Racontour Archive - 2020 onwards: Recent Episodes
Racontour and friends
Hear the very best lore and stories from Ireland. Everything from folklore to rambling house tales, travel guides to idioms. Please share our posts on your social media if you enjoyed them, thanks!
Artist: Sultans of Ping F.C.
Album: Casual Sex in the Cineplex
Year: 1993
Notable fact: The band later explained that the song was based on a real incident in Nottingham hotspot The Black Orchid, though the item lost was in fact a cardigan!
https://www.racontour.com/tunes/
Artist: The Cranberries
Album: Everyone else is doing it, so why can’t we?
Year: 1993
Notable fact:
The song famously has three videos nol less! The first by John Maybury, the second from Peter Scammell and the third one was directed by Nico Soultanakis..
https://www.racontour.com/tunes/
Artist: U2
Album: Achtung Baby
Year: 1991
Notable fact: Berlin’s famous transport hub, Berlin Zoologischer Garten station, may seem like an unlikely inspiration for the opening track of an much anticipated album. The band had decamped to the German capital for the recording of the album and to capture the atmosphere of a unified city once again. The station is now a shrine for all U2 fans.
https://www.racontour.com/tunes/
Artist: The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl
Album: If I should fall from Grace with God
Year: 1987
Notable fact: The Pogues used to stage an annual concert in London every Christmas, even after their split. It was assumed by many attending that Shane might well be on his last Christmas, but it was poor Kirsty MacColl who departed well before in a tragic boating accident in Mexico. Shane finally left us at when else but Christmas and effectively got a state funeral!
https://www.racontour.com/tunes/
Artist: The Waterboys
Album: 1985
Year: This is the Sea
Notable fact: Their Hibernophile roots were showing even back then. The album features Old England being a line from James Joyce's Dubliners. Other notable tunes form theat classic album include Don't Bang the Drum, Spirit and Be my Enemy.
https://www.racontour.com/tunes/
Artist: Bagatelle
Album: Bagatelle
Year: 1980
Notable fact: Bagatelle was the debut album of the band. The song was released as a single that year and became the band’s breakthrough hit, spending months in the Irish charts. The reaction of the crowd in 1980 in the video here make sit clear that this was a bona fide classic from the off.
https://www.racontour.com/tunes/
Artist: Christy Moore
Album: Ride On
Year: 1984
Notable fact: Written by songwriter Greg Stephen about a legendary matchmaking festival in the west of Ireland, the task of bringing it to life was left to Christy. He brought his trademark style and mischief to the song and it was released in 1979 to great acclaim. Says the great man about the song: ‘it’s like I’m back at the festival, surrounded by laughter, dancing, and the promise of love. It’s a song that never gets old’. Too true.
https://www.racontour.com/tunes/
Artist: The Undertones
Album:The Undertones
Year: 1978
Notable fact: When The Undertones debut album was released in May 1979, this was not included. When it was released in October 1979, the album was expanded to include it and Get over you. It made its debut in 1978 as a stand-alone single.
https://www.racontour.com/tunes/
Artist: Van Morrison
Album: Moondance
Year: 1970
Notable fact: Released just weeks into the 1970s, it was Track 5 after Caravan on Side One. It was never released as a single, which probably adds to its stature.
https://www.racontour.com/tunes/
Artist: Luke Kelly/The Dubliners
Album: Hometown!
Year: 1972
Notable fact: Patrick Kavanagh’s ghost looms large in this song based on the old melody The Dawning of the Day. The definitive version most know actually comes from the 1983 Prodigal Sons sessions, but we’re right to kick this off as the first tune as its genesis are in the late 60s when Kavanagh met Kelly in The Bailey as the video tells us.
https://www.racontour.com/tunes/
An outline as to why these ten tunes and why the timespan of the late 60s to early 90s.
https://www.racontour.com/tunes/
Mary, and particularly Sean, relish the chance to go through various voices from through the ages give their critique of Sligo. If the curmudgeons they are mimicking could be won over, hopefully you will be too.
Tour producer John Ward welcomes listeners about to embark on a range of sites that inspired a young Yeats to conjure up his Celtic Twilight. All of the well known sites, plus a few non Yeats treats are included with of course the finale coming at Drumcliffe.
Coming from the bleak R232 Pettigo road, the traveller will get the finally see the Bluestack Mountains reveal themselves with spectacular gusto.
Guide producer John Ward welcomes you to this extensive travel guide for the Bluestack Way. Along its 51 km route, hear the myriad stories this magical place has to offer.
Speaker: Archive producer, John Ward
Welcome to the Celtic Calendar, a comprehensive audio archive on the four seasons and their cross-quarter days in Ireland. As old as time itself, the seasons were the constant path by which our ancestors survived through passed-down knowledge, customs and rituals. Our atavistic instincts are still attuned to beliefs that existed long before Patrick arrived. An ancient time when the deities who oversaw the cycle of the seasons were honoured through customs and rituals. Four festivals in this Celtic calendar helped our ancestors plan how their crops and animals should be utilised. The cross-quarter days of Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasa and Samhain serve as markers for the season ahead. Though they may sound slightly archaic, we still perform customs that our ancestors once did at these festivals. For centuries, they've brought communities together serving as a benign social control from respecting the darkness of Winter to the plenitude of the harvest. Paying heed to the cycles of the seasons creates a visceral bond between us and Mother Earth. Not just that, the customs of the Celtic calendar form a potent arc between us and ancient Ireland. Bypassing all invaders, both spiritual and temporal, these living customs are the most direct and powerful link to the distant past we could possibly imagine. Long may they thrive. This audio archive is dedicated to my late cousin, Helen Sharkey, a remarkable artist from Belfast. She wished me well in this project and I'm pleased her family agreed to my dedication to her. Her heart took her far too early while she sold her art in St. George's Market in July 2022 with a funeral at Lughnasa.
Lughnasa - the time of the harvest runs from the end of July well into August. Just as a good Rosary has its trimmings, so too does Lughnasa have a number of ancillary events that need to be referenced. The first major event after Garland Sunday was the Assumption, being the 15th of August. This was the day that the Virgin Mary assumed or rose into Heaven. It was also known as Big Lady Day, Marymass or most grandiosely of all, Great Lady in the Harvest.
For our Irish ancestors, Garland Sunday could not come soon enough. The bitter six weeks leading up to Lughnasa were when food was at its scarcest. Other names beyond Hungry July were 'The Hungry Month', 'The Blue Month' and 'Staggering July.' Regionally, it was known as the yellow month in Kilkenny as Buímhís' The yellow month being the colour of the faces of the poor. The stifling heat alone had locals in Charles McGlinchey's time call it Mí Mharbh “ or The Dead Month.
These days it forms the location for one of the great Lughnasa set pieces being Reek Sunday held on the last Sunday in July. It is all in honour of St. Patrick overcoming the swarms of winged demons that plagued him for 40 days and nights on that very mountain. Few may be surprised to hear that the mountain had been host to pagan gatherings long before Patrick's arrival. These were to morph into the Christian festival we see today under St. Patrick's watchful eye. Led by the clergy, some 30,000 or so pilgrims make the hazardous journey up to complete the ritual of 'rounding' involving circling various cairns at the top of the mountain. Many do so barefoot.
The royal charter from King James I in 1603 means little to the fair dwellers for they have their king, a wild mountain goat whose untamed and hardy nature reflect that of the fair itself. The festooned goat or 'poc' is crowned King Puck by the young fair queen on the main fair day before being hoisted 20 feet high above in his regal cage to survey the scene. As J.M. Synge noted 'He is kept in position, with a few cabbages to feed on, for three days, so that he may preside over the pig-fair, the horse-fair and the day of winding up.' Pamplona can have its charging bulls, we've got a grazing goat whose a damn sight more welcoming.
Lughnasa is the culmination of what the Celtic calendar has been all about. The patience of seeing out Winter, the thrill of the lambs and snowdrops of Imbolc and the strange mix of hope and apprehension of Bealtaine were all leading to the peak of plenitude that is the month of Lughnasa, being August. Samhain may well be the most famous of the cross quarter festivals, but the most vibrant of the four and indeed the most pagan of them must surely be Lughnasa. The crackling of a bonfire on the side of a hill, the pulsing beat of a bodhran, the rising of the summer sun and of course that most magical and pagan of events, the dance.
Lugh gave his name to the cross quarter day of harvest time, but according to the Book of Invasions, the inspiration for it is usually given as a mourning ceremony for his deceased foster-mother Tailtiu, to whom the festival was named the Fair of Tailteann. The fair was held on the banks of the River Blackwater in what is now Teltown in County Meath over the last two weeks of July and culminating on the first day of August being of course, Lughnasa.
An audio overview about the sun God Lugh who gave his name to the most vibrant of cross quarter days, Lughnasa in August.
Lugh played a major role in the battle of Moytura where the Tuatha de Denann defeated the Formorians led by Balor of the Evil Eye, being his grandfather no less. Negotiation and guile were also part of his skillset as he did a deal with the Formorians to gain knowledge of ploughing, sowing and reaping the harvest. While this demonstrates a move from the megalithic to the modern, needless to say, all his good work will soon be pinched by that grand interloper St Patrick who subsequently replaces him as the hero in all future telling of the battle right down to Reek Sunday occurring on Garland Sunday. Give me the badass daring-do deeds of Lugh over the po-faced saint any day.
Address: Trumon Barr on the R232
GPS location: 54.598846 -8.041193
Theme: the big reveal
The first few miles into Donegal on the R232 Pettigo to Laghey road are deceptive. Low key and quite frankly forgettable, you start to wonder why all the fuss about Donegal's famous beauty. Here, tour producer John Ward, explains why the wonder of Donegal is a slow, but worthwhile reveal.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Speaker: Maurice Timony
This plant grows in the manner of ivy and it is believed its feather-like fruit heads are used to flavour beer brewed from barley. This plant grew wildly in the friars’ time and lay unrecognised for years after their departure until a clean-up operation was taking place by the Office of Public Works. Alfred Timony from Revlin just outside of Donegal Town retrieved a cutting and planted it in his garden. His grandson, Maurice Timony (whose shop we recommended for buying maps) became aware of its provenance and brought a piece to Glenveagh National Park for verification. It now forms part of the National Plant Archive and is grown today in both Glenveagh and Killarney National Parks.
From The Bluestack Way Audio Guide, Part One: https://www.racontour.com/Bluestack/
Patrick Campbell writes that 'scarcity would still be felt in and around the small mountain farms until midsummer or even the end of July. Indeed July was called ‘the hungry month’, ‘the lean month’ (the old Irish speakers named it Iul an ghorta’) ‘the shaking of the bags ‘ which when emptied were left ready and waiting for August and the golden harvest. Then the saying was ’we’ll soon be on the pig’s back’ for Lunasa Eve is at hand.
Location: The Diamond, Donegal Town
Narrators: John Ward/Mairead McNulty
Patents for these days go back as far as the early 1600s when Sir Basil Brooke had taken over the castle from the O'Donnells. The fair day was held on the second Friday of each month while the market occurred every Saturday. Signs and symbols were used to show availability for work: men carried sticks, straws, tools or a bundle under their arm whilst women wore aprons and string bags. All those hired went through the ritual of being examined and questioned about their ability to milk cows, thresh or carry out other farm or household chores. It was very much the survival of the fittest with only an early-risers being sought. Weak or feeble individuals were ignored as they stood forlornly in line at the fairs. The more experienced farm hands were known as spalpeens and would have emblems of their capabilities. With major social and economic changes in farming in the 1930s, the practice of hiring declined. The introduction of social welfare benefits in the early 20th century also meant workers increasingly wanted to work and be paid on a weekly basis; whilst new legislation began to push youth into education rather than work. By the mid 19th century, they were a thing of the past, but I can think of one friend whose father was part of the Donegal Town hiring fairs, so they are not quite the distant horror story they deserve to be. Sean Beattie's article has more on the fairs: https://historyofdonegal.com/derry-hiring-fairs-sean-beattie-recalls/
Lest we think that only the young lads had it tough after the 1st of May with the Hiring Fairs, there is a summertime activity reserved for the young girls that certainly was no picnic. Transhumance may sound like a phenomenon from a sci-fi film, but it's the more prosaic activity of humans bringing the cattle to mountain pastures.
Known in Ireland as 'booleying', it was largely the preserve of young women. Coming from the Irish word 'buaile', it referred to any kind of cattle enclosure and can be traced back to the fourth century BC in Greece no less. It is still practised in parts of Scandinavia and Iceland, but its hey day in Ireland has long since gone.
Midsummer's Eve was celebrated on the 23rd of June. At the heart of the celebrations was the bonfire which had been so for centuries in saluting the sun at its height before it declined south once again. All ages were involved in the gathering of any material to complete the bonfire, including bones which were believed to allow the fire to burn longer. It is from bone that we get the original word bone fire later becoming bonfire. This ancient Irish tradition of bone burning was in imitation of ancient sacrifices with the extra crackling sounds and extra stray sparks of them adding to the grandeur and excitement of this annual spectacle. Unlike Bealtaine fires which were a festive celebration, these were communal fires that were lit to great excitement after the working day.
Wexford storyteller Gretta Browne gives us her take on the customs associated with Bealtaine - everything from May Bushes to pisoegs to sayings to even a poem at the end.
Audio based on the following article: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/dublin-to-host-st-brigid-s-day-events-celebrating-the-original-brigit-1.4789324?fbclid=IwAR0OMUxGnqjkF2tT1coI1TShR2lfm-qrl89vlL2SB2e5VRfFHUvs2RRzTek
Bonus Shrine: a proud son of Donegal
Location: 54.643029, -8.433699
Speaker: John Ward
Theme: grace under pressure.
The 6th of January 2022 marks the 52nd anniversary of P.J. Ward and the 7th of January marks the 100th anniversary of his Treaty speech in Dáil Eireann. Here his grandson, John Ward, looks back at those momentous events and salutes a proud son of Donegal.
To see P.J. Ward's speech in full and to find out more about him, go to:
https://www.racontour.com/a-tough-call/
Treaty100 #Donegal #Irishhistory
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Our audio piece is our first song from the Lough Eske/Barnes Mór area. It’s a tune from the 1950s in Irish from a local singer whose identity we’re unsure of. He is singing about his young love and even if you cannot understand it, the language of love is universal and you certainly pick up on the man’s dedication to his lady. We shall dig deeper, promise!
Speaker: Nancy's Jennifer McHugh
From the Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
The capital of festivals not just in Donegal, but possibly Ireland? We're not going to list out all of the festivals here - you'll know of the Cup of Tae festival and maybe the Walking festival, but rarely is there a week that goes by in the Spring and Summer that there isn't some sort of celebration in the town. Not a bad way to pass time!
The area is famous for its spectacular scenery, beautiful unspoilt beaches, and the hospitality of its people. Ardara is a designated Heritage Town and also a well known centre for the manufacture of Donegal homespun tweeds and knitwear. We are great fans of Kennedy's of Ardara for their very nifty knits - see their website on the right hand column. Great trad music is to be heard around the town and a visit to Nancy's for seafood and music is a must - it's just been crowned national Pub of the Year by the Georgina Campbell guide book.
The Diamond has been a market place since the 1700s when George Nesbitt had livestock and tweed traded on the first day of the month. Today, the fair is held annually, usually around Whit weekend.
In the Heritage Centre, you'll hear a good telling of the role the county played in the weaving industry. There's a hand loom weaver on site and an audio visual guide upstairs as well as a small cafe. It doubles up as a Tourist Information centre. Open Easter-September, Monday to Saturday 10-6, Sunday 2-6.
Our audio piece comes from Jennifer in Nancy's famous award-winning pub telling us that Ardara was recognised as Ireland's best village by the readers of The Irish Times in 2012 no less.
Speaker: Bart Whelan
From the Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
The end of the Bluestack Way is at Ardara on the Atlantic coast on Loughros Bay. Ardara - Ard an Ratha (pronounced 'Ardra') means Hill of the Fort, named after the large ringfort situated above and overlooking the village. Located behind the national school at the top of the town, the ringfort is approx. 28km in diameter and enclosed by an earthen bank and ditch. it was probably home to a single family and dates from AD 500-800.
Our pictures show you the wall and gate to look out for to access the Ardara fort. Make your way over the gate and up the hill to see the fort.
There is an even more impressive ring fort a few miles away, just outside of Portnoo called Doon Fort.
Wondering what else to see in the area? Ask about any one of these wonderful sites: -
Iniskeel Island, St Connell's Church and two Cross Slabs; Narin's championship 18 hole Golf Course, Kilclooney Portal Dolman; Cloney Wood Forest walk; Massrock at Morganstown; Owenea Bridge standing stone (see POI 7), Ardara Fort at Hillhead, Evie Hone stained glass window, Drumbarron Hill scenic view, The Dorleens, Loughros Point, Maghera Caves, Assaranca falls near Maghera, Glengesh Pass and Ard an Amharc.
Speaker: Bart Whelan
From the Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
Directions
You'll be taking a left at the T-junction to bring you into the last stop of Ardara.
On leaving the river, the route makes its way to the main Ardara to Narin/Portnoo road, the R261. At this road, you turn left to make the final kilometre of the Bluestack Way into the village of Ardara - well done and here's hoping you've made it to the end in one piece!
Taking the right would get you to the beautiful coastal villages of Narin and Portnoo - we could not complete the Way without having Bart Whelan tell you one of the great tales of the area, the early days of Narin golf club and its unusual golf hazards.
Speaker: Bart Whelan
From the Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
Upon getting onto the R261, you may wish to turn right and view the nearby Owenea Standing Stone, a massive block some 3.5 metres high in a scraggy field behind a ruin. Folklore says that Fionn McCumhaill threw this shoulder stone from “Clo na Cleire Mountain” and it landed here. When you get to the brown sign on the right saying Owenea river, cross the stile right beside it and turn left to see the standing stone - you have the landowner's permission to be there.
In our audio piece, local Bart Whelan tells us the colourful story of Fionn's reason for throwing the stone - not just a warrior, but Ireland's earliest eco warrior it would appear!
Speaker: Bart Whelan
From the Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
The Bluestack Way makes its final river crossing at 'Iron Bridge' in the townland of Glenconwal. Take a final look at the panoramic views over Loughros Mor Bay and the rising mountians of Meenacurrin and Slievetooey in the distance.
Just by the bay is a place known far and wide as Kentucky - Bart Whelan tells us why in the audio piece.
Speaker: Mary Murphy
From the Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
Fairy lore is prevalent in Donegal, albeit not to the same extent it was over 100 years ago, which some sceptics tie in with the development of modern technology to entertain us and the diminishing of native poteen making and of tales spun around to keep people away from certain places with a well placed fairytale.
There are stories right across the county of people who have come across them in their travels. Well documented stories exist for places in south Donegal, from Pettigo to Carrick. Our audio piece tells us more about them and the poem below may be known to many of you. It was composed by Ballyshannon poet, William Allingham.
The Fairies
Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We daren't go a-hunting For fear of little men; Wee folk, good folk, Trooping all together; Green jacket, red cap, And white owl's feather!
Down along the rocky shore Some make their home, They live on crispy pancakes Of yellow tide-foam; Some in the reeds Of the black mountain lake, With frogs for their watch-dogs, All night awake.
High on the hill-top The old King sits; He is now so old and gray He's nigh lost his wits. With a bridge of white mist Columbkill he crosses, On his stately journeys From Slieveleague to Rosses; Or going up with music On cold starry nights, To sup with the Queen Of the gay Northern Lights.
They stole little Bridget For seven years long; When she came down again Her friends were all gone. They took her lightly back, Between the night and morrow, They thought that she was fast asleep, But she was dead with sorrow. They have kept her ever since Deep within the lake, On a bed of flag-leaves, Watching till she wake.
By the craggy hill-side, Through the mosses bare, They have planted thorn-trees For pleasure here and there. Is any man so daring As dig them up in spite, He shall find their sharpest thorns In his bed at night.
Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We daren't go a-hunting For fear of little men; Wee folk, good folk, Trooping all together; Green jacket, red cap, And white owl's feather!
Speaker: Sean McMahon
From the Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
Local writer Seumas MacManus collected and told of the gentle people in his book, 'Donegal Fairy Stories'. Writing on Old Lammas Day from Donegal town in 1900, his preface starts:- 'tales as old as the curlew's call are today listened to around the hearths of Donegal with the same keen and credulous eagerness with which they were hearkened to hundreds of years ago. Of a people whose only wealth is mental and spiritual, the thousand such tales are not the least significant heritage...
...the professional shanachy (sic) recites them to a charmed audience in the wake house, in the potato field, on the green hillside on summer Sundays, and at the crossroads in blissful autumn gloamings, while the green marge rests his hearers' aching limbs...he would wish that this world might for a few hours, give him their credence on trust, consent to forget temporarily that life is hard and joyless, be foolish, simple children once more, and bring to the entertainment the fresh and fun-loving hearts they possessed ere the world's wisdom came to them. And if they return to the world's wise ways with a lurking delight in their hearts, the shanachy will again feel rejoiced and proud for the triumph of our grand tales.'
Speaker: Bart Whelan
From the Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
The Owenea River runs for some 13 miles, draining Lough Ea in the west of the Croaghs, into Loughrosmore Bay at Ardara. The Owenea is primarily a spate river taking around one to two days to run off after a good flood. The season on the Owenea runs from 1 April to 30 September.
The Owenea is one of the best salmon rivers in the county. The river has a run of spring salmon, grilse, sea trout and has a resident stock of small brown trout. The fishery consists of nine beats on the bottom eight miles of the river with good pools spread throughout the whole river. The river has a lot of nice fly water with the majority of fish being caught by this method. When in condition the river is one of the best in the country for grilse. The main grilse run starts in July with salmon right to the end of the season.
The fishery has access for disabled anglers along a section of beat 3. There is an ongoing programme of maintenance and upgrading of access, angling structures, habitat restoration etc. N.B. Shrimp and Prawn are strictly prohibited.
Permits (please note these are 2012 prices!)
Adult day permits €35
Juvenile (under 16) day permits €15
Weekly (seven-day) permits €175
Bookings/Further information
Single-day and multi-day fishing products are available. Please ensure that you also purchase a licence if you book your fishing permit online. To fish on the Owenea you must hold a fishing permit and a fishing licence.
Bookings are non-transferable. Rods are assigned to beats on a first come first served basis. Payment can made by credit or debit card, including Visa, MasterCard and Laser.
Bookings and in-season information available through:
Owenea Angling Centre, Glenties Hatchery, Glenties, Co. Donegal. Tel: (074) 9551141. Fax: (074) 9551444. Email: nrfbglenties@eircom.net
Off-season information available through
Northern Regional Fisheries Board, Station road, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal. Tel: (071) 9851435. Fax: (071) 9851816. Email: info@nrfb.ie
Speaker: Bart Whelan
From the Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
According to Michael Gallagher, the river in all its moods, was a very accurate forecaster of weather conditions; the sounds of a flood being heard from upstream when the river was low, meant a flood in the near future that was known as “Tuile Bhreige’ or false flood. The colour of the water was also a guideline – black and murky water with froth on the surface was a sign of heavy rain imminent while when the sand and pebbles were clear visible in the river bed, that meant fine weather on the way. If spa water begins flowing from a bog-hole, a long break in the weather is approaching. Twinges of arthritic pains can be felt in ageing joints, and sometimes in joints not so old, before the onset of heavy rain.
The experienced angler can predict the weather, from his success or failure in landing trout or salmon. If after a flood, the fish do not rise to the bait, he knows more rain is on the way.
In our audio piece, Bart tells us how Ardara has both the Owenea and the Owentocker river flowing by and how it got to have its very own glamorous West End!
Speaker: Sean McMahon
From the Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
From this laneway, the route turns left into a field and goes directly to the riverbank. Follow the waymarkers carefully along the river, crossing many bridges and walkways as you head towards Ardara. Some of the bridges were built to facillitate anglers using the river, but most were built for workers at the nearby Bord na Mona peat extraction works to get to and from their place of work. One of these bridges, a rail crossing, was used to transport the extracted peat from these extensive peat boglands.
