefore, not an inis, or island, as its name implies, but a peninsula. Its southern limit, however, is not so well defined; some say it was formed by a line drawn from Lough Swilly through the present town of Manorcunningham to Carrigans, on the river Foyle; while others suppose it did not extend so far south.

Regarding its southern boundary we learn, by the Ordnance Survey that," about half the parish of Templemore, or what is generally called the northern liberties of Londonderry, was comprised in Inishowen, before the formation of the County of Londonderry, as is evident from an inquisition taken in Derry in the seventh year of the reign of James I., from which it appears that a jury composed of resident English and ancient Irish natives, of the principal septs of the district, ‘did upon their oaths find and present that the auncient and knowne meares of the country of Inishowen, alias O'Dogherties countrey, (O'Dogherty was placed in the lordship of the peninsula at the commencement of the fifteenth century) to the south and southeast, are and have been, tyme out of mynde, as followeth, viz.,

from the part or braunch of Lough Swilly, on the weste and south-west parte of Birt, thorough the midst of a bog which extendeth to Lough Lappan (O'Lappan's Lake) from a well or spring upon Mullaghknockemona, and from the topp of that mountayne the meare extended through a small bog, which runneth alonge the top of the hill of Ardenemahill, and soe to the top of the hill of Knockenagh, upon the easte part of which hill ariseth the streame of Altbally M'Rowertie, which runneth a meare betweene Bally Mac Rowertie in Innishowen, and parte of the landes of the Derry and Garrowgarle to the cawsy under Ellogh, and so down thorough the bog to Logh Swilly, and from the foresaid cawsy the meare of Inishowen aforesaid is thorough the midst of the Bog to Lough Foile.'"

The principal headlands are Inishowen Head at the entrance to Lough Foyle; Malin Head, Dunaff Head, at the entrance to Lough Swilly, and Neid's Point on the Swilly. Along nearly the whole of the northern coast are picturesque precipices and rocky cliffs of a bold and romantic character.

Off the coast are the following islands :-Inistrahal, on which is a light-house, situated eight miles east of Malin Head; the Garve Islands, still nearer to the shore; Glasheady, off the Clonmany coast; and the island of Inch in Lough Swilly.

The bays are-Moville Bay, a well sheltered and spacious sheet of water; Culdaff Bay, adapted for the coasting trade, but little used; Culoort Bay, in Malin ; Strabreagy Bay, rather of the nature of a gulf, the entrance to which is narrow, the tides rapid, and the coast on each side very rocky. Though well sheltered, and affording safe anchorage, Strabreagy is, on account of its dangerous bar, unfit for vessels which draw much water. Mariners have often mistaken it for Lough Swilly, which has caused many shipwrecks. Westward on the Clonmany coast are Tullagh Bay, Rockstown Bay, and Leenan Bay, an inlet of the Swilly.

MOUNTAINS, PLAINS, AND VALLEYS.

Leaving out the promontory of Malin Head, Inishowen has something of a triangular shape, with the base turned to the north. A ridge of mountains runs along each of the sides of this triangle, leaving a comparatively narrow margin on the east and west sloping down to the water. The western chain is the highest and most precipitous, and includes the Fahan, Desertegney, and Clonmany mountains, and terminates at Dunaff. On the east are the Iskaheen and Moville mountains,

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