Speaker: Mary Murphy
From the Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
To those of you who are looking hungrily at the imposing mountains across the way, the good news is that there is a highly regarded waymarked walk called Sli Cholmcille that takes in the mountains to the left - Mulnanaff, Crocknapeast and Common Mountain (the horse shoe) going down to the base of Glengesh before taking on the beasts that are Crockuna, Meenacurrin and Slievetooey.
Look out for Adrian Hendroff's excellent book called 'Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim Mountain and Coastal Hillwalks - a walking guide'. These are dealt with as Walks 15 and 16, with Walk 17 being simply called 'Ireland's finest coastal walk' and no, Slieve League is Walk 18. Here's hoping we've whetted your appetite - it's the best walking book of its kind in Ireland, a case study in practical and intelligent information with some fun festooned throughout.
Going in the direction of Loughros Bay, we tell you more about Grainne and Diarmuid who are believed to have fled there in Irish mythology escaping Fionn McCumhaill.
Speaker: Dan Gallagher
From the Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
Photo: the Lawrence collection.
In our audio piece, Dan Gallagher tells us about how Glenties would have been thronged with sheep during the annual Harvest Fair in early September. It is a wonderful insight into the chaos and mayhem on a day when there was selling and drinking to be done.
Following the walk approx. 3km from Glenties, the roadway is flanked by gorse or whin bushes with their bright yellow flowers. In May and June, when the blooms are most prolific, you will find colonies of a little known Irish butterfly - the Green Hairstreak. A careful look along these Gorse Hedges by the roadside will often produce good numbers of this fast-flying insect. Upon alighting on the yellow flowers, the closed wings reveal a 'metallic' sheen which characterises this beautiful butterfly. Along the riverbanks, look out for the Common Blue butterfly in June/July.
Speaker: Mary Murphy
From The Bluestack Way - Part 4 playlist.
Just as Gar had to leave Ballybeg in 'Philadelphia Here I Come', we must leave the beautiful town of Glenties to complete the Way. With any luck you'll be back for the MacGill festival, the Harvest Fair or just to base yourself for a future visit.
The starting point of Day Four is opposite the Limelight nightclub up Main Street and is of course signposted. You'll be walking some 400m along the road and taking a left in the direction of Ardara and the imposing mountains around it. On the T-junction itself, you'll see the circular skid marks left by boy racers - this somewhat pathetic activity is known as 'donuting' and the cars that caused them are easy to spot; garish souped up twin cam motors with exhausts like bazookas. You'll hear them before you see them and if so, step well in off the road, not out of respect, but safety.
So we've told you all about the joys of Dancing at Lughnasa, but we feel we need to explain that most curious of words. In our audio piece, we tell you about what the festival of Lughnasa actually was about.
Speaker: Mary Murphy
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
Directions
At this point, you'll rejoining the main Bluestack Way, meeting up at the Owenea river. You'll be carrying on over the bridge into deepest Doobin and along the Casan down into Glenties.
In our audio piece, we tell you about All Souls Day and its customs in these parts.
Speaker: Sean McMahon
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
Our audio explains what a rambling house is. Patrick Campbell writes 'Those rambling hours and the old men’s tales were my greatest enjoyment, as I listened with excited eagerness to Big Owen Ward tell of his years in Colorado and his weeks on the sea in sailing boats, going and coming home from America. How often they told of the lonesomeness of mountain homes when a boy or girl emigrated, how they associated the emigrating from those mountain homes of such and such a neighbour’s child with the day or the day before or after the birth or death of another neighbour. In this manner those old mountain folk compiled their mental calendar and they could relate happenings of distant years as if they had just happened the day before'.
In our audio piece, Sean McMahon gives us a good overview of a rambling house.
Speaker: Dan Gallagher
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
The Owentocker is regarded as one of the best Grade IV rivers in the northwest.
According to canoeist Neil Fox, 'the starting point is at Lough Nillan bridge which is on the Alternative route and is marked on our guide. It’s a 35m/km gradient that travels for five kilometres. The Owentocker or commonly called ‘Ardara River’ is steep, narrow, rocky stream. The runoff is immediate so it must therefore be raining heavily in order to consider launching onto this river. Given the required flood conditions, this is probably one of the best mountain rivers in the area.
There is no time to warm up, and the first two kilometres to a metal frame footbridge is continuous and difficult mountain paddling. Watch out for wire stretched across the river. Short flatter sections of Grade II and one Grade IV drop, lead down to a small bridge. This is a good place to take out if a second run on the more continuous section is preferred. In the remaining 2km to the finish, there are many technical rapids. One in particular, a narrow constriction should be inspected'.
Our audio piece from local man Dan Gallagher is a gem. As a good Catholic, he always fasted the night before taking Holy Communion in Glenties, but nevertheless had no problems doing some poaching in the river or 'pooching' as they called it. It's not a sin if you don't see it as one we guess!
Speaker: Dan Gallagher
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
Directions
You'll be getting off the R262 and heading right at the incongruously named Sir Arthur's Bridge, rejoining the Way from the back of Binbane. We suspect the Sir Arthur in question was Sir Arthur Chicester, a landowner whose son was to become the Earl of Donegall - note the two 'l's in the spelling!
In our audio piece, we hear from Dan Gallagher, who would have been very familiar with having to pass Sir Arthur's Bridge for education and entertainment purposes.
Speaker: Sean McMahon
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
According to weather postman Michael Gallagher, the mist clearing from the top of the hill in the morning is a good sign for the rest of the day. If there is mist over rain or valley, looking like grey smoke, a good spell of weather is expected. Smoke from a chimney rising in a straight column to the heavens, predicts good weather, but if it is seen coming down to the ground it bodes no good. In Summer, warm and humid conditions with inky black clouds in the sky presages a thunderstorm.
In our audio piece, we tell you about holy wells - you're never too far from one in County Donegal.
Speaker: Dan Gallagher
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
To the south west of our current location lies the ancient castle of Castlemeara. According to Kinnfeala, residents of the area believed that the three last remaining Danes after the Battle of Clontarf, a father and two sons, were condemned to be hurled into the nearby lake by the victorious Irish.
They were kept in close confinement at Castlemeara and were promised their freedom on condition of revealing the mode of manufacturing beer from heather - a secret in the possession of the Lochlanni or Danes. The old man promised to disclose the secret on condition that his two sons be despatched first.
The Irish were rather surprised at the father's requiring the previous death of his own sons as an indispensable condition; yet, so bent were they on getting possession of the secret, that they willingly complied. But no sooner had they done so than the crafty Dane asked to be thrown in the lake after his sons. 'Not unless you refuse to tell us the secret' answered the Irish. 'Then I refuse!' responded he haughtily. 'Why did you insist upon your sons being put to death before yourself?' they asked. "Lest they reveal the secret after my death' replied the defiant Dane. Upon this a weight was fastened to his neck and he was thrown into the deep pool, carrying the secret with him.
In our audio piece, we hear from Dan Gallagher telling us about a sheep farmer from these parts who may not have had much education, but knew everything there was to know about sheep.
Speaker: Moya Reid
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
The Bluestack Mountains, North Range – Name, Irish Name and Meaning
The most westerly section of the range is well named with only a few nameless stacks: -
1 Cronaslieve - Cró na Sliabh, The Sheltered Place of the Mountains
2 Binbane - Binn Bán, White Peak
3 Luaghnabrogue - Luach na mBróg, The Price of the Shoes
4 Meentacreeghan - Mínte Creachán, The Smooth Places of the Little Bushes
5 Cloghmeen Hill - Cruach na Cloiche Míne, The Stack of the Smooth Stone
6 Carnaween - Carn na n-Éan, The Cairn of the Birds
7 Croankeerin Cró an Chaorthainn, The Sheltered Place of the Rowan Tree
8 nameless
9 Meenacloghspar - Mín na Cloiche Sparra, The Smooth Place of the Sharp-pointed Stone
10 nameless
11 Meenaguse - Mín an Ghiúis, The Smooth Place of the Pine Trees
12 nameless
13 nameless
14 nameless
15 Binnasruell - Binn na Sruthail, The Peak of the Flushing Stream
16 nameless
17 nameless
18 Lavagh More - An Leamhach Mhór, The Big Marsh Mallow (or The Big Bright Calm Spot)
19 Lavagh Beag - An Leamhach Bheag, The Small Marsh Mallow (or The Small Bright Calm Spot
20 Doocrow - Dubh-Chruach (Dúchruach), Black Stack
21 Tullyhonwar - Tulaigh an Chon Mhóir, The Low Hill of the Big Hound
22 Crockbrack - An Cnoc Breac, The Speckled Hill
23 Meenakilwirra - Mín na Cille Muire, The Smooth Place of the Church of Mary
24 Meenawannia - Mín an Bhainne, The Smooth Place of the Milk
25 Tullynevil - Tulaigh Nimhiúil, The Low Hill of the Poison (or... of the Poets)
26 nameless
27 Tullynaglaggan - Tulaigh na gCloigeann, The Low Hill of the Skulls
28 Tullybane - Tulaigh Bhán, The Low White Hill
29 Tullynadoobin - Tulaigh na nDubh-Bhinn, The Low Hill of the Black Peaks
30 Doobin - Dubh-Bhinn, Black Peak
31 nameless
32 nameless
33 Meenagushoge Hill - Cnoc Mhín na gCuiseog, The Hill of the Smooth Place of the Reeds (or Stalks)
34 Cronacarkfree - Cró na gCearc Fraoigh, ) The Sheltered Place of the Red Grouse
35 Crockbrack - An Cnoc Breac, The Speckled Hill
36 Cullaghcro - Cúil Chruach The Nook of the Stacks
37 Croaghanarget - Cruach an Airgid gan ainm, The Stack of the Money
38 nameless
39 Silver Hill - [“Cruach an Airgid” féach Iml. 3] The Stack of Silver
40 Binnacally - Binn na Cailli, The Peak of the Old Hag
Speaker: Dan Gallagher
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
Directions
On a corner of the R262, you'll see a number of buildings on the left. You're looking at what once was The Bog Hotel belonging to Patsy Brogan. No, it is not an hotel and no, it is not a bar. Sort of. Patsy Brogan and his young Polish fiancee, Daria Weiske, fought the law and the law lost in trying to call this place a shebeen or illegal drinking den. If you were lucky enough to get into it, you could find out for yourself, but the hotel, like Patsy, is now just a memory.
Patsy maintained the fully-fitted pub in a shed at the back of his home – dubbed the Bog Hotel – is where friends and tourists could call in for a drink and claimed he did not charge for drink, preferring to refer to the place as a ceili house.
In our audio piece, we introduce you to another man who grew up at the foot of Binbane mountain, Dan Gallagher, who tell is like it is. He had a farm in nearby Tullynaglaggin.
Speaker: Mary Murphy
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
Directions
You'll be coming out onto the R263 main road from Frosses to Glenties here. Take a right and walk against the traffic until you get to Sir Arthur's Bridge.
Pooka
In the village of Killian not far from Binbane, Kinnfaela tells the story of the Pooka, which infested the district around 1817. The Pooka was a ghost, which showed himself regularly every evening about dusk. His appearance was that of some shapeless monster, apparently without head or limbs. His mode of locomotion was neither walking, jumping, crawling, nor flying, but rolling himself along as one would impel a cask or barrel. For two years inhabitants within three miles of Killian would hear his horrid cry with all the regularity of the setting of the sun. No one could expect to go outdoors after dusk without being sure of meeting him. Anyone who did confront him could expect to be found dead of fright the following morning.
Kinfaela continues ‘A man called Bryan MacGuire who lived in Tiawar and needed to go to Meenagran for a creel of potatoes met the Pooka on his return. He sustained a deep shock to his nerves, but being a religious man, he committed himself to the protection of heaven. He could not go forward as the Pooka was in his path, and was keeping up such a horrid bellowing as would prostrate poor MacGuire, had not the aid of religion supported him.
So blessing himself, he manfully accosted the Pooka, who thereupon lost some of his terrors for his questioner. They entered familiarly into conversation with each other, the result being that the monster confessed himself a spirit from the ‘vasty deep’ and imparted much information to MacGuire respecting the other world, and his own mission upon earth. Whatever secrets the latter learnt that night were never divulged. In the end MacGuire exorcised the unclean spirit and duly consigned him to some place of confinement, to which he made his exit immediately, giving forth from his capacious lungs one shrill piercing shriek, as a parting farewell. But the shock was too much for poor human nature. MacGuire languished and died within the year, but the Pooka was never again heard in Killian’.
Picture of Pooka by Unkraut.
Our audio piece elaborates on the superstition of the Pooka.
Speaker: John McGroary
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
The panorama looks north to the western part of the Bluestack mountains. The most westerly mountain is Binbane, the long ridge to the east is Cloghmeen Hill which passes into the more rugged peal of Carnawen. The windfarm at Meenaguse and the mountain to the east of this is Binnasruell. The rocks that form the mountains are 600 million years old and are made up of quartzites – sandstones that have been heated and compressed by the earth's forces and become even harder and more resistant to erosion.
All the low hills in the foreground are underlain by 325 million year old Carboniferous age Drumkeelan Sandstone. The low ground south of the Bluestack mountains is also underlain by 325 million year old shales, limestones and sandstones. The elevation of the ground also controls land usage e.g the lower and drumlin-covered ground has subsistence farms and irregular settlements. The area has also more modern land uses such as windfarms and commercial forestry while mountains are used for the rough grazing of sheep.
A major geological fault has brought older rocks of the mountains into contact with younger rocks of the foreground. The trace of this fault runs along the beak in slope of the mountains. The shape of the mountains is controlled by the rocks that form them. For example, Binbane has a gentler slope to the west, which becomes steeper towards the summit. This is due to different rocks one of which is more resistant to erosion than the other.
In our audio piece, John tells us how this area was once a tropical ocean
Speaker: Dan Gallagher
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
Directions
The route joins a track of the townland of Cronagrass below Binbane mountain and curves round southwestward to join the main Frosses to Glenties road (R262). Along this section of the route can be found Ling heather moorland. Cronagrass was once populated; evidence of which can be found in the many ruins in this townland. In the past the heather was used to house honeybee stocks to produce Ling heather honey; a prized product and a very fine honey with a bittersweet flavour and a full bouquet. Ling honey is not runny but sets to a jelly and is much sought after by the coinnoisseur.
Spectacular scenery
Kinfaela gives a comprehensive description of the panorama that is on offer from standing atop Leagan’s Hill (Liagan Hill in his book) on the Ardara road just outside of Inver. It deserves to read in full from his classic 1867 book 'The Cliff Scenery of South West Donegal', but we will give you the section that concerns us on The Bluestack Way: -
'North of Drimhome appear the mountains of Pettigo and Lough Derg rising still higher and higher til they reach Barnesmore. Next in succession rises Cruach-Gorm (Blues Stack 2213 feet) looking like the hugh dome of some monster cathedral. It is the second in height to Mount Errigal among the mountains in Donegal (third in fact we believe, after Muckish). Then sweeping in a semi-circle towards you there appear, in one continuous range, the peaks of Cruach-an-airgoid (Silver Hill, 1967 feet), Carn-na-Bhaodhan (pronounced 'ween' meaning Calf Hill) which has a comlech at the summit, and lastly Binbane (White Peak, 1490 feet) within two miles of us. Here there is a break in the communication, occupied by a plateau of moorland directly to the north of us. To the left of this, or northwest of where we stand, and at a distance from Binbane of about five miles rise the ridge of Mulmossog, three miles long, which at its westerly extremity allows a gap or nick to intervene between itself and the Cronarade range to admit of the passage of the road between Killybegs and Ardara. This passage is called the Nick of the Ballagh.
Then follows the rocky chain of Cronarade, which at its western end forms a bold promontory at Towney Head. In the opening already referred to, between Binbane and Mulmossog, you can distinctly discern the main ocean. On the left of this portion of the background may be observed the mountains of Lettermackaward, and the island of Arranmore. The whitish grey pyramidal-shaped peak towards the right of Errigal (2452 feet) the loftiest mountain in Donegal, and the dark rounded mass near it in Muckish (2190 feet)'.
In our audio piece, Michael Gallagher opines why people had more energy in the old days.
Speaker: Mary Murphy
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
Patrick Campbell writes that 'scarcity would still be felt in and around the small mountain farms until midsummer or even the end of July. Indeed July was called ‘the hungry month’, ‘the lean month’ (the old Irish speakers named it Iul an ghorta’) ‘the shaking of the bags ‘ which when emptied were left ready and waiting for August and the golden harvest. Then the saying was ’we’ll soon be on the pig’s back’ for Lunasa Eve is at hand. In Donegal, St. Cron’s Day, 7th July was the day set to dig the first basket of new potatoes – it is said that 'potatoes are early if dug for the feast of St. Cron’. Another proverb around our mountains was ‘Let St. Patrick set the potatoes and King Billy can dig them’ meaning the early potatoes planted on 17th March, the feast of St. Patrick, could be ready for digging on the 12th of July, the date of the Battle of the Boyne.
In our audio piece, we tell you about the Irish superstition that is the hungry grass.
Speaker: John McGroary
From The Bluestack Way - Part 3 playlist.
Directions
After the old ruined cottage, following this track for approx. 2km gives the walker fine views across Donegal Bay on a clear day. Young plantations of conifers are fast becoming the prominent landscape feature of this ares.
A right turn through a gate at the bottom of this track leads you north again toward the mountains. On climbing this track you enter an area of traditional peat extraction on an area of lowland blanket bog, much of which lies derelict, but some turf banks are clearly visible and still worked today. After a further one kilometre, the walk goes across country and follows the waymarkers over the bogland. Care must be taken to follow the chosen route as this area can become very wet in some seasons and it is not advised to deviate from the marked pathways.
This area is also a working upland sheep farm and is in private ownership. Care must be taken to leave all gates as they are found unless signs indicate their closure and only cross fences using the stiles provided for this purpose.
Towards Donegal – John Boyd
The halo of sun now hldes the hills
Of Donegal, while here I stand
Watching the gathering cloud that falls
Over those hills nightly, like a fan
Unfolded in an orient tale.
I have never known those lost hills
Nor their people; nor the soft tongue
Spoken there; nor the silence that falls
With soldered sun; nor valleys along
The crackling coast now bare of sail
Or smoke of ship; Yet I can tell
My children legends woven there
In winter’s woe; and telling feel
The spell in the wondering stare
Of candid eyes captured by the living tale.
Our audio piece has John telling us how the valley we have come through is in fact the result of glacial deposit.
Speaker: John Ward and Catherine Byrne
This is the actual house where Brian Friel's aunts, the McLoone sisters, the 'five brave Glenties women' of the play, Dancing at Lughnasa, actually lived together in the 1930s. Just off Station Road outside the harvest fair town of Glenties, this is the site that inspired a modern masterpiece by a playwright at the height of his powers. The Public Theatre and Professor Martin Andrucki summed up its power in their critique of the play's denouement: -
'In the last lines of the play, the narrator Michael tells us that when he remembers that summer of 1936 everybody seems to be "[d]ancing, as if language had surrendered to movement...as if this ritual, this wordless ceremony, was now the way...to be in touch with some otherness. Dancing as if the very heart of life and all its hopes might be found in...those...movements. Dancing as if words were no longer necessary." Each of the characters in the play dances at some crucial moment: Gerry and Chris when they meet after a long separation, Father Jack when he celebrates the power of the Goddess, all the sisters when the sounds of the wireless bring them into contact with the outside world.
What Michael suggests is that people dance at such moments because dancing provides a way to transcend the painful contradictions, conflicts, and uncertainties of ordinary experience. Dancing takes us beyond the everyday world of language and its ambiguities to a place where our hopes can be painlessly, though fleetingly, fulfilled. If the kites imply the conflicting emotions associated with change, both exhilaration and terror, dancing promises a deliverance from such inner conflict, allowing an experience of undivided happiness'.
Yes, it's that good and thankfully Friel has been recently honoured as Donegal Person of the Year by the Donegal Association in Dublin. The play is a remarkable tribute to the Mundy sisters' spirit and from this meagre setting did such a magical story evolve. Try and see the play being performed with a good cast as the Mundy sisters. Meryl Streep can do many things (including outdrinking most people the night she opened this house with Friel some years ago no less), but the film is not a patch on the tour de force that is the play.
For the MacGill summer school of 1991 honouring Friel for the second time, the Abbey theatre famously came up for one night only and performed the play in the Comprehensive school you'll have passed by. Friel in introducing the play that night said he was nervous as a kitten being so close to the action from the 1930s. He needn't have worried as the performance was mesmerising and got a standing ovation.
Our audio piece remembers that famous night of the 11th August 1991 when a great play came home.
Taken from The Bluestack Way Guide, a soundscape along the 64km waymarked way from Donegal Town along the hills to Glenties and on to Ardara.
Speaker: Francis Houston
There are many reasons why Glenties is on the map for the discerning traveller, but at the time of writing (2012) and no doubt for many years to come, the biggest deal has to be that it produced Donegal's finest son, Jim McGuinness. We've marked where his family still have a cafe in town. Jim managed to guide the Donegal Senior Football team to victory in the All Ireland final of 2012. An anthem that has been adopted for the team declares that 'Jimmy's Winning Matches' (look out for it on YouTube) and indeed he is.
What was remarkable was the fact that he achieved it in Year Two of a Five Year Plan for the team. McGuinness changed a team that had only two years before been ignominiously dumped out of the championships in Round One; eleven of that team played in the All Ireland win. Jim produced a team that believed they could win and indeed trained them to a level of fitness that would be considered professional. As pundit Joe Brolly put it 'Their focus is icy and they thrive in the heat of battle. After all, Jimmy insists on it.'
You will see pictures of him festooned around the town - his passing resemblance to Che Guevara has given rise to one famous picture of him complete with beret and goatee beard and the motif 'Until Victory Always' that can be bought as a T-shirt in the Highland hotel (where the artist works). And yet, Jimmy had been rejected for the top job on three occasions in the past, only getting it when he'd shown his pedigree as Under 21s manager. A trained sports psychologist, on both paper and in deed, he was the right man at the right time.
Speaker: Breesy Willows
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
2021 update: please note this was recorded in 2012 and there has been a change in hotel ownership.
Directions
Carry on along the main road into Glenties. Coming down the Brae, you'll see the Highlands hotel in front of you across the road.
Hearty welcome
The Highlands hotel does a number of things very well - it has a steak that would feed a family of twelve, it has a very congenial staff, comfortable rooms, an artistic vibe reflected throughout and a whole host of female hostesses (seven sisters I believe). As such, it is an hotel worthy of note, but come the high Summer, it really takes off for it is here that the heartbeat of political debate takes place every July as part of the MacGill Summer School.
News-starved reporters looking for stories when the Dail is not sitting know that the place to be is Glenties. All manner of headline stories emanate from this hotel and all the movers and shakers from the Taoiseach to the vacationing cognoscenti will glide through its doors. Oh, but do not think you can simply book a room months in advance - it doesn't work like that and the owners have an unorthodox understanding with the festival director, local-boy-made-good, Joe Mulholland, in keeping rooms 'available' as last minute changes in the agenda are de rigueur. Learn a bit about how Ireland got itself into the current situation and maybe enjoy some great human watching too. Never a dull moment.
Our audio piece is a tour de force from local resident, Breesy Willow, who explains in her own inimitable fashion what makes Glenties and the Highlands hotel special.
Highlands Hotel
Main Street
Glenties,
Co. Donegal.
T: +353 (0)74 9551111
E: info@highlandshotel.ie
http://highlandshotel.ie/
Speaker: John McGroary
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
Youtube video showing the strange case of why Fr. Barney was singled out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HzOkonTzcY
Glenties is commonly regarded as being the mythical village of Ballybeg in Donegal that playwright Brian Friel has used in a dozen or so plays, where his real life aunts and uncle lived in the 1930s.
Just before we get into Glenties, there's a story for all theatre buffs - look at the graveyard on your right. See where the real life Fr. Jack who went 'native' in Africa is buried. Listen to the video clip above to learn how the Catholic church had their own way of showing their disdain for a shepherd wandering from the flock.
Glenties is special enough in real life, but the fact that this is where some of the greatest drama of the last 50 years is based gives it an added lustre.
Unlike the house on Dublin's quays, which Joyce never actually set foot in but in which he placed the action in 'The Dead', Friel knows this area well: he's attended three of the festivals that are held here in his honour and, with a deceased uncle in this grave, there are events etched in his mind that go beyond fiction.
Writing in the MacGill summer school programme of 1981, Friel wrote: -
*'A community that celebrates a local writer does two things. Rightly, and with pardonable pride, it participates in the national/international acclaim. And rightly, and indeed as importantly, it celebrates itself because the writer is both fashioned by and fashions his people.
Because of my own close connections with Glenties- it occupies a large portion of my affections and permanently shaped my imagination- I am delighted that this festival is taking place and I congratulate the people who dreamed it up and made it real. Long may it prosper!*'
In our audio piece, John McGroary tells us a bit more about the MacGill Summer school.
Speaker: Seumus Gildea
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
Nestled between two glens on the north westerly edge of the Bluestacks at the convergence of two rivers, Glenties is the largest population centre in the parish of Inishkeel. Surrounded by mountains and hills on three sides that open along the Owenea valley to the Atlantic ocean to the west at Ardara, Glenties is noticeable for its lush tree-covered valleys in stark contrast with the Atlantic seaboard mountain habitats of blanket bogs and moorland on its approach road. The eastern half of Glenties is situated at the Donegal Gaeltacht which is one of the largest native Irish speaking areas within Ireland.
Descending the hills, you'll come to your first proper road since Tymeen. Cross this road and continue straight on over a metal bridge that crosses the Owenea river, the waterway you'll be meandering to Ardara with tomorrow. Once you get to the R253 main road, you'll be taking a left into Glenties.
Those planning to spend more time in Glenties should look for St. Connell's museum which provides both history of the area and tourist information. Look out for the walk to Owenbhan waterfall above Meenahalla, a sight to behold when in full spate. The contours of Liam McCormack's famous Catholic church built in 1974 reflects the mountainside above it.
Going Home (Doherty’s shack, 1909)
I’m going back to Glenties when the harvest fields are brown, And the Autumn sunset lingers on my little Irish town, When the gossamer is shining where the moorland blossoms blow I’ll take the road across the hills I tramped so long ago-
‘Tis far I am beyond the seas, but yearning voices call, “Will you not come back to Glenties, and your wave-washed Donegal?”
I’ve seen the hopes of childhood stifled by the hand of time I’ve seen the smile of innocence become the frown of crime, I’ve seen the wrong rise high and strong, I’ve seen the fair betrayed Until the faltering heart fell low, the brave became afraid- But still the cry comes out to me, the homely voices call, From the Glen among the highlands of my ancient Donegal.
Sure, I think I see them often, when the night is on the town, The Braes of old Strasala, and the homes of Carrigdoun- There’s a light in Jimmy Lynch’s house, a shadow on the blind, I often watched the shadow, for ’t was Mary in behind,
And often in the darkness,‘t is myself that sees it all, For I cannot help but dreaming of the folk in Donegal.
So I’ll hie me back to Glenties when the harvest comes again, And the kine are in the pasture and the berries in the lane, Then they’ll give me such a handshake that my heart will leap with joy, When a father and a mother welcome back their wayward boy. So I’m going back to Glenties when the autumn showers fall, And the harvest home is cheery in my dear old Donegal.
Patrick MacGill
Our audio piece has local Seumas Gildea tells us about the early McGill festivals he remembers.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty and a local farmer
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
According to Michael Gallagher, sheep are often regarded as being downright stupid, but they actually notice changes in the atmosphere early on, and set out to prepare themselves for it. When in late autumn, winter or early spring, they gather together and jump and play as if showing their prowess in athletics, snow is in the offing.
Again when they keep close together or run in formation to a high ditch, a hedge or old wallsteads, high winds are fast approaching.
In late spring, sheep in lowlands head back to the hills and can make their way to the particular pastures they inhabited the previous summer. They’re leaving the lowlands as an indication that the harsh winter and spring have ended and good weather is on the way.
If the shepherd forces them to go to the mountain in the spring against their wishes, they will invariably return to the lowlands as they realise that more harsh weather is to come. If the sheep on the hills head for the lowland pastures at the fall of the year, harsh weather with storm, hail or snow can be expected in the near future.
Our audio piece might just be the best one recorded along the way - featuring as it does some very vocal sheep and two knowledgeable sheep farmers!
Speaker: Sean McMahon
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
View
From the rock outcrops at the top of the hill, fine views can be had of the glens with the town nestling quietly below. In the valley, the Owenea river flows from east to west passing Glenties on towards Ardara to enter the Atlantic ocean. To the right is Lough Anna from where the town gets its water supply. it is said that the monks used to have a resting place on an island in this lough whilst ministering to their flock in this region.
Appinites
Standing on the ridge before this descent into the valley, take time to look at the rock outcrops which are part of an interesting geological feature known as Appinites. The hills immediately south of Glenties are made up of an igneous rock called appinite (after the Appin region in Scotland where these rocks are particularly abundant). These rocks are part of the fiery geological history of Donegal. At the culmination of the continental collisions around 410 million years ago, vast volumes of hot magma rose through the crust to cool slowly within the metamorphic rocks already present to form granite. Donegal contains ten large granite masses, one of which named Barnesmore granite is seen at Barnesmore. Slightly earlier, but intimately related to the large granite masses that make up much of Donegal, are the much smaller appinite bodies that can be seen here.
The Appinite magma was generated by melting rocks deep in the Earth's interior, termed mantle rocks. It is thought that the special conditions that are often present near the end of continental collision are necessary to create the magma. The magma then rose and cooled, crystals started to form and were carried along with the rising magma. Among the earliest minerals to crystalize were a greenish black mineral called hornblende which in places nearly entirely makes up the rock. As only minor amounts of white feldspar crystallised with the hornblende, the rock is very dark in colour. The shape of the hornblende crystals indicates that they formed extremely rapidly from the magma.
With certain crystals constantly being crystallized or extracted from the magma, the residual magma constantly changes and becomes less voluminous. This can mean that rock that forms from the magma early on can be completely different from the rocks that form later.
In the Appinite just south of Glenties later batches of magma have intruded rock that formed much earlier (hornblende-rich rock) in the form of thin criss-crossing veins. These later veins stand out on the rock surface. They are light-coloured because they are made up almost entirely by feldspar with minor amounts of other minerals. These veins probably represent rock that crystallised from the last fraction of the magma. Many examples of these rock formations can be observed on the hills towards Glenties.
In the audio piece, in what will be our last direct view of Loughros Bay and the Atlantic, we tell you of the legend of Hy Brasil that is off in the horizon.
Speaker: John McGroary
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
Patrick MacGill was born in the Glen of Glenties in 1889 and was the first of eleven children. After only a few years’ schooling and after having worked on the home patch of land, he set out at the age of twelve, one of a group of youngsters from the locality, for the hiring fair in Strabane and worked as a servant boy in Tyrone. MacGill’s literary career began in 1910 when he asked the Derry Journal to print some poems.
At that time he was working as a plate-layer on the Glasgow- Greenock line of the Caledonian Railway Co. Shortly afterwards he moved to London and had “Children of the Dead End” and “The Rat Pit” published. They became best sellers. He wrote more novels, some with an Irish setting and some located in England, but never again did he achieve the intensity of these two novels which really form a single work. Since 1981, an annual Summer school has honoured his name - see the VIP hotel for more on it.
This poem is the foreword to MacGill's 'Songs of Donegal': -
DEDICATION
I speak with a proud tongue of the people who were
And the people who are,
The worthy of Ardara, the Rosses and Inishkeel,
My kindred --
The people of the hills and the dark-haired passes
My neighbours on the lift of the brae,
In the lap of the valley.
To them Slainthe!
I speak of the old men,
The wrinkle-rutted,
Who dodder about foot-weary --
For their day is as the day that has been and is no more --
Who warm their feet by the fire,
And recall memories of the times that are gone;
Who kneel in the lamplight and pray
For the peace that has been theirs --
And who beat one dry-veined hand against another
Even in the sun --
For the coldness of death is on them.
I speak of the old women
Who danced to yesterday's fiddle
And dance no longer.
They sit in a quiet place and dream
And see visions
Of what is to come,
Of their issue,
Which has blossomed to manhood and womanhood --
And seeing thus
They are happy
For the day that was leaves no regrets,
And peace is theirs,
And perfection.
I speak of the strong men
Who shoulder their burdens in the hot day,
Who stand on the market-place
And bargain in loud voices,
Showing their stock to the world.
Straight the glance of their eyes --
Broad-shouldered,
Supple.
Under their feet the holms blossom,
The harvest yields.
And their path is of prosperity.
I speak of the women,
Strong-hipped, full-bosomed,
Who drive the cattle to graze at dawn,
Who milk the cows at dusk.
Grace in their homes,
And in the crowded ways
Modest and seemly --
Mother of children!
I speak of the children
Of the many townlands,
Blossoms of the Bogland,
Flowers of the Valley,
Who know not yesterday, nor to-morrow,
And are happy,
The pride of those who have begot them.
And thus it is,
Ever and always,
In Ardara, the Rosses and Inishkeel --
Here, as elsewhere,
The Weak, the Strong and the Blossoming --
And thus my kindred.
To them Slainthe.
In our audio piece, John, who works in Glenties, tells us about its proud heritage.
Speaker: Seumus Gildea
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
The Path Across the Moor
Words: Seumas MacManus; Tune: Traditional, set by Eamonn Monaghan
One harvest evening as I took the road from Glenties fair, I overtook a fresh littl’ coleen of modest mean and air;
So pleasant our discoursing was, it grieved me to be sure,
When she said at length “Good-bye, kind sir, my path’s across the moor.”
I looked upon her wistfully, her gaze fell on the grass,
“It’s lonesome walking in the moor,” I said, “mo chailín deas; And the path is not so narrow, there’s room for two, I’m sure;
If you don’t object I’ll take with you the path across the moor.”
“The moon is up and the path is straight,” she answered courteously, “And I never do feel lonesome when crossing of Tyree;
A kind good-bye, pray gentle sir, my father he is poor, And I a humble maid have never been beyond the moor.”
“You do your father wrong,” I said, “for his is wealth untold, And the King of Royal Spain is not so rich for all his gold; And wealth and worldly riches for me have little lure;
I barter both to walk and sport with you across the moor.”
I looked into her gentle eyes; she blushed and cast them down. I touched my lips upon her hand, still Rosie did not frown.
I took her hands in both of mine and prisoned them secure,
While she murmured “You may join me on the path across the moor.”
Our audio piece has the local raconteur, Seumas Gildea, telling us what he thinks of Irish poets from MacGill to Heaney with his trademark candour.
Speaker: Mary Murphy
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
You are now approx 7 km from Glenties; known as the Cosan, this path has been used by the people of Doobin for centuries going to mass or to the fairs in Glenties for shopping. It was used by the people of Disert, Drimarone and beyond for the same purpose, crossing over the side of Carnaween by Carn Lough. Sheep were frequently driven this way to fairs in Glenties up until the 1950s. Many would drive sheep the night before, always assured of a bed for the night and shelter for their stock in the households of Doobin.
You are truly in the middle of nowhere right now - you'll come across an abandoned sofa that should be enjoyed. The Cosan to all intents and purposes has been conjured up by a mischievous Samuel Beckett - a seemingly never-ending bog road that goes into infinity; the sofa one last luxury before you embark on this challenging terrain. Some left field theatre company may well stage 'Waiting For Godot' here some day!
Our audio piece has a handy piece of vernacular in telling you that bog is not just a noun, but also makes up the verb, bogging!
Speaker: Sean McMahon
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
After your descent, you drop into the valley of Doobin joining the roadway at the bottom of the hill and taking a left turn along the track to Glenties.
With no habitation and little disturbance, the occasional glimpse can be had of the peregrine falcon and merlin; more rarely the hen harrier ranges across the mountains. The golden plover is also found on some of the slopes here but more commonly, the familiar call of the stonechat frequently breaks the silence as it hops along the fencepost. Other birds of note are the wheatear, skylark and the ever present meadow pipit.
The track follows the course of the Owenroe river which has its source in the townland of Croankeeran on the northern slope of Carnaween mountain approx 4 km to the east. When in spate this river can be spectacular during wet spells and provides plenty of interest where it runs over the rock outcrops, with small waterfalls and many rapids. This river is framed by this beautiful valley deep inside the Bluestack mountains. A rock known as 'Carraig an Tabla' on the north side of the river was said to be used as a mass rock during Penal Times. We tell you some more about mass rocks in our audio piece.
Speaker: John McGroary
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
Doobin, which needless to say is pronounced 'Dibbin', is the remotest point of our journey. Now with sheep as the only permanent residents, this place once had a community as the derelict national school will testify to - built by the indefatigable Canon McFadden back in 1912. The valley had ten households in 1833, thirteen in 1857 and by the time of the Census of 1901, some eight families were registered as living in the area, mainly involved in agriculture with the exceptions of a seamstress and a sprigger. The national school closed as late as 1969 with the last family moving out in 1984.
With Glenties over five miles away and Drimarone a mountain away, this place really was far from the madding crowd.
In our audio, John guides us down into the barren Doobin valley.
Speaker: John McGroary
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
Directions
This point marks where the Alternative route rejoins us - ensure you follow the signs to the right to get to Glenties.
Following the track down to the site of the old school, turn right over the concrete bridge and take a left turn through a gate 1km further on.
In our audio piece, John tells us one final anecdote about the area's most famous visitor, Fionn McCumhaill.
Speaker: Sean McMahon
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
After your descent, you drop into the valley of Doobin joining the roadway at the bottom of the hill and taking a left turn along the track to Glenties.
With no habitation and little disturbance, the occasional glimpse can be had of the peregrine falcon and merlin; more rarely the hen harrier ranges across the mountains. The golden plover is also found on some of the slopes here but more commonly, the familiar call of the stonechat frequently breaks the silence as it hops along the fencepost. Other birds of note are the wheatear, skylark and the ever present meadow pipit.
The track follows the course of the Owenroe river which has its source in the townland of Croankeeran on the northern slope of Carnaween mountain approx 4 km to the east. When in spate this river can be spectacular during wet spells and provides plenty of interest where it runs over the rock outcrops, with small waterfalls and many rapids. This river is framed by this beautiful valley deep inside the Bluestack mountains. A rock known as 'Carraig an Tabla' on the north side of the river was said to be used as a mass rock during Penal Times. We tell you some more about mass rocks in our audio piece.
Speaker: Michael Gallagher
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
If you were to turn right after Lughnabrogue and Cloghmeen Hill and carry on past Carnaween, you'd be going in the direction of Meenalig by the Reelan river.
Paddy McGroary had been reared in the bare mountainless townland of Meenalig and in 1883 he sailed for the United States. Some sixty years later, these lines were found by his friends in Connecticut, where he died. They’d been written in his own hand some weeks before: -
On St. Patrick's Day of ’43 I let my thoughts roll back,
To see what the toll of sixty years had done to the old shack,
Where boys and girls would gather to trip a reel or jig,
While the turf fire bright kept up the light in dear old Meenalig.
With a morning sup of poteen I would peep across the sky,
View mists along the valleys, see if the hills look nigh,
Take a loving eye at Carn-na-ween with its image of Finn McCool,
Look towards the heights of the Grey Mare’s Tail and the lofty hills of Schruel.
So often in those good old days, I allowed my eyes to stray,
From Eglish on to dear Ardban, Letterfad, and old Tullay,
Lough Eske so sweet, and Drawin so steep, Lacrum and Augherbeg,
From Legan on through Golands, and back home to Meenalig.
St. Patrick’s Day is over and my pen begins to stall,
With an old man’s prayer to Meelanig and dear old Donegal,
A last farewell to Barnesmore, Stranorlar and Strabane,
Down through Lough Foyle with a weary heart and back to Uncle Sam.
In our audio piece, postman Michael Gallagher tells us about the passing of things in the Meenalig valley - in this case the last time he'll see sheep been taken up the mountains.
Speaker: Michael Gallagher
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
Directions
You'll be carrying down the mountain. Once you get to the pathway, you'll be turning left following the course of the Owenroe river. If you were to turn right and walk for four miles, you'd be in the heart of the Croaghs.
One of the great ambassadors of the county is affable postman, Michael Gallagher, renowned for his uncanny ability to forecast the weather by a careful observation of wildlife and the elements, a skill he attributes to the people of Na Cruacha Gorma in the deepest part of the Finn valley. At the extreme end of his daily itinerary lies 'Na Cruacha Gorma' - the Croaghs, as it is called. A sparsely populated area, it is one of the most inaccessible parts of Ireland, where electricity only arrived in 1975, but it is here that Michael met people whose vast repertoire of folklore seemed to be unending. Much of the folklore has been recorded by folklorists not only from our own country, but from as far afield as Switzerland, Germany, Iceland and North America.'
It was from conversing in their native language with the people of this area that he first became interested in weather forecasting all those years ago. As he says himself: -'Most of the people from na Cruacha could forecast the weather accurately for a month or a season in advance and even a year ahead at times. They had such a knowledge of nature, learned from their daily struggle with the elements that they believed each feature of God's Creation was linked by them with climatic conditions. The knowledge of what we call 'book learning' was sparse but they had a rare wealth of lore and wisdom that was a source of amazement to all who came in contact with them. These, coupled with their natural vitality, enabled them to eke out a fairly comfortable living for themselves on their mountain farms in a remote area without the benefits of modern equipment.
As Michael writes ‘In the course of my travels, I discovered - among other things - that clocks and watches were almost unknown in that area until after World War One. Thus, the sun was their guideline. Incidentally, I never learned how they managed on the countless days when the sun refused to shine!'
Observing the animals around them, the folk of the Croaghs would tell you that a dog eating grass was a sign of a change in the weather, that a fox crying on a Winter's evening is a sure sign of heavy snow coming, that the crex crex cry of the curlew is a sign of rain as are crickets singing behind an open hearth fire. Folk here were able to ascertain accurate forecasts from the stars, the sun, clouds, damp, echos, mist, pains, thunder and trees. Curious terms such as 'the peck' and stacked jam jars in windows were other unorthodox methods of forecasting.
In the audio, Michael marvels at the valley at his favourite time of the year.
Speaker: John McGroary
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
The view from the top of Lughnabrogue is one of the great treats in life. Everything that is magnificent and epic about the north west can be saluted from this point, with you as lord or lady of all you survey. With views as far south as Cavan to one side and Mayo to the other, the hills of Fermanagh and the serene behemoths that are Ben Bulben and Slieve League sit on opposing sides of Donegal Bay like two gargantuan sphinxes.
On the north facing side, you get to see Slievetoohey, Meenacurrin, Maghera caves, Loughros Bay, Arranmore Island, The Rosses, Errigal and the Derryveagh mountains. Feel free to let out a roar as this scenery deserves nothing less than a primal scream from those lucky enough to witness it - it doesn't get much better than this.
In our audio piece, John tells us what parts of the country you are viewing.
Speaker: John McGroary
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
The first Sunday of June, found the youth of Patrick Campbell’s day making their way after Mass to Carnameen mountain top, a tradition that is still practiced to this day. Campbell observes ‘many a joyful Sunday evening I passed on this famous summit, and we were always welcomed for further refreshments on our way home by the kindly people in Dysart (sic) at the foot of this beautiful mountain. From Carn’s top, the eye could behold the far off mountains in County Mayo, Benbulben in Sligo, and the long range of the Fermanagh hills, south of Lough Erne. But the June evening was always too short and the evening mists were often the means chasing us home, as valleys re-echoed the sounds of our latest songs and our gaze descended to those beautiful deep valleys along the Eanny Beg.’
Carnaween is composed of quartzite. A major fault trends along the lower slopes of the mountain and joins the Boundary Fault. This fault trends southeast to Killybegs where it caused a weakness in the rocks that the sea exploited to form the natural harbour, which gives rise to Ireland’s major fishing port.
In a double audio piece, John and Patsy tell us more about the great mountain and how it united the people of the Bluestacks once a year
Speaker: John McGroary
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
Directions
This is the toughest part of Bluestack Way. Stick closely by the Yellow man markers. The terrain is wet and uneven with large clumps to overcome which are a result of turf cutting from many years ago.
In our audio piece, John tells us what to expect.
Speaker: John McGroary
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
GPS LOCATION: 54.730491, -8.191558
Here you are faced with a choice of routes; one, the main Bluestack Way traverses the mountain of Loughnabrogue, before crossing the Bluestack range to drop into the valley of Doobin (pronounced Dibbin). This is a route for experienced walkers and safety is of paramount concern. Appropriate weatherproof clothing and stout footware are essential.
The route is well marked with waymarked posts and also has larger posts to navigate ‘line of sight’. These are large posts 6-7 feet high with tops painted yellow. These are meant to guide the walker along the route of the walk and are interspersed with the regular posts, either freestanding or attached to the posts of the fence that crosses the mountain and forms part of the path.
The other route (Alternative or bad weather route) is a gentler walk that does not cross the mountain and joins the main Frosses to Glenties road (R262) just below Binbane mountain. It follows the road and re-joins the main Bluestack Way at Ivy Bridge and proceeds to Glenties.
Speaker: Helen Meehan
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
Directions
Make your way back through the fields to get back on the road. You’ll be turning left and carrying on down the road for some 300m before turning right. Follow the tarred road for approx 1km where it turns left through a gate onto an unsurfaced track. This track turns under a steep rock face on the side of the mountain to an old fashioned ruined homestead cottage, marked by a large Sycamore tree and old Fuschia hedges. This in turn is overshadowed by impressive cliffs lined with Rowan trees.
In our audio piece, Helen Meehan explains why Disert declined as a place of regular worship.
Speaker: John McGroary
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
Disert – the area around the wall and burial site at Disert presents a restricted, but interesting flora. Bluebells thrive in the area, even in intensely grazed fields, probably due to the non-application of artificial fertilisers. Thistles are common and are reportedly a favourite food of donkeys no less. Many fields are bracken choked in the summer months, possibly another indication of the absence of artificial fertlisers. Near the parking area on the way to Disert a small stream has incised a deep gorge which has fenced off and contains a stand of hazel trees with a local rich flora of primroses, lesser celadine and wood amemone. Along the road there are also dog violets, foxglove, wild strawberry and various fern and moss varieties.
In our audio piece, John tells us about how this area coped during Famine times.
Speaker: John McGroary
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
Directions
Come down the brae and at the bottom of it turn left where you'll see the sign for Disert graveyard, going past sheep gates. There's a well worn path to get to the site and more signage.
Hermitage
Diseart is the Gaelic word for Hermitage. After St. Patrick brought the Christian faith to Ireland in A.D. 432, it became a custom for men and women to go to remote places to pray and do penance alone and away from the lures and temptations of worldly matters. Between two heaps of small stones and beside a thorn bush there’s a holy well called Tobar Cholmcille (Colmcille’s Well). There’s no evidence even in folklore of when the custom of doing the turas started, but probably early in the sixth century. It is believed that St. Colmcille blessed the well and that the water in it cured toothache and other illnesses. Pilgrims doing the Turas had to say three Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory Be’s at the well followed by fifteen decades of the Rosary, while walking around three heaps of stones near the altar, three times around each heap and throwing a small stone on the heaps each time. The water from the well is taken home and rubbed on the offending aches and pains.
There is a large flat topped rock near the well presumed to be the altar where mass was offered. On the altar there’s a round stone with a hole in the centre. It is said that St. Colmcille looked through the hole and blessed the surrounding area visible to him through the stone. It is believed that this stone was used as a candle holder during Mass and that there were two but one has been lost. Not far from the Altar rock stand two leaning flagstones about 2.5 feet or 3 feet high with one horizontal flag stone placed across at the top of them, dolmen-like. A pilgrim suffering from back ache had to squeeze through between the erect stones, touching them with his back. Cures are known to have happened in this way. To get rid of an eye ailment, the pilgrim looked through the stone that sits on the altar. The holy well is situated in the centre of the field in a hollow.
In times past, people came from far off places to do the Turas. They used to erect tents and remain there longer than necessary. Some of them brought uisce beatha, got drunk, fought and behaved badly. The graveyard was closed and access forbidden to outsiders. Local people kept up the custom however and the method of doing the Turas is still known, exactly the same as from its foundation.
In the 20th century, it is known that unbaptised babies were buried there as they were not allowed to be buried in consecrated ground. This probably came down the years from the Monastic system in Ireland which was both rigid and severe. The last person to be buried there was Paddy Neill Ruaire O’Donnell over 100 years ago. The graveyard is now covered with bracken, briars rushes and weeds leaving any traces of by-gone days invisible as you'll see from our video.
Mention must be made of the Diseart clay (creafog dhibirte) which is famous far and wide for its ability to banish rats. A local who inherits the gift from his ancestors must take up the clay for the recipient. With only a handful of residents now, this is easier said than done. It is believed that the clay was blessed by St. Colmcille and enjoys the same banishing power of the clay he blessed on Tory Island and Gartan.
In our audio piece, John gives a comprehensive description of the customs that occurred in this sacred site.
Speakers: John McGroary and Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
A hallowed place
It is a good 5 km from the Bluestack Centre to the Tymeen Football field which you’ll see on your left. Surrounded by an uneven boggy surface in all directions, this verdant patch is all the more striking – ask the folk in the Bluestack Centre when the next game is on and perhaps you could coincide your walk with part of a game there. Having turned left at the pitch, some 15m along the road, you’ll be turning right into a laneway. 400m down the lane, you will find an old lime kiln on your left. Continue up the lane, following the Bluestack Way signs through a number of gates – please ensure you close them after you pass by. Note the abundance of wild fuchsia. The lane continues for another 1.3km until you reach the sign for Disert Graveyard on your left.
Disert is a townland situated at the foot of Carnaween, one of the Bluestacks most iconic mountains. There are many versions of the meaning in Irish of Carnaween - Seoirse's version has it as Place of the Birds for example. Carn is translated in English as ‘heap of stones’ and Buion means a gathering of people. So Carn a Bhuion may be taken to mean a meeting place for a gathering of people. It has been a custom of hundreds of years for people to gather and climb Carnaween every year on the first Sunday of June – maybe dating back to Celtic Ireland when people met to make laws, settle disputes and have sporting events such as the Tailtean Games.
Our audio piece gets both John and Patsy's description of this hallowed turf.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty and a local farmer
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
Local songs and ballads in the area are unfortunately very rare. As each day passes more and more ballad material will be lost as the old folks pass away with no-one to take up the tradition and keep it alive. People from the Mountcharles district remember with great affection the powerful singing of Jane Doherty, yet no one can sing her songs now. One has only to think of certain areas of Co. Clare, Co.Kerry or Co. Sligo where the song traditions thrive, to realise how much we have lost.
When asked, local people will mention “such and such”, who died a few years ago or “old so and so” who is now in a nursing home and doesn’t sing anymore. Their songs – the few that come to mind – are remembered by title only. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could compile a collection of the words and music of local songs? As yet, we only have a few titles to go on: “The Woods of Bonnyglen”, “The Round-Up in Tamur”, “The Drowning of the Inver Fishermen”, “The Frosses Bell”, “Dysert Brae”, etc
The audio piece reflects the sentiment above. We never did get Michael McGrory's witty ditties or Eddie Gallagher's, who is referred to in the audio.
Speaker: Helen Meehan
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
In our audio piece, historian Helen Meehan gives us an overview of Carnaween and Disert which you are approaching. You will be hearing more about both places, both Helen as always has another angle on these phenomena that are worth hearing.
Speaker: Mary Murphy
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
More St. Brigid/Imbolc audio can be found on our Brigid playlist.
An old saying in Ireland concerning St. Brigid went 'put a green cross beneath your roof on the eve of good St. Bride and you will have luck in your home long past Lammastide. Put a green cross above your door, ‘twill be hard to keep green but it will bring luck and happiness long past Hallowe’en’. Together with local saint Colmcille and national icon St. Patrick, Brigid makes up the trio of great Irish saints, although her sainthood was bestowed by the people, not the Pope. Today, the three saints are buried beside one another in Downpatrick, County Down.
Patrick Campbell recalls the making of the St. Brigid rush crosses at home: ‘My grandfather would begin the preparations early in the evening. Taking a hook he cut a bundle of rushes on our land and brought them to our cottage door. It was necessary to do this before sunset. At ten o’clock that same night, the Rosary was said. Every member of the household had to be present as all were expected to give a hand at making crosses. When the prayers were finished, my grandfather went outside and closed the door behind him. Picking up the rushes he had cut earlier he returned to the house and knocked on the door. The door was then opened to him and as soon as he appeared he would say (in Irish) ‘Go down on your knees and open your eyes and let Brigid in whereupon the family replied in unison ‘Sea Beatha’ – she’s welcome. Grandfather then distributed the rushes placing them on the chair of each one present and then the cross making started. When enough had been made, they were sprinkled with holy water in the name of the Holy Trinity. Next morning the crosses were placed over the door of the cottage and in every room and outhouse. The old crosses were collected and burned’.
Different designs were peculiar to parts of the country, but all were made with great skill and diligence. Brigid was a 6th century saint from County Louth and was said to possess an uninterrupted communication with God throughout her adult life.
In our audio piece, we tell you how this feast day, like so many others in Ireland, replaced an earlier pagan festival known as 'Imbolc'.
Speaker: Dan Gallagher
From the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist.
Directions
Its three kilometres from the Centre to get back on the Bluestack Way – simply turn right and walk past the church taking the right in the fork in the road. The full wonder of what awaits you will become apparent. In days gone by, you would have seen children walking to school around here carrying not only their school bags, but two pieces of turf – each child was obliged to do so as it was the only means of heating the local school.
School days
The Drimarone area you are walking through had numerous seats of learning over a long time. In 1824 Hedge schools at Ednamock, Selacis and Tullynaha preceded the National schools that followed: Drumnaherk to the south, Lettermore to the west, Letterfad to the north and Ardbane to the north east. Writing in the Drimarone Schools Reunion, editor Peter Campbell opines 'all four schools enjoyed success until the great wisdom of civil servants in Dublin wiped the entire National School system in the area’. Lettermore closed in 1967, Letterfad and Drumnaherk in 1970 and Ardbane in 1972. Campbell notes ‘there have been many changes in the Drimarone area since the National Schools were established; many changes since they were closed.
Gone are storytellers and the rambling, the postmen on bikes and the Post Office; the open houses like Emby Meehan’s where the house phone was available to all comers. In its place we have a phone in every house; electricity for everything and we are even producing our own locally on the Blue Stacks. The rambling has been replaced by TV; cars at every house and two at some and the bicycle is now redundant. Everything has changed but thankfully some things stay the same. Walking the Bluestacks is becoming fashionable again’.
Ask Rosemary or Pauline for a loan of the Drimarone Schools Reunion booklet – it is a wonderful collection of memorabilia from the former pupils of those four National Schools and is full of insight, wit and warmth on their recollections of those days. One section that caught our eye were the reminiscences of Gerry Meehan, known to one and all as the singer ‘Folksy Gerry’:
Gerry had gone to Drumnaherk National School when all around him were going to Letterfad. Years later over a drop of whiskey with his father, he managed to get to the bottom of why this was the case. His ancestors had all gone to Letterfad, but Gerry’s Uncle Packie was a ‘bit mischievous’ and got into trouble with the Headmaster there, Master James Mulhern in the early 1920’s. This became a slight family disagreement with the school and the parents decided to bring the remaining children away from Letterfad.
'Because you normally go to the school of your parents, that is provided you haven’t moved homeplace, I found it amazing that because of some minor incident that occurred years ago, it had the knock-on effect of determining what school myself and my brothers and sisters were to go to, over forty years later and ultimately determine the circle of friends you would hang around with for many years after’.
In our audio piece, Dan Gallagher who went to school on the other side of the mountain recalls his memory of taking the two sods of turf to school and taking the cane.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
Part of the Bluestack Way Part One playlist.
You'll be by the lough's shores by now. Out on the shore you'll see O'Donnell Island, which was once a home to the O'Donnells of nearby Donegal Castle. From here, one of the most famous journeys in Irish history began on the 11th September 1607. Rory O'Donnell and his immediate family left their castle on Lough Eske that morning to walk for three days through the mountains to Rathmullan on the north coast of Donegal. There they joined with the O'Neill and Maguire families to sail to Spain on 14th September in what has became known as 'The Flight of the Earls', the final journey of the great Gaelic chieftain society which had ruled Ireland for the previous fifteen hundred years.
On a slightly less poignant note, the national daily, The Irish Daily Star, published a story entitled 'Look out, it's Eskie!' back in the summer of 1998, claiming monster sighting in the lake. Staff and residents at Harvey's Point told the reporter that at 2.30pm on Sunday 28 June 1998 they saw an unidentified object moving about 300 m off the shore. Some people suggested that the Lough Eske Monster was a publicity stunt by local impresario, Zack Gallagher. He, however, has always denied this and has gone on record as saying he believes in the existence of such a beast - and will tell you so if you buy him a beer to discuss the harrowing event! The less fanciful version is that a lost seal swam the short distant up the River Eske from Donegal Bay that day.
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. A look at a map does give credence to this theory - Gweebarra on the way to Dungloe is said to be a continuation of the great fault line that cuts through Scotland's Lough Ness, in effect the biggest crack in the world. The late Kieran Clarke was Ireland's finest piano technician. Besides clients such as Brendel and Argerich, he was the man who ensured the piano in Abbey Road studios sounded good. Quietly salute him next time you hear The Beatles' 'A Day in the Life'.
Following on from our anecdote about monsters in the lough, Patsy tells us what exactly a dubh dorachor is.
Speakers: Patsy McNulty and a local farmer
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
This bridge is the starting point for a challenging piece of canoeing as far as Inver.
According to Neil Fox, if the rain is dancing on your windscreen, the Eanymore is one of the best river trips in Donegal. However, it is only worth considering during a heavy consistent downpour. If you can see a small rock in the centre of the river 20 metre downstream of Letterbarra Bridge, the level is too low.
The first 1.5km of the trip is fast flowing Grade II, although some good playholes can be found if the flood is high enough. The real fun starts upon reaching a concrete footbridge - from here to Drumagraa Bridge and beyond for a kilometre the rapids come at a constant Grade III, and in high water some grade IV. There are some excellent surf waves and playholes, but the breakouts are small and it is all too easy to let these opportunities slip by as the water races down the valley. Things ease off a little as the Eany meanders the remaining 2 km to the take out.
Many people have passed through these parts over the years - in our audio piece, we hear of one such traveller who came at a perilous moment in the nation's history back in the 1920s.
Speaker: John McGroary
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
It's a place like this that has made Ireland what it is; where issues are discussed, good pints are devoured and maybe a bit of music will come along. A landmark local hostelry, even if the original boss is no longer behind the bar.
On our audio piece, John McGroary tells us a little bit more about the institution that is O'Neill's pub.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Bluestack Centre
A stay in the Bluestack Centre hostel is a great opportunity to see how a community can pull together and get things done. The building of the centre itself was from the vision and perseverance of a few locals and today, the place is at the heart of this rural community nestled deep in the Bluestacks. During the week, they have everything from dance classes to sewing classes, bingo to amateur dramatics. The staff is ably lead by Rosemary Ward and they are most accommodating – just ask. Need a sprain seen to? There’s a man down the road who can help. Need to get a lift into town? No problem. The place is well maintained with all mod cons and free WiFi. You’ll be well set for the toughest, but arguably most enjoyable part of the Way over the hills and down into Glenties.
Tel/Fax: +353 (0)74 97 35564
On Call Phone +353 (0)87 7822441
Email: info@donegalbluestacks.com
http://www.donegalbluestacks.com/
Speaker: John McGroary
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Directions
Note: at this point one might wish to turn left and walk to the Hostel accommodation at the Bluestack Centre. Approx 3km away is the village of Letterbarra where the Bluestack Centre is located adjacent to the legendary O’Neill’s pub. Just a taxi ride away is the beautiful village of Mountcharles which has both a vibrant local community and one of the best restaurants in the country, the award-winning Village Tavern - see http://villagetavern.ie/ for more.
In our audio piece, John McGroary tells us more about the art of planning permission in these parts.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
As we wind our way down to the main road, we pass through one of the many forests you'll encounter along the Way - Patsy tells us more about them
Speaker: Helen Meehan
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Patrick Campbell had happy memories of a hard day's work out in this valley: 'After the saving of the turf and hay, we children looked forward to the day of the gathering in and the building of the haystack. For weeks we talked of this day of days in glee on our way to and from school, the day when a meitheal of neighbouring men would gather to a mountain home and help make the haystack and secure it against winter storms. The meitheal took place from one mountain to another until all the hay cocks were safely gathered in and built in stacks in gardens or haggards.
There were very few horses around our mountain in my school days, so the hay was all carried on men’s backs, but even at this heavy work there was competition and fun. Men worked in pairs and tied their hay burdens with tether ropes. Their arms were then put in behind the ropes and each man helped the other man up to his knees and onto his feet with the heavy load of hay on each man’s back. The pair of men who would move a tramp cock of hay in the shortest period of time and with the least number of burdens became the champions of the meitheal and were entitled to pride of place at the haystack party.
That would be a night to be remembered, a mixture of old and young, where young would have a chance to listen to songs of their parents and grandparents and the older folk would hear and listen to the latest songs from the young folk. In most mountain homes, there was some sample of Irish or Scotch whiskey – Paddy Flaherty, John Jameson or John Powers – or perhaps here and there a sup of the good auld mountain dew kept in the hole in the wall near the kitchen bed.
In our audio piece, Helen Meehan tells us more about how people used to tend to this valley in the olden days
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
The blanket bog has the typical abundance of ling heather and sphagnum moss as well as a variety of other mosses and lichens expecially Cladonia impexa growing on the stems of the heather. Even at higher elevations looking down over Meenaguse, people have planted trees along boundaries close to houses to provide wind breaks. Fuschia, a plant introduced to Irish gardens in the late 1700s from South America is the favourite plant here. Bog myrtle is common.
In our audio piece, Patsy tells us why fuschia is so popular in these parts.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Directions
At the next road on the left, the pathway swings into the hills. Some distance up this road, the walker meets a gate and a little further on, you turn right towards the hill top. Follow the tarmac path to the gate and long the straight rugged path to the next left turn. Walking along this bog road, one can see where active turf cutting takes place. Here the peat is extracted from the bog, then dried and stored for winter fuel. To the right hand side of this road no turf cutting takes place as it is a special area of conservation. Follow the pathway left through this turf cutting area, stay on the path which swings left and onwards downhill past a little cottage on your left and further on through a gate to the main road where you again turn right towards the mountains.
Ace turf cutter Patsy tells us some more about this stretch of bogland.
Speaker: John McGrory
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Patrick Campbell wrote: -'On our way we pass by a famous bog in Clogher where in my young years was used extensively by large farmers who came several miles to cut and save turf, and paid them two shillings and sixpence per day. They claimed that a mountain man would cut more turf in one day than they themselves would cut in two days. They usually save the turf themselves and towards the harvest time it was not unusual to see up to ten horses load of good black turf homeland bound, as the sun was sinking behind the hills. What a charming scene or picture this made, with fine well-groomed horses and bright red painted carts fitted with high turf creels and well crivined loads of good dry black turf. There was a contented look on each man’s suntanned face, as he sat and smoked his pipe on a sack of hay on top of his load of turf, and listened to the hollow sound of cartwheels as they rolled over the stone-surfaced road in the silence of an autumn evening*’.
*The crivin is the ‘top’ on a creel of turf.
Our audio piece comes from local guide, John McGrory, who tells us a bit more about this famous bog. It has a few names as you'll have seen!
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Meenaguse Lough sits on a glacial deposit and together with the small lake to the east may represent ‘kettle hole’ lakes. These lakes formed as the ice sheets retreated, leaving behind large blocks of ice, isolated from the main ice mass, which were partially or completely buried by sand and gravel. When the ice melted, hollows were left which now often contain lakes. The derelict house on the north side of the road with abundant fuchsia surrounding it was the residence of the aforementioned Bob Bermen during the 1970s.
In our audio piece, Patsy tells us a funny story about the house with no road.
Photo: (c) Louise Price
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Local writers such as Paul Peppergrass, Patrick MacGill and Seamus MacManus emigrated to America but one American bucked the trend and came to Donegal leaving behind the leafy arches of Harvard for Meenaguish deep in the Bluestacks between 1970 and 1984. Bob Bernen wrote two books out of his experience, Tales from the Bluestacks and The Hills, which recall his experience of the lifestyle and stories he heard from the area.
In the Foreword to the first book, Bernen wrote: ‘Ten miles north of Donegal Town, in the extreme north west of Ireland, runs a range of low, rounded hills known as the Blue Stacks. Technically they are classed as mountains but to the ordinary eye, they look like hills. Their name – taken from the Irish name of the highest peak – Croagh Gorm, is fitting, for from a distance they always appear a deep, purple blue, even on the clearest days. Around these hills lives a small group of farmers whose lives continue to be rooted in the eighteenth-century patterns, or earlier. Technologically and agriculturally their methods scarcely reveal modern influence. Today, we read about ancient and medieval technology which can still be seen in use on Blue Stack farms, some of them home-made in forms that have long since disappeared elsewhere. Machines are seldom used.
Into this bit of anachronous farming community a modern man and his wife moved, to farm sheep and to live in the manner of their neighbours. Some of what they heard, saw or experienced is recorded in the following tales. The tales are therefore unlike fiction, which falsifies in order to achieve a greater effect. The aim here has been to preserve a true picture of some aspects of Blue Stack life at the moment of its final disappearance, and as it fades into the modern world around it.’
Dealing with individual stand-alone chapters, the books present a picture of a community farming without machines, the interaction of men and animals and a deeper understanding of the life around them and of the earth and the living things that come from it.
In our audio piece, Patsy tells a little bit more about the man and his best friend from the hills, Nothar.
You can also listen to a 1978 radio documentary about Bob from RTE Radio One.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Directions
Follow the roadway to the white house: the path that follows the fencing on your right almost to the end of the field. It then swings left and leads the walker to a gate through the next fence and then downhill to another gate and the ruins of an old farmhouse, then to the bank of the Eanymore river. For a short distance the pathways follow the river bank before crossing the Eanymore water. Crossing the river one is treated to an impressive sight of the falls and rapids of the river cascading across the rocks. This sight is all the more impressive when the river is in spate. The river gets its source higher up in the Bluestacks; it boasts a good quantity of salmon, brown and sea trout.
In our audio piece, Patsy tells us about the colour of the water from the Eanymore.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Patrick Campbell wrote that the menfolk of the Crugha Gorma 'were experts in sheep stock and famous for their knowledge of those mountains and hills. Their sheep dogs only understood commands in the Irish language, and like many other mountain districts in Donegal, it has never been known of anyone to leave Sruhill without refreshment in plenty. In the summers of the 1920s on Sunday evenings, I often witnessed a house full of visitors and sheep farmers, all enjoying the big bowls of good strong tea and beautiful pot-oven cake, capped with the finest home-made butter. The big decorative bowl was filled so generously that if you were to slip your spoon in it, you would have to seek the assistance of your knife to fish it out. Those were the times we enjoyed such refreshments which were given by people whose hearts were as big as their hills, those great people the Kennedys and Kennys of Sruhill, the Gasur Mors (the big boys).
The green braes to each side of the Grey Mare’s Tail, which are continually watered from its spray, give a pleasant freshness to that mountainside, and a tasty run for mountain rabbits which are always plentiful there. This is the early source of the Eanymore river which ends in Inver Bay and provides the earnest fisherman with many pleasant hours. It also, no doubt made an impression on many emigrants who left its shores and the feeling of those people can be felt in the words of the songwriter, Patrick Ramsey in his song ‘The Banks of the Sweet Eanymore': -
How I dream of that dear place, as if it were for me
The purling rills of Sruhill Hills, perhaps no more to see,
It’s far away I deemed to stray across the western tide,
To view those hills and other rills far away from Eanny’s side
The shape of the valley was cut from a V-shaped river valley by a glacier in the ice age. The erosion by the ice cut away the lower sections of the streams on the sides of the valley and now form ‘hanging valleys’ with waterfalls. The Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall is an example of this. The rocks of the sides of the Sruell valley are the Lough Mourne Schists and the Barnesmore granite at the end of the valley.
Follow the path straight from the river for approx. 20m then right along the laneway to the main road. Once at the road, turn right towards the mountains, following the course of the Eanymore on your right. Walking along the road towards the mountains one can see into the Sruell valley with an impressive waterfall on its left slope, known locally as the Grey Mare’s Tail. This fall has its source in a lake on top of the mountain known as Lough Asgarha in the townland of Binnasruell.
Sruell comes from sruth meaning stream. Flora bog cotton, butterworth, St. Patrick’s cabbage, tormentil and wild violets. To the left of the Grey Mare’s Tail is the 505m Binnasruell. Beyond it is a walk into the Sruell valley up to 671m Lavagh More and 650m Lavagh Beg. Lavagh translates into Leamhach referring to elm, which was once common in Irish woodlands. Also once common was elm, which suffered from overuse by humans, especially the Vikings, and Dutch elm disease.
Patrick Cambell writes ‘Sitting by the window in the Kennedy home, attention is drawn to the Scardan, that big waterfall on the north mountain in the Sruhill townland. This part of the townland north of the river has been locally called “far Sruhill. Ruball na Larach Baine (The Grey Mare’s Tail) which this fall resembles so much, begins its long journey from a mountain lake named Lough Eascartha which is tucked in a valley behind one of the high cliffs on the north Sruhill side. This cliff or spink is called the Cock of Sruhill or Coilleach na Sruthaille. The stream from this lough runs in an irregular direction and spills over the cliff from a height of about 1,800 feet and falls into another stream which runs southwest from Sruhill gap. This waterfall can be seen from a considerable distance and while in spate sends a foam all along its precipitous course.
Our audio piece, Patsy tells us some more about the waterfall and the lakes above the waterfall.
Speaker: Helen Meehan
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Patrick Campbell was born in Meenawilderg in 1911 and from an early age developed a deep interest in his surroundings. A generous and thoughtful man, his writings reflect a natural turn of phrase that the locals used in everyday vernacular. A transgression was thus excused as ‘God bless the poor creature, sure he was sore tormented by a nagging wife’ and so on.
Patrick got a wake up call on being hired out to farmers from the Donegal Hiring Fairs that took place every May and November. He worked ten 6-month consecutive contracts with farmers in many parts of south-west Donegal, attaining a greater understanding of human nature and the need to improve his own station in life. We’re grateful to his Estate for the use of material from his two classic books, 'Rambles around Donegal' and 'From Silent Glens to Noisy Streets' – try and get your hands on either one as mandatory research prior to walking the Way!
Speakers: Moya Reid and Francis Harvey
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Blue Stack Range
Amazingly, the actual Blue Stack mountain range has only five named stacks: -
41 Sruell - An tSruthail, The Flushing Stream
42 nameless
43 nameless
44 nameless
45 nameless
46 nameless
47 nameless
48 Croaghgorm - Cruach Gorm, Blue Stack
49 nameless
50 Mullaghnadreesruhan - Mullach na dTrí Sruthán, The Mountain Breast of the Three Streams
51 nameless
52 nameless
53 nameless
54 Binmore - Binn Mór, Big Peak
55 nameless
56 nameless
57 nameless
58 nameless
59 Glascarns Hill - Cruach na nGlas-Charn, The Stack of the Green Cairns
60 nameless
61 nameless
With such a dearth of Irish words to translate, Moya is joined by poet Francis Harvey for his second Bluestack-inspired poem called 'The Song'.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Directions
Exiting the Eglish valley turn right and follow the road across the Meenataggart river. At the next junction the main road turns left but the Bluestack Way carries straight ahead. The old tumbled down shed on the right was once a thriving dance hall known locally as Meenataggart Hall.
Meenataggart Hall
Meenataggart Hall was one of the three community halls in the area where dances and meetings were held on a regular basis until the 1950s. People came on foot and by bicycle from a 15-20km radius to attend the dances on a Sunday evening. Dances started at 8.30pm and ended at midnight. The admission charge was 6d (3 cents). However, Christmas night dances went on until 2.30am and cost 1 shilling to attend (6 cents).
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
After crossing the Eglish river, you'll see an unusual structure on your right - Patsy is at hand to tell you what exactly it is.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
The trace of the Belshade fault trends down the Eglish valley and lies at the foot of the hills and marks the contact between the Carboniferous rocks and the Barnesmore granite, the hills in the centre and west are Precambrian Lough Mourne Schists. The contact between the granite and the schists lies in the little valley between the two ridges. The rock types can be differentiated at a distance by the steep faces that form in the granite and the sloping faces that represent the Lough Mourne Schists.
Along the ridges to the west are two knobs of rock. These are smaller granite outcrops related to Barnesmore granite and their distinctive knobbly shape indicates their difference from the Lough Mourne Schists. The slope profile of the western part of the ridge changes from steep at the top to shallower at the bottom and marks the trace of a second fault – the Boundary Fault. Coinciding with this change in slope is a change in vegetation that is reflecting the underlying rocks. The heather-dominated lower slopes of the western part of the hill are Carboniferous sandstones while the grassier parts are Upper Mourne Schists. Travelling down the valley, there are examples of houses abandoned during the famine, lazy beds and stone kilns used to burn limestone to provide fertiliser.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Lime was used in agriculture to reduce the ph value of soil. In our audio piece, Patsy tells us a bit more about the lime kiln you'll see on the left of the path as you descend through Eglish valley.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Patrick Campbell had this to say about Eglish: -'Here in Eglish we really have the tempting challenge for the hiker, and the fisherman has to but step from the road as the river flows alongside it. The majestic cliffs and high spinks seem to come so near to meet and greet us and to invite us to their tops in order that we might see the amphitheatre of lakes dotted along like mystic mirrors with their streamlets racing over those cliffs, creating spectacular waterfalls on their way, and finally coming together in the valley far below to form the Eany river. The fascination of the pure and bracing breezes among those cliffs and the Heavenly peace of those Cruacha Gorma lend to that landscape charm and beauty which change at the will of cloud and sun, sending mighty shadows, and at times showers, along those emerald braes'.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Eglish valley
Turning northwest and descending from the end of Banagher hill, we reach the townland of Eglish (Eglais, a church). Tradition indicates that a wayside school was situtated beside a brook which passes under the Eglish road. In recent years there were eight families living here; the ruins of their houses are still to be seen along with the remaining houses in the lower valley.
At the end of this road, the Eglish valley opens out into the Eany valley. From the road junction, the Eglish river flows south west through the lower valley where it later joins the Eanymore river. At this vantage point, the full extent of the work of the last Ice Age can be appreciated as below the Eany valley opens to the ocean. The small rounded hills which are dotted on the land between here and Donegal Bay are drumlins. Drumlins, a name derived from the Gaelic for small rounded hills formed as the earth was shaped beneath a glacier as it trundled downslope. The long axis of the drumlins point to the direction in which the glacier once moved. The south-westerly flow of the ice that covered the land during the last ice age over 10,000 years ago, is well illustrated by the long axis of the drumlins.
Speaker: Moya Reid
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
The Bluestack Mountains, North East Range
The mountains to the west of Barnesmore are in full view of your current location with a colourful variety of names for about 70% of the stacks: -
62 Croaghbarnes - Cruach a’ Bhearnais, The Stack of the Gap
64 nameless
65 Altagaranduff - Alt an Ghearráin Duibh, The Hillock of the Black Colt
66 nameless
67 Croaghloughaderry- Cruach Loch an Doire, The Stack of the Lake of the Oakland
68 Croaghagrannagh - Cruacha Gránna , Ugly Stacks
69 nameless
70 nameless
71 Cruach Bhéansáin - Benson’s Hill
72 Croaghmeen - Cruach Mín, Smooth Stack
73 Croaghmeenare - Cruach Mín-Fhéir (or Cruach Mhín an Áir), Stack of the Smooth Stack (or Stack of the Smooth Place of the Massacre)
74 nameless
75 nameless
76 Croaghconnellagh - Cruach Conallach, Stack of the Tribe of Conaill
77 nameless
78 Tawnawully Mountains - Cruacha Thamhnach an Mhullaigh, The Mountains Stacks of the Grassy Upland of the Highest Point
79 nameless
80 Croaghnageer - Cruach na gCaor, The Stack of the Sheep
81 nameless
82 nameless
83 Croaghanirwore - Cruach an Fhir Mhóir, The Stack of the Big Man
84 nameless
85 Cronamuc - Cró na Muc , The Sheltered Place of the Pigs
86 nameless
87 Brown’s Hill – Cruach de Brún,
88 nameless
89 nameless
90 Pollakeeran Hill - Cruach Pholl an Chaorain, The Hill of the Hole of the Bogland
91 Croaghbrack – Cruach Breac, Speckled Stack
92 Clogher Hill – Cruach an Chlochair, The Stack of the Stoney Place
93 Barrack Hill - Cnoc na Beairice
94 nameless
95 nameless
96 Croaghanierin - Cruachán Éireann (or Cruach an Fhuaráin), The Litle Hill of Ireland (or the Stack of the Cool Spring)
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
Towards Eglish
Known as Leana Mor, this little used road soon becomes an unsurfaced track and affords the most striking views back over Lough Eske as you climb to a height of 300m. To the north are the dramatic granite slopes of Na Cruaha Gorma and the cliffs providing the backdrop to Lough Belshade. Looking over the bay one can see the mountains of Sligo, Leitrim and Fermanagh. The keen observer may catch a glimpse of wild goats in this valley on the steep sided slope of the ridges. These are part of a small herd of feral goats that roam in the more remote areas of these mountains.
Patsy however, will tell you to be on the lookout for golden eagles that can be seen swooping around the mountains. He was even brave enough when recorded in 2012 to say the eagles are a timely and efficient bunch and forecasts they are best viewed at 11am. So there!
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.
GPS LOCATION: 54.710835, -8.064785
Directions
You'll be turning left and climbing towards the Bluestacks. Get ready to start ascending as you make your way towards Eglish.
Our audio piece gives us an early indication of what to look out for from the Bluestacks' most ubiquitous resident, the humble sheep.
Speaker: Alec Reid
Directions
As you approach the top of the hill, you'll be taking a right following the signs for the Bluestack Way.
Friary
This area is commonly regarded as the site of the old Franciscan friary, indeed the townland is called Friary. As Catholicism was suppressed in Ireland, the Franciscan community was banished from their friary in Donegal Town. They moved to their new home in the wilderness of Lough Eske, as it was described in a letter by St Oliver Plunkett to his Superiors when he was Bishop of Ireland. From their new home, these Monks dressed in their long brown robes, walked through the hills to bring the message of God to their parishes and far beyond. St Oliver Plunkett also described the lough eske friary as "The best kept convent in all of Ireland" in a letter he wrote to Rome when visiting Lough Eske in 1672. The original letter can still be seen in The Vatican archives. This is strong evidence that the Franciscan Order were still in Lough Eske 40 years after the Annals of The Four Masters were published.
Beer hop vine
This plant grows in the manner of ivy and it is believed its feather-like fruit heads are used to flavour beer brewed from barley. This plant grew wildly in the friars' time and lay unrecognised for years after their departure until a clean-up operation was taking place by the Office of Public Works. Alfred Timony from Revlin just outside of Donegal Town retrieved a cutting and planted it in his garden. His grandson, Maurice Timony (whose shop we recommended for buying maps) became aware of its provenance and brought a piece to Glenveagh National Park for verification. It now forms part of the National Plant Archive and is grown today in both Glenveagh and Killarney National Parks.
Brothers Path
One of the routes they took was a path known as 'Casan na Brathra', the Brothers Path, which led from Lough Eske through the Bluestacks to Glenfin, no easy walk on the best of days. This path, still to be seen, was marked by piles of stones, every quarter of a mile or so, with a white quartz stone on top, which could easily be seen in rain or fog, to guide the brothers on their way. Indeed, it was probably in this Friary, where the final chapters of the 'Annals of the Four Masters' were written, effectively the first complete history of Ireland.
Lake Circuit
Another nearby walk of note is The Lake Circuit. This walk starts on the Bluestack Way and moves into the hills. It is a pleasant circuit walking in the hills without too much height gain. Taking in the views and ambling around four lakes nestled in between the mountains. This is a track and hill walk and suitable for people with moderate levels of fitness. This walk can be used as an introduction to hill walking.
Our audio piece salutes the efforts of the Four Masters to compile the Annals. In an age where everything is done with the click of a mouse or the touch of a button, their manual dedication to the task was momentous.
Speaker: Alec Reid
From the Bluestack Way - Part 1 playlist.
You're now moving away from the main traffic as the road narrows. It's a great place to tell you about the flora of the area. You should be looking out for the following along this section: -
- Whins, ferns (whins and ferns give the area its most typical colours gold and bronze)
- Bluebells (in woods in late April/early May especially near nearby Ardnamona)
- Montbretia (import now naturalised around ditches, lovely in August/September)
- Lichens ( grey lichens on old stone walls evidence of purity of air of Bluestacks)
- Marsh marigolds, cuckoo flowers, meadowsweet, umbellifers, irises
- Buttercups in moist meadows
- Selfheal, bird trefoil, oxeye daisies, clovers in drier fields.
It's said that lichen could tell early man of which direction he was facing - with lichen growing on the southern face of rocks as it got its daily sun! Come the Autumn, this whole area is an excellent place to forage - just make sure you know what you're picking.
In our audio piece, Alex Reid tells us to celebrate the microcosm of Ireland that is Lough Eske.
Me An' Me Da
Speaker: J.P. Bradley
Words: Rev. William Bradley
From the Best of J.P. Bradley playlist.
I'm livin' in Drumlister,
An' I'm gettin very oul',
I have to wear an Indian bag
To save me from the coul'.
The deil a man in this townlan'
Wos claner raired nor me,
But I'm livin' in Drumlister
In clabber to the knee.
Me da lived up in Carmin,
An' kep' a sarvint boy;
His second wife wos very sharp,
He birried her with joy:
Now she wos thin, her name was Flynn,
She come from Cullentra,
An' if me shirt's a clatty shirt
The man to blame's me da.
Consarnin' weemin, sure it wos
A constant word of his,
`Keep far away from them that's thin,
Their temper's aisy riz.'
Well, I knowed two I thought wud do,
But still I had me fears,
So I kiffled back an' forrit
Between the two, for years.
Wee Margit had no fortune
But two rosy cheeks wud plaze;
The farm of lan' wos Bridget's,
But she tuk the pock disayse:
An' Margit she wos very wee,
An' Bridget she wos stout
But her face wos like a gaol dure
With the boults pulled out.
I'll tell no lie on Margit,
She thought the worl' of me;
I'll tell the truth, me heart wud lep
The sight of her to see
But I wos slow, ye surely know,
The raison of it now,
If I left her home from Carmin
Me da wud rise a row.
So I swithered back an' forrit
Till Margit got a man;
A fella come from Mullaslin
An' left me jist the wan.
I mind the day she went away,
I hid wan strucken hour,
An' cursed the wasp from Cullentra
That made me da so sour.
But cryin' cures no trouble,
To Bridget I went back,
An' faced her for it that night week
Beside her own turf-stack.
I axed her there, an' spoke her fair,
The handy wife she d make me,
I talked about the lan' that joined
- Begob, she wudn't take me!
So I'm livin' in Drumlister
An' I'm get'tin' very oul'
I creep to Carmin wanst a month
To thry an' make me sowl:
The deil a man in this townlan'
Wos claner raired nor me,
An' I'm dyin' in Drumlister
In clabber to the knee.
By "The Bard of Tyrone"
The Reverend William Marshall
© The Estate of Margaret Marshall
Bram Stoker's mother, Charlotte Thornley's eye-witness account of the Sligo cholera epidemic left a long-lasting effect on her and her son.
Speaker: John Ward
In this piece, Samhain is stripped back to what it started as - a salute to the dead. We look at how death is regarded in Ireland, both the good parts and the emergence of trash documentaries on it. We also look at how this time of year is seen in other parts with a nod to the dead and to the greatest Irish saluter of the departed, James Joyce.
An extract from The Twilight Court recorded on 13th November 2009 in Carndonagh Courthouse, Co. Donegal.
Hear legendary guide, Dessie McCallion, tell us about glacial Inishowen back in 2008.
From our Inishowen with Dessie McCallion playlist: https://audioboom.com/playlists/4634166-inishowen-with-dessie-mccallion
Hear Dessie McCallion out and about in Inishowen telling us about its rich past. We're in Fahan to salute the pioneering nurse, Agnes Jones, often overlooked by her more famous contemporary, Florence Nightingale.
Hear Dessie McCallion out and about in Inishowen telling us about its rich past. Interesting insight into how maiming was chosen over death as the ultimate deterrent.
Hear Dessie McCallion out and about in Inishowen telling us about its rich past. This was a particularly insightful look at Brehon Law and how St. Patrick slowly removed it.
Hear Dessie McCallion out and about in Inishowen telling us about its rich past. In this piece, we made a memorable trip to the King's Grave - it is on a working farm, so ensure you show respect and care when getting to it.
Hear Dessie McCallion out and about in Inishowen telling us about its rich past. This is one of the shorter pieces, but a memorable comment nevertheless.
Leading up to Halloween 2021, we have Inishowen guide Dessie McCallion bringing us back to the old times of Samhain.
Leading up to Halloween 2021, we have Inishowen guide Dessie McCallion bringing us back to the old times of Samhain.
Leading up to Halloween 2021, we have Inishowen guide Dessie McCallion bringing us back to the old times of Samhain.
Leading up to Halloween 2021, we have Inishowen guide Dessie McCallion bringing us back to the old times of Samhain.
Leading up to Halloween 2021, we have Inishowen guide Dessie McCallion bringing us back to the old times of Samhain.
Leading up to Halloween 2021, we have Inishowen guide Dessie McCallion bringing us back to the old times of Samhain.
Speaker: Mary Murphy
All Souls' Day is a day of prayer for the dead, particularly but not exclusively one's relatives. In Western Christianity the annual celebration is now held on 2 November and is associated with All Saints' Day (1 November) and its vigil, Halloween (31 October). In the liturgical books of the western Catholic Church (the Latin Church) it is called The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, and is celebrated annually on 2 November, even if this date falls on a Sunday. In Anglicanism it is called Commemoration of All Faithful Departed and is an optional celebration. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and the associated Eastern Catholic Churches, it is celebrated several times during the year and is not associated with the month of November.
Beliefs and practices associated with All Souls' Day vary widely among Christian churches and denominations. Source: Wikipedia. Image: (c) Chris Johnston
From our Samhain lore playlist: https://audioboom.com/playlists/4634161-samhain-lore
Also a Spotify playlist.
Samhain #Halloween #Otherworld #Supernatural #AllSoulsDay
The banshee (or banchee) (/ˈbænʃiː/ ban-shee), from Irish: bean sí bʲæn ˈʃiː is a female spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the underworld.
In legend, a banshee is a fairy woman who begins to wail if someone is about to die. In Scottish Gaelic mythology, she is known as the bean sìth or bean nighe and is seen washing the bloodstained clothes or armour of those who are about to die. Alleged sightings of banshees have been reported as recently as 1948. Similar beings are also found in Welsh, Norse and American folklore. Source: Wikipedia.
Hear more about banshees in Ireland from our tour of Sliabh Ban mountain down in County Roscommon as told by Merrily Harper from our Samhain lore playlist: https://audioboom.com/playlists/4634161-samhain-lore
Samhain #Halloween #Otherworld #Supernatural #Banshee
For a really good article on the Banshee, see Leo Bowes's great piece from Moville Inishowen's website: - http://www.movilleinishowen.com/history/mythology/legendofthe_banshee.htm
Image of Banshee (c) www.arthurquinn.ie
As we approach Hallowe'en, hear Mary Murphy tell us about the ancient practice of divination, when Irish women used unorthodox methods to help them find a suitor.
From our Samhain lore playlist: https://audioboom.com/playlists/4634161-samhain-lore
Samhain #Halloween #Otherworld #Supernatural #Divination
The Morrígan ("phantom queen") or Mórrígan ("great queen"), also written as Morrígu or in the plural as Morrígna, and spelt Morríghan or Mór-ríoghain in Modern Irish, is a figure from Irish mythology who appears to have been considered a goddess, although she is not explicitly referred to as such in the texts.
The Morrígan is a goddess of battle, strife, and sovereignty. She sometimes appears in the form of a crow, flying above the warriors, and in the Ulster cycle she also takes the forms of an eel, a wolf and a cow. She is generally considered a war deity comparable with the Germanic Valkyries, although her association with a cow may also suggest a role connected with wealth and the land.
She is often depicted as a trio of goddesses, all sisters, although membership of the triad varies; the most common combinations are Badb, Macha and Nemain, or Badb, Macha and Anand; Anand is also given as an alternate name for Morrigu. Other accounts name Fea, and others.
Word source: Wikipedia
From our Samhain lore playlist: https://audioboom.com/playlists/4634161-samhain-lore
Samhain #Halloween #Otherworld #Supernatural #Morrigan
Mary Murphy gives us an excellent overview of the Otherworld. In Gaelic and Brittonic mythology it is usually described as a supernatural realm of everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance and joy The Otherworld is similar to the parallel universe, usually elusive, but various mythical heroes visit it either through chance or after being invited by one of its residents. They often reach it by entering ancient burial mounds or caves, or by going under water or across the western sea.
Source of wording: Wikipedia
From our Samhain lore playlist: https://audioboom.com/playlists/4634161-samhain-lore
Samhain #Halloween #Otherworld #Supernatural #Paralleluniverse
In Dante’s Inferno, our hero passes through the Gates of Hell, which bear an inscription, the final line of which is the famous phrase "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate", or "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." No such ominous eloquence greets the visitor to pagan Ireland’s Gates of Hell.
The pagan festival of Samhain, now replaced by the Christian feast of Hallowe’en is the time at which one of these gates are said to open and evil has a free reign to lurk and snatch its victims as it sees fit before the dawn. From these portals spirits emerge from and wreak havoc. As landmarks go, having the Gates of Hell in your locality surely tops any list of undesirable adjoining properties. Neighbours from Hell how are you. Amongst some 240 or so ancient archaeological sites, here is a forlorn place called Owenynagat or 'the cave of cats' that ironically in its heyday was regarded as the most prestigious address in ancient Connaught being situated near Tulsk in County Roscommon, at what is now known as Rathcroghan.
See our full article on these gates here: https://www.racontour.com/samhain-and-the-gates-of-hell/
From our Samhain Folklore playlist: https://audioboom.com/playlists/4634161-samhain-lore
Also a Spotify playlist.
Samhain #Halloween #Otherworld #Supernatural #Hell #Gates of Hell #Roscommon #Ireland #myths #superstitions
GPS coordinates: 53.637069, -8.170481
We start you off on this trail with a little bit about how the mountain, such as it is, came to be. This is a three minute piece so if you should be traveling by car, pull over safely and enjoy its full glory before moving on.
GPS coordinates: 53.652943, -8.109369
After the long drive on the N63 Lanesborough Road, we are turning left towards Sliabh Ban onto the L1425. Be careful, you are now on country roads! On our audio piece, we tell of how you would be currently driving along the bank of the Shannon several centuries ago and of that you are not too far from Waterloo.
GPS coordinates: 53.730372, -8.094585
As the rain beat down with unusual ferocity on a corrugated roof, hear the great Merrily Harper tell us her lore. Recorded in Luke Gibbons pub back in May 2012 by Sliabh Bawn mountain in County Roscommon.
As you turn right and begin your climb to the mountain, we tell you of the Otherworld. The Otherworld (orbis alia) in Celtic mythology is postulated (but not known) to be the realm of the dead, the home of the deities, or the stronghold of other spirits and beings such as the SÃdhe. A place only visible once a year at Samhain or Hallowe'en. Tales and folklore describe it as existing over the western sea, or at other times underground (such as in the Sidhe mounds) or right alongside the world of the living, but invisible to most humans. Believe it or not, you are only a few miles from the Gateway to the Otherworld.
On our Top 100 Guide, we feature Rathcroaghan Visitor's Centre in Tulsk. One of the features of the place is the Cave of Cats or Oweynagat asouth-west of Rathcroghan Mound It is a souterrain beneath an old road leading into a dark, narrow limestone cave. This cave was believed to be a gateway to the otherworld with many creatures emerging that generally caused havoc across the country. The name Oweynagat means "cave of the cats", which could refer to the large wild cats which the Ulster champions must fight in the tale of "Bricrius Feast". The entrance is small and you need to crawl to enter but once inside, the cave opens up to become a huge high space. Cats do not appear in the stories associated with the Cave of the Cats, strangely it has lots of association with cows! Apparently, the Morrigan drove her cows through the cave. Another story tells us that a woman travelled for many miles underground because she held on to the tail of a calf that entered the cave… An 18th century text tells us that the cave is the "Hell-mouth of Ireland". It is not visited much today, but it is still freely accessible to the brave. Just don't go inside the cave near the feast of Samhain - you have been warned!
From our Samhain lore playlist: https://audioboom.com/playlists/4634161-samhain-lore
Samhain #Halloween #Otherworld #Supernatural #Paralleluniverse
GPS coordinates: 53.731451, -8.072548
In front of you is the car park which is where you will be returning to after your looped walk. The golden rule after you take a right here is that you will be turning LEFT until such time as you come back to the car park via the road to the left of it (the exceptions being if you wish to go to the Holy Cross or Ruined Church). We also thought it only fair to set out some of the lore of getting lost in these parts and what to do if it should happen!
GPS coordinates: 53.723834, -8.075294
As you start your ascent, we start to tell you of some strange sight and sounds of the area relating to the 'good people' or fairies.
GPS coordinates: 53.71327, -8.070381
Upon taking a left, we tell you about one of the more famous residents of the area, the dreaded banshee. Poet and author Merrily Harper telling us about the dreaded banshee under a stormy roof in Luke Gibbons pub in Roscommon back in May 2012.
From our Samhain lore playlist: https://audioboom.com/playlists/4634161-samhain-lore
Samhain #Halloween #Otherworld #Supernatural #Banshee
GPS coordinates: 53.714654, -8.06684
You will be turning left at this T-junction. Black cats are commonly associated with fairies, being a more expedient method of getting around. Hear more about this global phenomenon on our audio piece.
GPS coordinates: 53.728176, -8.070188
In our audio piece, we explain how a swan flying over your head is not a good thing in these parts.
GPS coordinates: 53.731768, -8.062613
It may not look like the ideal venue for games, but in days of yore, the mountain was the place where the Taitlin games took place.
GPS coordinates: 53.728658, -8.054996
The path to the ruined church is for walking only - no bikes and really, don't even think about bringing a vehicle down there! The story we have for you on the audio relates to a nearby church in Kilgavin and is a real beauty!
GPS coordinates: 53.733917, -8.067503
As you descend the mountain, you'll be looking out over the province of Connacht where Queen Maeve once reigned supreme. No trip to these parts would be complete without a visit to her ancient seat in Tulsk at the Rathcroaghan Centre and the telling of the Brown Bull of Cooley. You'll never look at Athlone the same way again!
Speaker: Sean McMahon
From the Bluestack Way - Part 1 playlist.
Directions
You'll be coming up to a crossroads here. You'll be carrying on over the road skirting past the Lough Eske Castle estate on your right. As always, there's a signpost for The Bluestack Way to help you. In the links section on the right hand column, we've listed the three best accommodations to stay in around Lough Eske, Friary Brae Cottage (self catering), EasDun B&B or Rhu Gorse B&B.
Walking Hub
The newest development in walking in this area, was the decision by Failte Ireland to choose Donegal Town as one of its dedicated Walking Hubs in 2009. They choose five areas throughout the country as Walking Centres of Excellence which guarantee they are Walking Friendly and offer the walker a second to none service. The other hubs in the country are Tinnahealy, Ballyvaughan, Aherlow and the Slieve Blooms. On November 24th 2012, Failte Ireland handed over the control of the hub to a steering committee and it is now up to the tourist industry in the locality to make the most of this unique opportunity.
Walking in Lough Eske and the Bluestacks has now become mostly a recreational activity, although a few farmers still traverse these hills in the pursuit of their livelihood. Today the people who take to these hills mostly go for the exercise, for the peace and quiet, and the sense of being at one with nature. We may not be any different from the Druids and Monks who first went into these hills, hundreds and even thousands of years ago. Maybe after all we are still on the same journey, looking for the same things and it is no coincidence that we go to the same places to try and find the answers. As the old saying goes “the more things change, the more they remain the same”.
Lough Eske geology Speaking of slow change, it is possible that Lough Eske owes its location to the juxtaposition of the 325 million year old Carboniferous rocks on the western side and the 600 million year old Precambrian rocks on the eastern side of the lough. The contact between the two represents a weakness, which has been exploited by erosion to create the depression in which Lough Eske is formed.
The concept of time is often difficult to deal with regarding the processes of the earth. The oldest rock in the south Donegal region is 600 million years old and forms many of the hills of the Bluestack mountains. If the time period of 600 million years is condensed into a single day, then the Ice Age ended about two seconds to midnight and humans first appeared about one second to midnight.
Another interesting facet of the countryside was the widely held belief in piseogs - in our audio piece, we tell you more about this curious phenomenon which has declined significantly in recent years, but would have been well practised in this valley at one time.
Speaker: Helen Meehan
From the Bluestack Way - Part 1 playlist.
GPS LOCATION: 54.673090, -8.067167
You'll be coming to a T junction around this point. You'll be taking a left here - as always, it is signposted so look out for the Bluestack Way sign.
Traditional Walks
There are two old traditional walks in the Bluestacks, still practiced to the present day. The first one is the walk up Carnaween on the first Sunday in June. Hundreds of people still do this walk on the day to keep the old tradition alive. People usually climb from three sides: Drimarone, the Glen of Glenties and Silverhill. Traditionally, it was a way of meeting and keeping in touch with people from the other sides of the mountain before the days of the mobile phone. Manies the match it is said, was made on the top of Carnaween. The other traditional walk, which is sadly dying out, was on the third Sunday in July is Bilberry or Heatherberry Sunday. In olden times people went to the mountain on this day to gather Bilberries or Heatherberries to make a kind of wine. It was used as a tonic to keep the body sound.
The Bluestack Ramblers
The Bluestack Ramblers grew out of the demand from walkers coming to these hills requesting locals to show them the spot where a World War II plane had crashed. On the 31st of January 1944 just before midnight a Sunderland M43 flying boat (DW- III) on a return mission in the North Atlantic, crashed into the Northern face of Binmore. There was a crew of twelve men on board of which seven were killed in the crash. There is now a memorial plaque to these men and the survivors at the spot where the plane crashed. Little of the plane remains except for part of the engines.
The Bluestack Ramblers Walking Club was founded in the year 1995, and has grown into a very successful club since with around one hundred members at present. It organizes walks most weekends, mostly local, but they have travelled extensively also, all over Ireland, Britain and the European Continent. They also organise the Bluestack Walking Festival every May, which attracts a large number of walkers to the area. As interest in walking continues, they are going from strength to strength.
In the audio piece, Helen Meehan tells us how folk in these parts used near cuts to get about.
Speaker: Moya Reid
From the Bluestack Way - Part 1 playlist.
The 147 stacks of the range are numbered from left to right and we shall be telling you about their names with the original Irish spelling and the meaning of the word. A special thanks goes to the Renaissance Man that is Seoirse O'Dochartaigh who compiled this information in the booklet 'The Mountains, Loughs, Rivers and Place-names around Donegal Town'.
The final 51 stacks are to the right of Barnesmore Gap, which as you'll soon see, is a somewhat superfluous title as it translates into the the big gap gap. The stacks in this range cross over into County Tyrone.
We are delighted to have native Irish speaker, Moya Reid (originally from Kilcar) recite the names of all of the stacks in Irish. In the following audio piece, she can be heard reciting the Irish of all the stacks named and listed below.
97 Meenalughoge Hill - Cnoc Mhín na Luchóg gan ainm, The Hill of the Smooth Place of the Mice
98 Croaghonagh (district) - Cruach Eoghanach, The Stack of the Tribe of Eoghan
99 nameless
100 Croaghnagawna - Cruach na nGamhna, The Stack of the Calves
101 Croaghonagh (mountain) - Cruach Eoghanach, The Stack of the Tribe of Eoghan
102 Barnesmore - An Bearnas Mór, The Big Gap
103 nameless
104 nameless
105 Cross Hill - Cruach na Croise
106 nameless
107 Cnoc na Carraige Duibhe - Carrickaduff Hill
108 nameless
109 nameless
110 nameless
111 Croaghakeadew - Cruach an Chéide, The Hill of the Black Rock
112 nameless
113 nameless
114 nameless
115 nameless
116 nameless
117 Croaghmeen - Cruach Mín, Smooth Stack
118 Croaghloughslug - Cruach Loch Slog, The Stack of the Lake of the Disappearing Water
119 nameless
120 Meenabrock - Mín na mBroc, The Smooth Place of the Badgers
121 nameless
122 Clogher Hill - Cruach an Chlochair, The Stack of the Stoney Place
123 Croaghmeen - Cruach Mín, Smooth Stack
124 nameless
125 nameless
126 Croaghnakern - Cruach na gCarn (or ...na gCeithearn), The Stack of the Cairns (or of the Kerns or Outlaws)
127 Croaghnameal - Cruach na Míol, The Stack of the Insects (Midges?)
128 nameless
129 Meenadreen - Mín an Draighin, The Smooth Place of the Blackthorn
130 Meenadreen - Mín an Draighin, The Smooth Place of the Blackthorn
131 nameless
132 nameless
133 Ballykillowen Hill - Cnoc Bhaile Chill Eoghain, The Hill of the Homestead of the Church of Owen
134 Finmore Hill - Cnoc Fionn Mór, The Big White Hill
135 nameless
136 nameless
137 Polldoo Hill - Cnoc an Phoill Dhuibh, The Hill of the Black Hole
138 Meennameal Hill - Cnoc Mhín na Míol, The Hill of the smooth Place of the Insects (Midges)
139 nameless
140 Blabreenagh - Blátha Braonacha, Dripping Wet Flowers
141 Binna Hill - Cnoc na mBeann The Hill of the Peaks
142 Croaghgarrow - Cruach Garbh, Rough Stack
143 Croaghbrack - Cruach Breac, Speckled Stack
144 Tievetooey - Taobh Tuaithe, Side of the Kingdom
145 Crockmore - An Cnoc Mór, The Big Hill
146 Ardmore Hill - An tArd Mór, The Big Height
147 Oughtadreen - Ucht an Draighin, The Hill Breast of the Blackthorn
Speaker: Megan Slevin
From the Bluestack Way - Part 1 playlist.
The verdant hallway ends and you’ll be turning left down a steep hill, over the Eske river and up a hill until you get to a crossroads. Follow the Bluestack Way signs until you get to the signs for Lough Eske Castle. You’ve made it to the end of Day One on the Bluestack Way. We suggest you enjoy the wonderful surroundings of Lough Eske and get in touch with local tour guide Patsy McNulty to see and hear more about the area. He also has a great self-catering house overlooking the lough if you’re interested in waking up to a wonderful view. Ask also about taking a walk around Ardnamona. Two other highly regarded Ann McGlinchey @ Eas Dun B&B and Grainne McGettigan @ Rhu Gorse B&B
Turf
Once timber had become scarce in Ireland, as the land became denuded due to the demands of her ever-increasing population, people began getting fuel from the bog. A day in the bog began with a walk to, and finished with a walk from, “the moss” as the bogs were known locally. Turf was cut and then dried in the summer sun, so that it could be used to warm homesteads and cook food in the open hearths of the thatched cottages.
Poverty
The population exploded in Ireland during the latter half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century due to the new wonder food introduced into this country from the Americas, the humble potato. This food was so well suited to growing in Irish conditions and fed so many people on so little acreage that the population almost trebled in this relatively short period of time. But a great disaster struck in 1845 with the arrival of potato blight, which caused severe famine for the next seven years. The government didn't believe in free handouts or charity which meant any relief measures had to be worked for. Many of the projects on which the poor and hungry had to work in order to get food from the relief agencies were of no strategic importance, just ways thought up by officials to make work for the starving. One such project was the road from behind Lough Eske Castle, up Burns Mountain to the peak of Banagher Hill, ‘the road to nowhere’. The road had no practical use until hillwalkers started to follow its path for recreation over one hundred years later.
The Big House
As the 1900s approached and industrialisation began, and people had more recreational time to spend, the railway arrived in Lough Eske, or rather nearby Barnes. This was the start of ‘tourism’ as we know it. Most of the first visitors to this region came to the Big Houses, Lough Eske Castle and Ardnamona. They mostly came to fish and shoot and many a walk these activities entailed through the wild mountains and the woodlands. But as yet the numbers were small and reserved for an elite. But as demand grew, both Ardnamona and the Castle become hotels. The Castle’s first reign as an hotel came to an abrupt end with the fire of 1939, which almost totally destroyed the building. Ardnamona was to remain a hotel up to the beginning of the 1980s.
After such an information overload, our audio piece has a bit more levity with Megan telling us the original Biddy's - and yes, seeing as you are so close, it would be unlucky not to pop in to try their fare!
Speaker: Meghan Slevin
From the Bluestack Way - Part 1 playlist.
Directions
Keep walking along the path - in the distance, you'll see Barnesmore, which is the first major access point through the mighty Bluestacks between Binbane on the Glenties road and Killeter in County Tyrone.
This is the very heart of the county, where north meets south - it's an extraordinary sight whether you see it from Sligo or coming south from Letterkenny. On another visit to the county, ensure you stop off at Biddy's O'Barnes pub where you'll find our speaker Meghan at work. Tales of highwaymen, hangings, fairies and strange weather abound in this place - make sure you see the information on the walls by the restrooms in Biddy's to get an idea of what we mean.
There is a mountain on either side of the gap - the mountain you see on your left is Croagh Connallach (Conal's Mountain) and the mountain on your right is (Eoghan's Mountain). From 1882 right through to 1959, a spectacular rail journey could be made through the gap on An Muc Dubh or The Black Pig train. Today, there is no commercial railway in the county, one of only three counties without any rail line (but arguably the one most deserving one to truly enjoy its scenery).
Local Donegal Town John Boyce had a nom de plume of Paul Peppergrass and as a writer, he may be known to some of our elder American cousins. One of Peppergrass's best known works was called 'Shandy Maguire'. The book was so popular with the Irish in America that it was dramatised and for many years was a feature of stage productions on St. Patrick's Night - the setting and language of this perennial favourite was Barnesmore and its people.
Our audio piece has Meghan Slevin from Biddy's telling us a bit about the legends of the gap and how it got its name.
Speaker: Francis Harvey
From the Bluestack Way - Part 1 playlist.
Francis Harvey (1925-2014) was originally from Enniskillen, but lived near Donegal Town for years. As he said himself ‘I owe an awful lot to the county of Donegal. In fact, I think I might never have become a poet if it wasn’t for the landscape of Donegal.’
Among Francis Harvey’s great poems is the one about Condy the sheepman, almost a mythic figure but rooted in the landscape of the Blue Stack Mountains. Written over forty years ago, the Donegal Democrat believes that 'it encapsulates the struggle between ‘progress’ and stasis, between an old man’s dignity and the encroachment of modernity'.
We were delighted to have the poet recite Condy for us in the audio piece and have to thank him and his daughter Esther for making it happen.
Condy
He lives alone in the shadow of mountains;
his tilted stony acres fray the clouds;
he takes eight years out of a dog and knows
his ewes better than the sons he never had.
The horizon is his fence, his sheep range free,
and yet his mind is penned, his spirit tethered.
He climbs through darkness into the light on the summit
but hears no voice from a cloud.
He fears death – the rickle of bleached bones in lonely places
and in drink weeps for himself and his brothers and for the others
on whom the shadow of mountains fell.
Speaker: Seán McMahon
From The Blackstack Way - Part 1 playlist.
What many consider to be the new tourism phenomenal to hit south Donegal in recent years is actually one of the oldest pastimes of the area. From the beginning of human history in this locality, when people first walked up the Eske Valley, about eight thousand years ago, man has walked through the Bluestacks for fun, adventure, pilgrimage and work. Indeed the journey of the descendants of these first people in Lough Eske, is indeed the history of Ireland, step by step, from the beginning to the present time. These first people did leave a footprint in the area, though not a carbon one. Their biggest mark being the wedge tomb in Winterhill and the Cairn Tomb in the townland of Tawnavorgal at Lough Eske.
The next great walkers to arrive were the Fianna and their Leader Fionn McCumhaill. They made their summer home in these parts and local lore is full of their exploits. Indeed they were more inclined to run than walk such was their zest for their greatest pastime, hunting. We hear about this band of warriors in our audio piece.
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
GPS LOCATION: 54.673090, -8.067167
From The Blackstack Way - Part 1 playlist.
Eske river
After the turn off from the N15 (the above coordinates), you’ll be walking straight for some 500 metres before passing by the Eske river to your left – you’ll see a nice fishing perch for the keen fishermen out there. Take time to savour the flow of the highly regarded Eske river as it comes near the end of its journey.
Fancy a spot of fishing on the river next time you're back? Help is very close to hand; at the top of Water Street just after the bridge, you'll find Doherty's Fishing Tackle shop. Here, Charlie Doherty will be able to get you a licence, rent out a rod and tackle and tell you some secrets about the river if you ask nicely.
For information in-season (1 May to 30 September) contact: Eske Angling Centre, Lough Eske Demesne. Tel: 0749740781.
For information off-season contact:
Northern Regional Fisheries Board, Station Road, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal. Tel. 0719851435
Keep walking on and you’ll see and hear the bypass ahead of you. Follow the Bluestack Way sign and turn left towards the river again. Carry on under the bypass and note that you are to all intents and purposes in the countryside – a wealth of different terrains, colours and fragrances await.
Carry on down the narrow road passing the Water works. At the T-junction, you’ll be taking a left up a very narrow road. The road for the next 3 miles or so is a verdant hallway with the trees on either side nearly meeting. Now and again, you’ll get glimpses of the lush countryside and the blue hue of the Bluestack mountains. As you walk along, there aren’t too many points of interest, but we will use the chance to tell you about other noted walkers in the area over the centuries.
Pearl fishing
Fishing for pearls in the Eske was once a great attraction in the Summer months when the water was low. A writer in the Dublin Penny Journal of 1841 wrote ‘The county of Donegal is rich in mines and minerals, but the rivers abound with pearl mussel. I have seen large and round and lustrous pearls taken out of the streams around Donegal which would not disgrace the fishery of the Straits of Manar in South India’. Fishing for pearls was a back breaking and tedious process, but there was always the hope of finding just the right sort of pearl – ideally ‘pear shaped and be almost translucent and have a subdued iridescent sheen’ according to writer Joe McGarrigle who had been taught the patient art by Tommy O’Donnell.
In our audio piece, Patsy McNulty tells us about the pearl mussel of the Eske river. We must emphasise that the practice of pearl mussel fishing is strictly prohibited under a variety of EU laws, so best buy a Lottery ticket if hoping for a quick windfall - the pearls are out of bounds!
Speaker: Patsy McNulty
From The Blackstack Way - Part 1 playlist.
If you continue some 400 metres up Main street, you'll see a sign for the Famine graveyard, burial site of locals who died in the Great Famine of the 1840s. Next to it is Donegal hospital, former site of the workhouse where the poor of that famine were forced to go to feed themselves.
You’ll be walking straight out the N15 – please note that the last shop you’ll be passing for sometime is on your left, so stack up on water or energy bars. Carry on until you see Clarcam Park on the left and follow the Bluestack Way sign.
In our audio piece, Patsy McNulty tells us more about the hospital/workhouse and the graveyard. Please note it is signposted as the Famine graveyard although Patsy refers to it as the paupers' graveyard.
Speaker: Mairead McNulty
From The Blackstack Way - Part one playlist.
The Diamond is where folk would travel for the fair day and the market day. Patents for these days go back as far as the early 1600s when Sir Basil Brooke had taken over the castle from the O'Donnells. The fair day was held on the second Friday of each month while the market occurred every Saturday.
Hiring fairs where young men were 'sold' to farmers for up to six months at a time took place here. Between the 17th and 19th centuries, hiring fairs were commonplace throughout Ireland.
All over the province of Ulster – from Donegal Town to Ballycastle, hiring days were held in places situated between an area of poor land from where the labourers came and an area of good farming land where labour was needed such as the Lagan Valley. The main centres in the North-West were at Derry, Strabane and Letterkenny with smaller fairs being held in Limavady, Cookstown, Omagh, Ballybofey and here in Donegal Town.
Poverty and limited employment opportunities in agriculture were why people needed hiring fairs. Parents with big families needed help to pay for rent and food, so they sent their children to be hired. Paddy ‘The Cope’ Gallagher was one of them as he recalled in his memoir: ‘I was ten years of age 1881. The year before had been a bad one for work in Scotland and my father hadn’t enough money to pay the rent and the debts. It was the same with the neighbours. A crowd of us were got ready for the hiring fair at Strabane’.
Signs and symbols were used to show availability for work: men carried sticks, straws, tools or a bundle under their arm whilst women wore aprons and string bags. All those hired went through the ritual of being examined and questioned about their ability to milk cows, thresh or carry out other farm or household chores. It was very much the survival of the fittest with only an early-risers being sought. Weak or feeble individuals were ignored as they stood forlornly in line at the fairs.
With major social and economic changes in farming in the 1930s, the practice of hiring declined. The introduction of social welfare benefits in the early 20th century also meant workers increasingly wanted to work and be paid on a weekly basis; whilst new legislation began to push youth into education rather than work. By the mid 19th century, they were a thing of the past, but I can think of one friend whose father was part of the Donegal Town hiring fairs, so they are not quite the distant horror story they deserve to be.
Sean Beattie's article has more on the fairs: https://historyofdonegal.com/derry-hiring-fairs-sean-beattie-recalls/
Speakers: Patsy McNulty and Shane Gallagher
In the audio piece, Patsy McNulty tells us about the Dubh Dobhar-chú as he understood it to be in Donegal. Shane Gallagher on the Donegal/Leitrim border is talking about the same creature, but with a different phonetical emphasis. Patsy includes the word ‘dubh’ meaning black in Irish adding to its sinister presence.
The Dobhar-chú meaning 'water dog' or 'water hound', or King Otter, is a creature of Irish folklore. It resembles both a dog and an otter, though it sometimes is described as half dog, half fish. It lives in water and has fur with protective properties.
Description Physical description of the resembles an otter but said to be about five times as large (perhaps 10–15 feet), with white pelt, black ear tips and a black cross on its back.
Etymology Dobharchú is an obsolete Irish word for 'otter'. The modern Irish word for 'water' is uisce although dobhar is also (rarely) used. Dobhar is a much older form and cognates are found in other Celtic languages (e.g. Welsh dŵr or dwfr). Cú is 'hound' in Irish (see for example Cúchulainn, 'Culainn's hound').The Dobhar-chú is also known as the dobarcu, and anglicised as doyarchu, dhuragoo, dorraghow or anchu.
Headstone A headstone, found in Conwall cemetery in Glenade, County Leitrim, depicts the Dobhar-chú and is related to a tale of an attack on a local woman by the creature. The stone is claimed to be the headstone of a grave of a woman killed by the Dobhar-chú in the 17th century.
The monument is a recumbent flag of sandstone about 4 ft. 6ins. by 1 ft. 10 ins. It shows a recumbent animal having body and legs like those of a dog with the characteristic depth of rib and strength of thigh. The tail, long and curved, shows a definite tuft. The rear of the haunch, and still more the tail, are in exceptionally low relief, apparently due to the loss of a thin flake from the face of the slab. So far the description is canine. The lettering, and carving are in relief.
Incident Her name was supposedly Grace McGloighlin (although Connolly seems to be the accepted surname). Her husband supposedly heard her scream as she was washing clothes down at Glenade Lough and came to her aid. When he got there she was already dead, with the Dobhar-chú upon her bloody and mutilated body. The man killed the Dobhar-chú, stabbing it in the heart. As it died, it made a whistling noise, and its mate arose from the lough. Its mate chased the man but, after a long and bloody battle, he killed it as well.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobhar-ch%C3%BA largely taken from The Dobhar-Chú Tombstones of Glenade, Co. Leitrim (Cemetries of Congbháil and Cill-Rúisc) by Patrick Tohall The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
Vol. 78, No. 2 (Dec., 1948), pp. 127-129 (4 pages) Published By: Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland In Tony O'Neill's photo, on Grace Connolly’s worn grave slab is a carving of a hound like creature with its head twisted back and a hand thrusting a dagger into the neck of the Dobhar-chú.
Source: Tony O’Neill https://www.tonyoneill.org/tag/dobhar-chu/
Speaker: Paddy Meehan
GPS LOCATION: Lat: 54.653627 Lon: -8.110442
From The Blackstack Way - Part 1 playlist.
Before moving off from the Bluestack Way sign, savour the rich heritage that The Diamond offers. Salute a time that may be long gone, but where the beauty and the serenity of the area remain intact; this is a town from which to base yourself for hillwalking, golf, scenic drives, water sports and fine dining. Like the thousands of foreigners that have marveled at its many assets throughout history, we believe that you will be delighted with your time in the town.
The Diamond is the rather fanciful name that squares in the northwest are called - you'll find Diamonds in Ardara, Carndonagh, Raphoe and Derry as well. Donegal Town served as the market town for the surrounding villages and hinterland as far as Ballintra to the west, Barnesmore to the north and Killybegs to the east. For centuries, it has been the hub of commerce and socialising, where the sounds and smells could be overwhelming and there was eating and drinking to be done in the local hostelries at the end of it all.
The Four Masters obelisk
In front of the Abbey Hotel, you’ll see the impressive Mountcharles sandstone monument in the centre of the town was erected in 1935 from funding by local solicitor P.M. Gallagher. It honours the four men who helped to write the celebrated Annals of the Four Masters, Brother Michael O'Cleary and laymen Peregrine O'Clery, Peregrine O'Duignan and Fearfeasa O'Maolconry.
It serves as a full account of Gaelic Ireland from its origins until the end of established Gaelic order when the last of the chieftains fled in 1607 from Rathmullan, Co. Donegal in what is known as the Flight of the Earls. To read the Annals would take you several months and set you back about e900 - not quite a breezy holiday read if you're thinking about it! With every second building in town named after them, you may be wondering where exactly are the Annals of the Four Masters today? They're now kept by the Franciscans in Switzerland, but details can be obtained from the National Library on Kildare Street in Dublin as well as from the Four Masters bookshop.
'Four meek men around the cresset,
With the scrolls of other days;
Four unwearied scribes who treasure
Every word and every line.
Not for fame or not for fortune,
Do these eager penmen dream.
Oh ! that we who now inherit
All their trust, with half their toil,
Were but fit to trace their footsteps
Through the Annals of the Isle;
Oh ! that the bright Angel, Duty,
Guardian of our task might be,
Teach us as she taught our Masters,
In that Abbey by the sea,
Faithful, grateful, just to be!'
T.D. McGee
These days the Diamond area is used to celebrate the homecoming of local heroes such as the victorious Donegal Gaelic football team in 1992 and more recently on a wet night in September 2012 when over 20,000 watched the team raise the Sam Maguire cup to the adoring fans.
From the sublime to the ridiculous, it has recently played host to Irish Eurovision phenomenons, Jedward. Farmers' markets and fayres occur here on a regular basis. The chroniclers of medieval Ireland may not approve of everything they'd see before them today, but in the town of the Four Masters, they are not forgotten and we'd like to think they'd be proud to be in the heart of the action of this thriving historic town.
Looking for more heritage information on the town? The two best books to have (and are gratefully acknowledged as sources for this part of the App!) are: Joe McGarrigle's 'Donegal, past and present' and Malachy Sweeney's 'The Sands of Time; a history of Donegal Town and its environs', the later of which you should be able to get in The Four Masters bookshop. Alternatively, look for our sister App, ‘Donegal Guides’ covering everything you’ll need to know about the town from a food guide to two local walks and wider guides on the best places to visit in the area.
In our audio piece, award-winning actress, Catherine Byrne, who played Chris in the original Abbey Theatre production of Dancing at Lughnasa, tells us how she recalls the famous play coming home to the real life Ballybeg.
'Because of my own close connections with Glenties, it occupies a large portion of my affections and permanently shaped my imagination'.
Brian Friel, writing in the MacGill Summer School programme for 1981.
'The performance of Dancing at Lughnasa in the presence of its author and within a stone's throw of his maternal home, where his mother and aunts had lived was as close to a Ballybeg homecoming for Brian Friel as anyone could imagine'.
Michael Gallagher, MacGill Summer School Chairman, 2008.
Recollections of the opening night of the 1991 MacGill Summer School, Glenties, Co. Donegal:
“I was at a play at the National Theatre with the playwright Thomas Kilroy,” Brian Friel wrote. “We walked across the Waterloo Bridge and up the strand. It was about 11.30 at night and there were homeless people sleeping in the doorways. Tom said, ‘If you talked to those people, I’m sure many of them are Irish.’ And I said, ‘I had two aunts who, I think, ended up something like that.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you write about that?’ So that’s how it began: backward.” From such a casual conversation was the genesis of the play Dancing at Lughnasa born. The play would eventually conquer both the West End and Broadway with top honours. Accepting the Olivier award for Best Play in London, the notoriously media-shy Friel quoted author Graham Greene saying 'success is the postponement of failure' before thanking the Abbey Theatre for its 'luminous production of the play' and that was it. The Tony Award for Best Play was somewhat overshadowed by Hollywood actor Michael Douglas going top heavy of the phonetics of how to pronounce Lughnasa. One would have thought the play was set in the Kennedy Space Centre rather than Ballybeg as he bellowed the words 'Dancing at LooNASA' announcing the winner. No, the pinnacle of success and enjoyment for Friel of this great play came when that luminous production's original cast agreed to regroup with minimum rehearsal time and to stage the play in The Comprehensive school in Glenties which sits some 200 metres away from The Laurels, being the house where the events of the play took place. The occasion was the traditional Sunday night opening of the 1991 Patrick MacGill summer school. Brian Friel addressed the audience before the curtain rose to say he was both as nervous as a kitten, but proud that this extraordinary happening was taking place in the county he called home. I was lucky enough to get one of the packed out seats and was conscious that this was a unique milestone in the playwright's career. Indeed, everyone lucky enough to get a ticket was fully aware that we were witnessing a unique event - as the curtain rose, the buzz in the air was palpable. I don't think I've experienced anything quite like it in a lifetime of enjoying theatre. The cast did not disappoint and they rightly deserved a standing ovation for a perfectly pitched performance as Gerard McSorley's final speech lingered in the air. In that moment, we both cried at the poignancy of it, but laughed and applauded at the accomplishment of such a skilled production and of a master storyteller honouring those five brave Glenties woman with words of love and tenderness.
Words: John Ward
RTÉ's Morning Ireland report on Friel's 1991 Olivier win.
New York Times report on Friel's 1991 Tony award win.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
In the image are Bríd Brennan, Catherine Byrne, Bríd Ní Neachtain and Frances Tomelty. From the original 1990 cast of DANCING AT LUGHNASA by Brian Friel, directed by Patrick Mason, on the Abbey Stage. Photo: Fergus Bourke, courtesy of the Abbey Theatre.
Dublin premiere: 24th April 1990
Glenties premiere: 11th August 1991
Design: Joe Vanek
Lighting: Trevor Dawson
BrianFriel #DancingatLughnasa #Ballybeg #Glenties #CatherineByrne #IrishTheatre #Donegal #Friel #IrishDrama #AbbeyTheatre #PatrickMason
Mary Murphy tells us the placename in English, Sean McMahon tells us how it is pronounced in Irish, then Mary tells us what that Irish wording means thus giving the etymology of the place. Starting with 'Inishowen', we finish the piece with 'Urris' being the place Brian Friel had in mind for his 1981 masterpiece, Translations, which dealt with Britain's attempts to remove the Irish placenames and replace them with new English versions.
Bonus DHS shrine: the boys are back in town. Location: 54.481732, -8.277495 Speaker: Raymond Britton Theme: gathering for an unlikely birthday party location. Few people realise that Stairway to Heaven got its world premiere in the Ulster Hall in Belfast back in March 1971. Its epic wonder was lost on an indifferent crowd who had migrated en masse to the bar on hearing the slow opening bars to what they thought was a folksy filler between the monster set pieces. Less infamous in the annals of Ulster rock lore, but no less remarkable is the notion that at the height of his powers, having just headlined the first ever Slane Castle festival with a Thin Lizzy gig on Sunday 16th August 1981, Phil Lynott decided to celebrate his 32nd birthday with a gig in Bundoran the following Sunday.
Whereas Lizzy were supported by U2, Hazel O'Connor, Megahype, Rose Tattoo and Sweet Savage in Slane, the gig in Bundoran featured The Lookalikes, Atrix and Eclipse. Sweet Savage also played at the Bundoran gig, but bottom billing there was reserved for the Spinal Tapesque entitled Toe-Jam with a note to say 'first gig on their comeback'. The compere on the night was the indefatigable Smiley Bolger who would go on to set up the Vibe for Philo when Lynott died less that 5 years later.
Worth mentioning is that no one these days would consider organising a big gig on a Sunday, but in those days it was par for the course and Sunday was very much part of the weekend. Back then, the notion that Sunday was, to use that ghastly phrase, a 'school night' was nowhere to be heard; the mantra was very much a case of polish up your pinting boots and get on out there. In fact, Donegal Town's biggest night was reserved for Sunday where the Abbey Hotel was full to capacity with party animals who deftly ignored Monday for the sullen party pooper she always has been.
Lizzy were no strangers to playing in Bundoran in August. And yes, to throw a middle finger to her sullen ways, the original Lizzy line-up played on a Monday night on the 2nd August 1971 in what was billed as 'the rave up of the year'. With a spritely looking elephant declaring that she loved Candida's at the top of the week's billing, Candida's nightclub in the Holyrood Hotel was the venue for this outing. Underneath the billing, it was nonchalantly stated that buses would leave Sligo on Sunday and Monday nights at 10.30pm for the venue. Different times! The location for that birthday party, the Astoria Ballroom is no more, but the rock and roll baton has been passed in a way as it is near the site of the very popular Sea Sessions rock concerts over the last few years. The Astoria was better known for showbands, so the two main men from Lizzy were in the most unlikely of places to be rocking the night away. In fairness, The Kinks had once played there, so it had some rock and roll pedigree and later on Meatloaf would play there - well sort of, after a bad-tempered public spat with the venue's owner. An attendee recalled the following account of the build up to the concert: '...nobody believed he was coming but he was seen in Sean Griffin's pub in Upper Main Street, Donegal Town. Apparently he was a friend of Sean’s from old and went to see him before the gig (imagine your shock if you'd popped into Sean's for a quiet Sunday pint and a game of darts!) It was the brainchild of Bernard Kelly from Frosses (brother of Tim who would go on to form the massive Kelly Communications in London) . When we knew he was definitely doing his birthday celebrations in the Astoria sure off we went. Only a small crowd had turned up as no one believed that he would attend. Both Phil Lynott and Scott Gorham played a blinder, it was awesome.' A local newspaper had written about the event as being one primarily set up for The Lookalikes. It read: 'An indoor mini festival is scheduled to take place in the Astoria Ballroom, Bundoran on Sunday August 23rd with the highlight promising to be the appearance of The Lookalikes in tandem with well-known guests Phil Lynott and Scott (sic) Graham of Thin Lizzy. The bill also features The Atrix, Sweet Savage, Eclipse and Toejam. The festival will run from six in the evening until 2am and tickets will be obtained from The Astoria Ballroom at the door on the night.
The Lookalikes debut album 'Daydream at Night' which was produced by the band themselves is due out at the end of September on the WEA label. The band are planning a complete national tour at that time.' Only Philo's arrival at the Great Northern Hotel later that evening was confirmation to the sceptical locals that this was not a drill. In an age before mobiles and social media, there was no viral wave of fans eventually turning up to the Astoria which was a quarter full. Many were tucked up at home oblivious to the fact that the boys really were in town - sure hadn't they just done a massive proper gig earlier that week? Of all of the Donegal gatherings I've mentioned in the Donegal's Hallowed Sites Spotify playlist, this is one that I'd most liked to have attended. It would have been a lot sweeter than having Showaddywaddy as my first live (Sunday night) gig five years later!
URL: Songs for while I'm away documentary trailer
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Donegal's great storyteller, Keith Corcoran, divulges eleven of his (and Maura L's!) tips on what it takes to do so well.
Storytelling maestro Rab Fulton shares a few pointers on what is needed to tell a good story or two.
Inishowen historian, John Hegarty, tells us some more about the origins of the name to Lough Swilly as well as telling us about its many visitors over the centuries.
URL: West Inishowen History and Heritage Society
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Thirteen: sacred clay in the real kingdom.
Location: 55.264055, -8.23082 (Magheroarty pier)
Speakers: Marjorie Carroll and Henry Doohan
Theme: gathering on a rock against the elements.
From the moment you see it for the first time from Magheroarty, your eyes are drawn to the magnificent island of Tory - home to the mythical Balor of the Evil Eye, the last place in Ireland with its own monarch, the late Patsy Dan Rogers, where locals have been cut off from the mainland for weeks at a time due to Atlantic storms and where the special clay ensures that no rat can survive on the island.
Yes indeed, you are truly on hallowed ground. Historically, the Battle of Tory Island was fought on 12 October 1798 between French and British squadrons off the northwest coast of Donegal, then in the Kingdom of Ireland. The last action of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Battle of Tory Island ended the final attempt by the French Navy to land substantial numbers of soldiers in Ireland during the war.
The island is very much a Mecca for ornithologists. Many of them come to study the different species of sea birds which have colonised the island. Cormorants, gulls, gannets, puffins, divers, oyster-catchers, terns and fulmars are all common. In addition, being so far north and so far from the mainland, Tory is a classic location for migrating birds to rest on their journey south. Moreover, the corncrake and other birds which are becoming rare even in the most unspoilt parts of the mainland, are still common in Tory. Even experienced ornithologists have been surprised by the variety of species on the island. Other great bird sites are Blanket Nook and Inch Wildlife Reserve both in Inishowen.
There could be a number of reasons for visiting a sacred place like Tory, but most noteworthy is Máirsheisear (Grave of the Seven). Máirsheisear, which actually translates as 'big six', (an archaic term for seven!) is the tomb of seven people, six men and one woman, who drowned when their boat capsized off Scoilt an Mháirsheisear (the cleft of the seven) on the island's northwest coast. According to local superstition, clay from the woman's grave is sacred and has the power to ward off vermin. It is is used to protect seafarers and to keep rats away from ships.
When spread, the following incantation must be said for the clay to work: 'A gheall ar Dhia agus ar naomh a d'ordaigh á, oibreoidh sá' - with God's help and that of the saint who ordered it, may it work. Lest you think all of this clay is long gone, the whole of the island's clay gained the benefit of the grave's power what with it all being connected underground. The author can testify to its potency - a rat that eluded capture by conventional means was dead within hours of the clay been put down.
Despite its small size, Tory Island has a number of historical and mythological sites: Dán Bhaloir (Balor's fort) is located on the island's eastern side. This peninsula is surrounded on three sides by 90m-high cliffs. Balor's fort is only accessible by crossing a narrow isthmus, defended by four earthen embankments.[14] View from Dán Bhaloir An Eochair Mhór (The big key) is a long, steep-sided spur jutting from the east side of the peninsula and ending in a crag called An Tor Mór (the big rock). The spur has prominent rocky pinnacles - these are known as "Balor's soldiers". (Saighdiúrí Bhaloir ) They give the spur a 'toothed' appearance and contribute to the name, "The big key".
The Wishing Stone is a precipitous flat-topped rock beside the northern cliff-face of Balor's Fort. Traditionally, a wish is granted to anyone foolhardy enough to step onto the rock, or who succeeds in throwing three stones onto it. An Cloigtheach (The Bell Tower) is the largest structure to have survived the destruction of the monastery (see history section above). The tower was built in the 6th or 7th century. The Tau Cross (a t-shaped cross) is believed to date from the 12th century. It is one of only two Tau crosses in Ireland (the other in Kilnaboy, County Clare).
The Lighthouse, standing at the west end of the island, was built between 1828 and 1832 to a design by George Halpin, a noted designer of Irish lighthouses. In April 1990 the lighthouse was automated. The lighthouse is one of three in Ireland in which a reference station for the Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) is installed. The lighthouse is at coordinates 55°16.357?N 8°14.964?W
The Torpedo: A torpedo can be seen midway between An Baile Thiar and An Baile Thoir. It washed ashore during World War II and was defused and erected at its present location. Right, then that's surely more than enough reasons to visit this fascinating island?
URL: Tory Island Co-Op
URL: Henry Doohan
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Eleven: it's a family affair.
Location: 55.026448, -8.273392
Speaker: Moya Brennan
Theme: gathering to entertain and enjoy.
Moya Brennan took time out from recording to tell us how Leo's came about, how the locals were a bit sceptical, but how over 50 years later, this place is still buzzing to the sound of live music.
One of the most famous pubs in Donegal by virtue of the prodigious siblings who made up most of Clannad as well as the fragrant Enya. It's well signposted and is 3 km south of Gweedore on the road to Crolly.
Leo has died and the tavern is now run now by son Bartley who ensures that music is at the very heart of the place still.
Legions of music lovers make the pilgrimage to this tavern in the hope that some of the Brennan kids are in town and might just be playing some of their latest work. It has been known to happen you know! As Moya tells us in the audio piece, she performs there once a month on a Friday for a singer/songwriter evening with the odd special guest in tow.
URL: Leo's Tavern
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Fifteen: O'Donnell Abú
Location: 55.024702, -7.822309
Speaker: Sorcha O'Donnell
Theme: gathering to hail the chief.
The O'Donnell clan ruled over most of Donegal, known as Tir Chonaill (excluding the Inishowen peninsula) from the castle, but were inaugurated as heads of the clan here at Doon Rock near Kilmacrenan in north Donegal. A straight white wand was handed to the chieftain by one of the clan's nobles with the words 'receive the sovereignty of this county and preserve equal and impartial justice in every part of its dominions'. Donegal Castle may be where they ruled, Ballyshannon where they savoured their finest victory and Rathmullan where they left the island for good, but it here that something truly sacred once occurred, where a pledge was made to the land and its people. In these parts did the last of the chieftains retain autonomy against invader and uphold ancient Irish rule, and it was in places like Dungannon and Doon, that the last great gaels promised to uphold a solemn vow.
Signs for what is what were not great when we last visited, so here is what you need to know. With your back to the public toilets, you will see the holy well in front of you. To the left going up a narrow lane is the route to the mass rock. Good footwear is advised! To the right is Doon Rock - it was not marked when we visited. You will see a grotto in honour of the Virgin Mary on your left as you make your way up. Carry on, avoiding the copious sheep poop until you get to Doon Rock itself offering a panoramic view of the area. Follow a path near Doon Rock to the mass rock, where pilgrims still come to this day; just look at the amount of Holy relics that have been placed on and around the mass rock.
This place was used during the Penal Years (1695-1741) when Catholics were not allowed to openly practice their faith. Doon was one of the secret places that Catholics could meet up and attend mass. Priests said mass under pain of death because if they were caught they faced a violent death by being placed in a barrel of nails and thrown over a cliff called 'Binn an Sagairt' (hill of the priest) near Doon. Finally, no-one can go to Doon and not go to see the Holy Well. Every home in Donegal will have a bottle of Holy water from Doon. Situated beside Doon Rock Doon Well is very accessible and is wheelchair friendly, placed in a pretty little garden beside a house the owners tend to the well and garden. Doon Well's origins are definitely pre-Christian as the natural spring water would have been used in the pagan inauguration ceremonies of the O'Donnell clan. Bronze age artefacts have been unearthed near the well and there is a 'togher', an ancient wooden road that runs underneath the bog adjacent to Doon Rock.
It is a very special place and has a holiness and peaceful stillness about it. You almost feel as though you should whisper as you would in a church. In fact, stations and rosary are still walked from St.Columba's chapel to Doon Well every New Years Eve and on the day before May 1st. Doon Well became a Holy well possibly in the 15th century when a man called Lector O'Friel blessed the well. Lector O'Friel was a powerful healer. Sufferers of all sorts of illnesses and incurable conditions came or were carried to see him in the hope of a cure. Many stories are told of the miracles that he performed. Legend says that when he was in his old age and death was upon him the people became upset at the thought of losing such a holy man into whom God had placed such a wondrous gift. On hearing the peoples lament, Lector O'Friel is reported to have said, "When i die, my powers will live on after me."
With this he blessed the well and told them that those who drank or applied the water would benefit from his prayers of intercession. The well itself is behind two little wooden doors and there is a plaque that tells you what prayers need to be recited it reads: Doon Well Prayers of Station Repeat Our Father and Hail Mary 5 times And apostles creed for your intention Repeat same for each bottle of water Our Father and Hail Mary for Father O'Friel who found it Our Father and Hail Mary for Father Gallagher who blessed it Our Father and Hail Mary for the person who put the shelter around it N.B These prayers must be recited in bare feet.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Bonus shrine: spud-u-like.
Location: 55.308901, -7.33582
Speaker: Pat 'Doagh' Doherty
Photo: Mark Nolan
Theme: gathering to stock up for the Winter.
Pat 'Doagh' Doherty tells us about the unorthodox way folk used to fish up in Doagh in the old days. Along with sister Majella, he runs the famous Doagh Famine Village.
This hidden gem is a reconstructed village with great attention to detail. Your affable host, Pat, puts famine in a global context and tells it with warmth, wit and insight. You also get to hear about old Irish funeral customs as well as seeing an old Republican "safe house" and Orange Hall right beside each other!
Open from Easter until late October, 10-5.30. Disabled access. Tea & scones included with entrance fee.
URL: Doagh Famine Village
Doagh Famine Facebook
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Forteen: I can see for miles and miles.
Location of base car park: 55.029203, -8.106537
Speaker: Nikki Bradley, motivational speaker
Theme: gathering to climb an icon.
N.B: take careful note of Nikki's wise advice on preparing properly to climb Errigal - it is not easy, but it so rewards!
In a land famed for its hills, there's one hill that is known far and wide, indeed it was voted Ireland's most iconic mountain by Walking and Hiking Ireland in 2009. Errigal is a 751 metres (2,464 ft) mountain near Gweedore and is the tallest peak of the Derryveagh Mountains and the tallest peak in County Donegal and we think that qualifies it as a shrine for hillwalkers and lovers of the very best view attainable.
Errigal is also the most southern, steepest and highest of the mountain chain, called the "Seven Sisters" by locals. The Seven Sisters includes Muckish, Crocknalaragagh, Aghla Beg, Ardloughnabrackbaddy, Aghla More, Mackoght and Errigal. The nearest peak is Mackoght, which is also known as Little Errigal or Wee Errigal (Irish: an Earagail Bheag). The views from the top are spellbinding and from it you will see the full splendour of this most beautiful of counties.
Look out for the pinkish glow of its quartzite in the setting sun. The car park that most people use to park up for Errigal is where we've dropped the flag on our map - it's located on the R251. From here you can pretty much see your route ahead as Mount Errigal is above to the left and Mackoght to the right.
The nearby Clanree hotel in Letterkenny is not only the location for Daniel O'Donnell's huge wedding in 2002, but allegedly where Republicans sat in congress to vote for the Peace Process. However, worth noting from a recent documentary on Martin McGuinness, he convinced Gerry Adams of the case for laying down arms while ascending Mount Errigal.
URL: Nikki Bradley
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Bonus shrine: the traveller's rest.
Location: 54.709499, -7.970839
Speaker: Megan Slevin
Theme: gathering to rest up on a long journey.
After completing most of the 'shrines' in the county, you are on the last stretch and as anyone in the know would tell you, it is unlucky to pass by this hostelry without stopping to sup. Megan is the perfect host and with a great team, they offer an old world charm in an epic setting with tales galore.
This famous traditional Irish pub is nestled at the foothills of the Blue Stack Mountains, on the banks of the Lowerymore River, nine miles from Ballybofey and six miles from Donegal Town. Biddy’s was originally an Inn, dating back to the 18th century, a time when the Coach was the main form of transport, here was a stopping point, where horses were rested, and travellers relaxed before the next stage of their long and tiring journey through the Gap. Biddy’s O’Barnes, to this day remains a stopping point for today’s traveller. People from all over the world now pass through these doors. Pub grub served daily. However you spend your time with Biddy's, you'll enjoy yourself.
URL: Biddys O'Barnes
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Donegal's own Jacqui Sharkey introduces her new single, The Light.
'The Light' is a powerful melodic and emotional ballad that captures the turmoil of the world today and offers hope and inspiration that showcases Sharkey's hooky and well constructed songwriting technique. The clever arrangements by John Reynolds feature brilliantly constructed acoustic and mandolin licks by Nashville based Tim Galloway and stylishly understated and skilful guitar runs by London based Graham Kearns. The track also features renowned Irish drummer and percussionist Liam Bradley and London based Clare Kenny on bass and was produced in London, with Jacqui's vocals recorded remotely by former Villagers guitarist Tommy McLaughlin at Attica Audio Recording studios in Donegal.
URL: Jacqui Sharkey
Shrine Seven: dance to the music of time.
Location: 54.800685, -8.285022
Location of graveyard: 54.787994, -8.274946
Speakers: John Ward and Catherine Byrne
Theme: gathering to be in touch with some otherness.
This is the actual house where Brian Friel's aunts, the 'five brave Glenties women' of the play, Dancing at Lughnasa, lived together in the 1930s. Just off Station Road outside of the harvest fair town of Glenties, this is the site that inspired a modern masterpiece by a playwright at the height of his powers. In our audio piece, we recall the evening of the 11th August 1991 when the original Abbey Theatre cast came within 200 metres of the house to perform the play in front of the playwright in The Comprehensive school next door.
The Public Theatre and Professor Martin Andrucki summed up its power in their critique of the play's denouement: - 'In the last lines of the play, the narrator Michael tells us that when he remembers that summer of 1936 everybody seems to be "[d]ancing, as if language had surrendered to movement...as if this ritual, this wordless ceremony, was now the way...to be in touch with some otherness. Dancing as if the very heart of life and all its hopes might be found in...those...movements. Dancing as if words were no longer necessary." Each of the characters in the play dances at some crucial moment: Gerry and Chris when they meet after a long separation, Father Jack when he celebrates the power of the Goddess, all the sisters when the sounds of the wireless bring them into contact with the outside world.
What Michael suggests is that people dance at such moments because dancing provides a way to transcend the painful contradictions, conflicts, and uncertainties of ordinary experience. Dancing takes us beyond the everyday world of language and its ambiguities to a place where our hopes can be painlessly, though fleetingly, fulfilled. If the kites imply the conflicting emotions associated with change, both exhilaration and terror, dancing promises a deliverance from such inner conflict, allowing an experience of undivided happiness'. Yes, it's that good. The play is a remarkable tribute to the Mundy sisters' spirit and from this meagre setting did such a magical story evolve. Try and see the play being performed by a good cast playing the Mundy sisters. Meryl Streep can do many things (including outdrinking most people the night she opened this house with Friel some years ago no less), but the film is not a patch on the tour de force that is the play.
Sadly neglected once again after a brief restoration after the release of the film, its current state is a reminder how the great can be quickly forgotten. With the death of Friel in late 2015, word came through in early 2016 of plans to buy and restore the building by a trust set up to establish a proper Friel museum, When in the town, ensure you visit the graveyard where his uncle, Fr. Barney McLoone, the man who inspired the play’s priest as well as the grave of the writer himself, are located. Look out for a huge slab of black marble at the top right hand corner of the graveyard with the words ‘I just want to put my arms around you and hold you close’.
RTÉ's Morning Ireland report on Friel's 1991 Olivier win.
New York Times report on Friel's 1991 Tony award win.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Eight: For whom the bell tolls.
Location: 54.845484, -8.450546.
Speaker: Bart Whelan
Theme: gathering to pay homage on a tidal island.
The magical tidal island of Inishkeel is the seat of a pilgrimage in honour of St. Conal Cael, one of Ireland's early saints. According to the Genealogiae Regum et Sanctorum Hiberniae, St Conall was descended from the Cenél Conaill, one of the ruling families of Donegal. He was the son of a Maine or Caelmaine, who was a son of Cathair, son of Bogaine, son of Conall Gulban who was the founder of the kingdom of Tir Chonaill and the first nobleman to be baptised by St. Patrick.
It contains his church and his cell and in it repose his sacred remains in the grave under a large boulder, traditionally known as St Conal's bed. Near the site is St Conal's holy well, but gone is his famous iron bell, known as 'Bearnan Chonaill'. Long after his death, it was enshrined as a relic in an elaborate covering, and was worshipped by pilgrims visiting the island.
The bell is an early type made from a sheet of iron, its handle and loop for the clapper are missing. In the fifteenth century an ornate silver 'bell shrine' was made to protect and embellish the bell. This bell and its shrine, like most Irish reliquaries, were preserved by keepers who were the descendants of the stewards of monastic lands. Many like St Conal's bell were sold to collectors in the nineteenth century.
This relic of St. Conal remained in Ardara until 1844 and is now part of the British Museum collection. Relics associated with the early Irish saints were believed to hold miraculous powers and were much revered in the medieval church in Ireland. Oaths were sworn upon them and curses were cast using them. Water drank from ancient bells was believed to cure a wide variety of illnesses. The island is accessible on foot during low tide from Narin beach and despite missing its bell, is one of the highlights of any trip to Donegal as you walk out where the sea has parted.
URL: Donegal County Council's overview of the island, the bell and the saint.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Six: all things bright and beautiful.
Location: 54.787225, -8.088684
Speaker: Michael Gallagher in conversation with John Ward.
Theme: gathering to survive and thrive against the odds.
One of the great ambassadors of the county was affable postman, Michael Gallagher, renowned for his canny ability to forecast the weather by a careful observation of wildlife and the elements, a skill he attributes to the people of Na Cruacha Gorma in the deepest part of the Finn valley. At the extreme end of his daily itinerary lies 'Na Cruacha Gorma' or in English the Croaghs (pronounced 'crows'). A sparsely populated area, it is one of the most inaccessible parts of Ireland, where electricity only arrived in 1975, but it is here that Michael met people whose vast repertoire of folklore seemed to be unending.
A hardy people said to originate from Tyrone after being cast out around the time of the Penal Laws, they ended up in this valley where no one else was to be found and here they used their wits to eke out a living and survive. Against the odds they prospered and formed their own community, their own dialect and their own way of doing things without modern conveniences. A rich musical culture developed and a night spent resting in these parts on the way to a fair was filled with good fiddle music and poitín.
Much of the folklore has been recorded by folklorists not only from our own country, but from as far afield as Switzerland, Germany, Iceland and North America.' It was from conversing in their native language with the people of this area that he first became interested in weather forecasting all those years ago. As Michael says himself: -'Most of the people from na Cruacha could forecast the weather accurately for a month or a season in advance and even a year ahead at times. They had such a knowledge of nature, learned from their daily struggle with the elements that they believed each feature of God's Creation was linked by them with climatic conditions.
The knowledge of what we call 'book learning' was sparse but they had a rare wealth of lore and wisdom that was a source of amazement to all who came in contact with them. These, coupled with their natural vitality, enabled them to eke out a fairly comfortable living for themselves on their mountain farms in a remote area without the benefits of modern equipment. In the course of my travels, I discovered - among other things - that clocks and watches were almost unknown in that area until after World War One.
Thus, the sun was their guideline. Incidentally, I never learned how they managed on the countless days when the Sun refused to shine!' Observing the animals around them, the folk of the Croaghs would tell you that a dog eating grass was a sign of a change in the weather, that a fox crying on a Winter's evening is a sure sign of heavy snow coming, that the crex crex cry of the curlew is a sign of rain as are crickets singing behind an open hearth fire. Folk here were able to ascertain accurate forecasts from the stars, the Sun, clouds, damp, echos, mist, pains, thunder and trees. Curious terms such as 'the peck' and stacked jam jars in windows were other unorthodox methods of forecasting.
In our interview from November 2012, we covered a range of topics as Michael looked back at a now deserted valley which had once been vibrant and utterly unique in the art of survival.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Nine: a blessed encounter.
Location: 54.993551, -8.35788
Speaker: Jimmy Duffy
Theme: gathering to pay homage to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
For a considerable time in 1939, numerous people, including the parish priest, saw visions of the Virgin Mary at this very spot. Note the mementos that people leave behind of loved ones. The shrine has long been a place of prayer and contemplation. It began in January 1939 when a young girl and her sisters from Kerrytown in the Templecronas (church of St. Crones) parish were sent at night to secure outhouses for arriving guests. The young girl set about tidying up but stopped and looked at a massive wall of rock close by. The rock rose to 15 feet high. Atop the rock stood a beautiful lady dressed in white. The young girl called out to her sisters who ran over and also saw the apparition.
Soon, others heard them and gathered round to witness the beautiful lady in white. Some ran for the parish priest, Father McAteer, but he dismissed them saying it was "just another ghost story." Several days later, the apparition of the lady in white appeared at the rock again. And once again, the locals ran for the priest. He declined at first but changed his mind after a while and decided to travel to the farm to end the nonsense once and for all. He stayed at the farm for several hours but saw nothing. Convinced that his parishioners were daft, he gathered his things to leave, amidst the pleas of the young girl and her sisters and many of the locals. As he climbed onto his buggy, he looked up one more time at the massive rock.
There, standing on the top of the rock was a beautiful lady dressed in white. He says in his personal account: "Suddenly, I saw a mass of rock turn marble white. Over the Rock came a fiery golden cloud, and in front of the cloud stood a majestic lady, clothed in white...her hair hanging down on her shoulders. She looked at me with a severe look and said, "Now, will you believe!" I stretched out my arms, opened my palms, and asked for forgiveness." Unfortunately for Fr. McAteer, the Vatican was equally doubtful, but without the benefit of seeing what he saw.
The place has never quite achieved the recognition of County Mayo's Knock, but as recently as October 2009, people have witnessed seeing crosses above the grotto and of seeing the sun dancing from this location. Even to the non-believer, it is a place of immense serenity and peace - if you can manage to find it. Kerrytown, near Kincasslagh, Look out for small road signs leading you to the place.
Lower Rosses/Gweedore History group on Facebook.
Jimmy Duffy's website.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Two: Hometown boy.
Location: 54.501652, -8.190329
Speaker: Donal Gallagher
Theme: gathering to salute great music from a musical legend.
It's hard to believe, but Rory died in 1995 aged 47 from complications after surgery. His memory lives on every June with a three day extravaganza that is the festival named after him, the Rory Gallagher International Festival. All from a town that he lived in for only the first year of his life, born appropriately enough in The Rock hospital. The David Annand statue in the accompanying photo is the epicentre of that weekend, where thousands of blues and rock fans gather for three days of good-natured celebration.
"Rory was one of the true heroes of Irish rock," Hot Press editor Niall Stokes reflects. "He was a magnificent guitar player, a brilliant songwriter and a performer of enormous dedication, energy and magnetism. But for all the remarkable success he achieved, Rory never lost touch with his roots. He was true to himself, true to his music and true to the people, with whom he shared an extraordinary kinship. If there is a higher compliment I don't know what it is. For all of these reasons, it is wonderful to see that his memory is being honoured in this way in Ballyshannon. It is, you might say, the least we can do. But it is no less important for that, as Rory will always retain a special place in the hearts of Irish music fans and of fans of great music the world over."
In our extensive audio clip, Rory's younger brother, Donal, reflects on how the Gallaghers came to be in Ballyshannon as well as Rory's desire to play there, the origins of the festival, finishing up with a tale about the statue's attire in the photo!
URL: Rory Gallagher International Festival
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine 23: the pride of all.
Location: 54.801427, -7.77935
Speaker: Michael Murphy
Theme: gathering to cheer on their local heroes in battle.
There is nothing that unites the people of Donegal like its much loved Gaelic football team. The home of the team is in Ballybofey, the centre of the county and it is here that regular training occurs and where many battles have taken place in the championship. The senior team's All Ireland victory of 1992 is still famously remembered and heroes such as McHugh, McMullan and Molloy have been replaced with recent heroes such as Murphy, McBrearty and McHugh.
Beaten by a worthy team of All Ireland champions in 2011, Donegal have always been a team that others rightly fear, coming back in 2012 to lift the Sam Maguire cup in a very stylish manner followed by wave of partying back in the county to beat the band. Until Mayo did the honours in August 2021, they were the last team to stop Dublin in their tracks in the championship when Ryan McHugh came of age and Murphy as always lead by example.
Witness a sea of gold and green, a chorus of accents from Pettigo to Bloody Foreland, Glencolmcille to Glengad and a roar that would unnerve the most confident Hill 16 gathering. For pure visceral passion and encouragement, enthusiasm and ecstasy, Donegal Gaelic football support has no equal - well, in public at least...
Sean MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey. URL:McCumhaill Park
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Four: in a league of his own.
Location: 54.570482, -8.132844
Speakers: John Ward/Pierce Ferriter
Theme: gathering to salute a talented, but humble man.
Tucked up the top of a hill on the outskirts of Ballintra, look out for the unlikely burial site of the Elphin diocese in Roscommon's patron saint. St. Asicus, the patron saint of coppersmiths, having been St. Patrick's very own coppersmith and silversmith. You don't have to go too far to see his work - his copper work can be seen on the shamrock patterned beaten brass alter screen in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo. In the Cathedral you can also see a stained glass representation of St. Asicus.
When St. Patrick established the diocese of Elphin in County Roscommon, circa. 450 AD, he appointed Asicus as its first bishop and later Abbot-Bishop of Ireland. It is said that he was a humble man who did not believe himself worthy of his high office in the Church. He left Roscommon and travelled to Rathlin O'Birne Island in Donegal Bay where he resigned his office and became a hermit, living for a while at the top of Slieve League along the area called The Pilgrim's Way. He remained there for seven years until the monks of Elphin tracked him down and persuaded him to return to Elphin with them. However, he was not in good health and died on the journey back to Elphin (circa. 490 AD).
He is buried where he died, but it is only in the last sixty years or so that his existing grave with ornate stonework was built. His feast day is the 27th of April and is still commemorated as it should be - immense talent is rarely joined by such austere modesty. Quietly salute this humble pilgrim if you can.
Across the road, you'll find another sacred site, that of a fairy tree. There are many 'fairy trees' along the roadsides of Donegal and especially at the crossing of roads throughout Ireland. Usually these are gnarled old hawthorn bushes. Also considered sacred were the oak and the ash. While many magic wands were made from the rowan branch, it is considered a profanation to destroy them or even to remove one of their branches. Many different types of otherworld creatures are said to dwell in the tree or nearby. Some may scoff at the notion of the power of a fairy tree, but few would ever cut a fairy tree down. Would you?
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Ten: the first son of Donegal.
Location: 55.012867, -8.400807
Speaker: Jacqui Sharkey
Theme: gathering to salute the county's favourite son.
This is Donegal's version of Graceland with maybe a hint of Father Ted thrown in. This hotel, formerly owned by legendary local singer, Daniel O'Donnell, has become a shrine to the great man, despite the fact that he doesn't live here nor indeed still own it. Hailing from Kincasslagh, Daniel frequently makes appearances back home and this seems to have become a base camp for those on the lookout for him. Chances are he'll be negotiating the jaw-dropping sixth hole on nearby Cruit Island Golf Club.
There had been Daniel O'Donnell Visitor Centre from 2012 to 2019 in Dungloe, but it closed. However, the Viking House Hotel is still an integral part of any devotee's pilgrimage to these parts in the absence of his famous annual tea parties of yore. Daniel is by far Donegal's best ambassador and love him or loathe him, he has thrilled millions of folk from 8 to 80 years of age. Often forgotten is the man's wicked sense of humour and his ceaseless work for charity, all done quietly and without fuss. To the thousands who flock to to this area, it is nothing less than a place to salute the man who has given them such delight over the years. Hail wee Daniel, a veritable living legend and all round good egg.
Traveling far and wanting the visit to include a definite sighting of the man? Well, Daniel is always about for The Mary from Dungloe festival and usually plays two shows - book early and enjoy the wild surroundings while you're at it.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine 20: Breaking Bread.
Location: 55.203627, -6.981327
Speaker: Tricia Kealy, proprietor, Kealy's Seafood Restaurant
Theme: gathering to eat, drink and thrash out ideas through conversation.
In the Bible, the breaking of bread refers to how members of the early communal church, gathered together almost daily. Here, they ate their bread with generosity and simplicity and shared stories. In time, coming to break bread, especially in the Mediterranean, was considered the best way to enjoy time together, through eating and drinking and discussing matters big and small at leisure and in comfort. Kealy's Seafood Bar in Greencastle has being bringing friends together to eat and enjoy good company since 1989.
Of particular note is how it was the Go To venue for two significant figures in the arts and in politics, Brian Friel and John Hume. Friel's Field Day Theatre Company had many AGMs and get togethers in Kealy's and in the quest for peace, Hume hosted many politicians from America and Europe as well as Britain and Ireland.
Good food and good company are conducive to getting agreement and consensus. With its award-winning menu and lack of pretension, Kealy's played an important role in being a place where great minds could think alike or indeed, sort out their differences. A visit here is both a treat for the epicurean, but also to those who wish to salute the good work that occurred here over the years. It's said that the fondest memories are made gathered around the table and in Kealy's, you'll get a chance to add some of your own with repeat trips.
URL: Kealy's Seafood Restaurant
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Three: surf's up.
Location: 54.552528, -8.211036
Speaker: Dr. Easkey Britton, author of Saltwater in the Blood
Theme: gathering to experience the full wonder of the ocean.
Donegal Bay made the headlines in recent years for having a 20 metre wave off its coast - the highest recorded in Irish waters. The great surf beaches of the bay are Mullaghmore and Tullan Strand in Bundoran, but for a host of reasons, we're pointing you to somewhere with surf, scenery and safety. Rossnowlagh is a very special long sandy Blue Flag beach in Donegal Bay.
It was here that Tony Blair spent his childhood summers, but that's hardly worthy of making it special. It is the leading shrine in the Republic to good King Billy every 12th of July as over 10,000 commemorate that historic event in a peaceful, family-orientated Orange parade, but no, that's not the reason either. However, say the word 'Rossnowlagh' to a surfer is to get their full respect for Donegal Bay is surfers' paradise with Rossnowlagh having a special place in their hearts for being where surfing in Ireland started but also for its big waves (nearby Tullan Strand in Bundoran has bigger and has managed to get the European Surfing Championships twice in recent years).
In our audio piece, Easkey Britton tells us what makes Rossnowlagh and indeed Donegal Bay special and why surfing and the sea have a pivotal role in both our wellness and that of the planet.
Make sure the unmissable Smuggler's Creek overlooking the beach and the bay or the Sandhouse surfers' bar are factored in after a lazy day here. For over three thousand miles the North Atlantic Drift has carried big waves from the Gulf of Mexico and it is in this glorious bay that they break, most recently garnering worldwide attention for some dream waves that the select few got to ride in nearby Mullaghmore. The nearby Finn McCool surf school will be happy to help out the novice though! URL:Finn Surf
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Seventeen: the lost souls.
Location: 55.197781, -7.553101
Speaker: John Ward
Theme: gathering to remember momentous historical events.
Certain landscapes, such as the Boyne valley or Kinsale harbour, have borne witness to seminal dates in Irish history. Lough Swilly, whose name appropriately derives from the Gaelic for eyes, "suile" on account of St. Colmcille slaughtering a beast with many eyes on its shores, must rank highly amongst such sites. It is said that when the human memory has been outlived, the landscape remembers; peering across Lough Swilly from Dunree Head, feeling the Atlantic breeze upon one's face, take a few minutes to sense the redolence of momentous events that helped shape Ireland's destiny.
To the left of the lough beyond Fahan lies the ancient seat of the high kings of Ireland at Grianan of Aileach. On the right of the lough is the port of Rathmullan, where the old Gaelic order came to an end with the Flight of the Earls on the 14th September 1607. In the garrison town of Buncrana, the Irish patriot Wolfe Tone's crusade for Irish freedom came to an end on November 3rd 1798 after his boat The Hoche foundered and he was arrested. On the 18th September 1914, the inhabitants along the shore awoke to find the lough filled with warships, becoming the main base of the British fleet under Admiral Jellicoe in World War One.
Finally, consider the very soil of Dunree itself and neighbouring Leenan fort, the last parcels of land to be handed back by the British to the Irish on the 3rd October 1938. Consider the thousands of souls that have passed between Dunree and Saldanha Head across the lough: the forlorn hopes of Wolfe Tone before being apprehended; the despondency of the chieftains fleeing these shores, never to return; the imminent death of 274 people on the H.M.S. Saldanha on the 4th December 1811; the relief of an incoming British battleship at escaping the German mines or the gratitude of the wary traveller such as John Newton arriving on the 8th April 1748 from a tempest, immortalised in his song, Amazing Grace.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Sixteen: the forgotten dynasty.
Location: 55.02526, -7.424698
Speaker: Sean McMahon (RIP) and Dessie McCallion
Theme: gathering where once the mighty reigned.
Grianan of Aileach, the stonehouse of the sun. According to legend, it was built by Daghda, an ancient King of the Tuatha de Danann. A hillfort that once was at the historical centre where 18 high kings ruled over Ireland. During that time, the acts of its kings, warriors, tribes saints and sages dominate many of the pages of Ireland's history but with scarcely any acknowledgement of the particular place from whence they sprang. Many gifted writers have waxed lyrical regarding the glories of Royal Meath, but as Harry Percival Swan puts it "none have thought fit to mention Royal Inishowen which has an equal if not better right to regal appellation."
Legend has it that Fionn McCool and his warriors lie asleep under this mountain and at Ireland's moment of need, they will rise up and reclaim their ancient land. Anytime now would be good lads! As you look across a vast expanse, consider that this site was once the epicentre of power on this island. It's a fact long forgotten and one that the wording on the nearby rather dull signage won't tell you, but what Swan wrote is well documented and deserves to be remembered for here is a sacred site, a stonehouse of the sun. Grianan of Aileach - turn off by the iconic Burt church Burt Inishowen.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Eighteen: All's well that ends well.
Location: 55.2338, -7.49924
Speaker: Sean McMahon (RIP) and John Hegarty.
Theme: gathering to collect sacred water.
At the top of Mamore, you should stop off to view St. Eigne's Holy Well, renowned for its healing qualities and situated beside shrines to the Virgin Mother and St. Padre Pio. There's a small tin jug by the well and you are encouraged to fill a bottle of holy water to bring home and cure ailments from the eyes to the limbs. By the grottos, you will notice relics of deceased, often young people, left by their families.
Despite the inhospitality of the terrain, you'll notice how all of the mementos are remarkably well preserved. They are traditionally cleared on the 15th of August , the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the day on which Christ's mother was brought up to Heaven 40 days after her earthly death. St Padre Pio is a saint particularly close to the Irish. This Italian monk died in 1968 was believed to have both stigmata and the ultimate party piece, bilocation, the power to be in two places at once.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine 21: when Inishowen became Paris.
Location: 55.037622, -7.302966
Speaker: Sean McMahon (RIP) (bonus material added by Sean on two other aerial visitors in that decade.)
Theme: gathering of the locals to salute a true heroine.
Pedants out there may note we're into another jurisdiction, but as we are five fields from Donegal and in light of the fact that the event being honoured, human endeavour and bravery, is far bigger than a border, we'll let it stand. Besides, it was the sight and markings of County Donegal, not Derry, that gave Amelia her bearings and eventual peace of mind after hours of endless ocean - that counts for a lot in our book!
On the morning of May 20, 1932 the flight pioneer set off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland with the intention of flying to Paris in her single engine Lockheed Vega 5b to emulate Charles Lindbergh's solo flight. After a flight lasting 14 hours, 56 minutes during which she contended with strong northerly winds, icy conditions and mechanical problems. To cap all this, petrol had started to trickle down her neck so Earhart made an emergency landing in a pasture at Ballyarnett near the banks of Lough Foyle, a far cry from her intended landing site of gay Paris.
In a masterly stroke of understated smalltalk, a farm hand who'd witnessed the landing asked, "Have you flown far?" Amelia replied crisply "From America". The site now is the home of a small museum, the Amelia Earhart Centre, but its now shut (and it looked it when last checked) so read up on this fascinating woman before making the pilgrimage here. Earhart was to be declared dead in absentia on the 5th of January 1937 after another courageous flight ended in mystery when it disappeared without trace.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine 22: saluting the Sun.
Location: 54.851216, -7.604685
Speakers: Mary Harte in conversation with John Ward.
Theme: gathering of our ancestors to salute the cosmos.
Raphoe is the smallest cathedral city in Europe, but it a site of worship over a mile south of the 'city' that there stands one of the best preserved stone circles in Ireland. Reputedly older than Stonehenge, it consists of 64 standing stones out of an original 80. Beltony is a corruption of Baal tine, the fire of Baal; this suggests that the inhabitants of this area worshipped Baal, the sun god, and ruler of nature.
Tradition tells us that the principal ceremonies were performed at the summer solstice; a sacred fire was lit in the centre of the circle of stones, which represented the stars and fire of the sun god Baal.
The Irish word for the month of May is Bealtaine, and two fires were lit on the first day of this month. Domestic animals were then driven between the fires, so as to gain protection against diseases and the dreaded 'Evil Eye'. This custom has also been practised in other Celtic regions such as Scotland and Brittany. One romantic tale suggests that the outlying stone represents a musician, while the circle of stones represents dancers turned to stone for their revelry during the Sabbath. The more sober explanation is the alignment was used to determine astronomical alignments. We know which version we prefer to believe.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Twelve: the genesis of 'ceol agus ol'.
Location: 55.062301, -8.30054
Speakers: Seoirse O'Dochartaigh interviewing Dinny White Harra McLaughlin.
Theme: gathering in the home of the session to hear good music.
No visit to Ireland is complete without a proper traditional Irish music session. Only an idiot would call it 'diddley-i music' for a true session is where women swoon, spirits soar and Gods are created in a single night. As such, a visit to this pub is a trip to "Mecca' for fans of the real thing.
This legendary Gweedore pub is regarded by many as where the actual Irish session as we know it, started and we have the audio to prove it from the renowned Inishowen fiddle player, Dinny White Harra McLaughlin telling how it took a good two weeks to fine tune that first session! Many great trad musicians have played in its venerated chamber. Not just trad music is played here, local band In Their Thousands play regular rock gigs here as well.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Nineteen: a parent's farewell.
Location: 55.377184, -7.367148
Speakers: Sean McMahon (RIP), Derry/Tony McLaughlin, Ballyhillion.
Theme: gathering to say a final farewell to loved ones.
Ireland's most northerly point overlooks the crashing waves of the Atlantic - you'll be looking out for the tower on Banba's Crown in the photo to park up. Far removed from any city lights, this is the best place in Ireland to witness the full spectacle of the night sky and of a chance to see the Northern Lights. Salute the stars and marvel at this jewel of the north for nowhere else on the island are you more connected with the cosmos than here. Historically, it is from this lonely point that all major news events from our American cousins reached Europe; from the Yukon gold rush to the assassination of Lincoln, the Lloyd's tower mast on Banba's Crown received the news first.
It is also where families bid a final farewell to the many emigrant boats to America, where bonfires were lit and boats sounded their horns in recognition before sailing over the horizon and to a new future. As such, this site is a shrine to the lost generations who waved frantically back at their loved ones, watching the fires burn on this hill until they were out of sight. An area rich with flora and fauna and the freshest air in Ireland, ensure you walk from the Napoleonic tower on Banba's Crown hill along the coastal path and take in that good air. Good sea angling, hillwalking and birdwatching.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Five: station to station.
Location: 54.710193, -8.720312
Speaker: Shane McIntyre, Glencolmcille, author of Guide to Turas Cholm Cille.
Theme: gathering annually to salute Donegal's very own saint.
St Colmcille brought Christianity to the north-west corner of Ireland and the area is named and this annual pilgrimage is held in his honour. The place is famous for the 'turas' or penitential pilgrimages that are made round the various stations on the 9th of June, the saint's day. The three mile pilgrimage starts at midnight and has to be completed before sunrise. The stations are marked by small cairns or by cross-inscribed pillar stones which are associated with the early monastery.
The pilgrimage route is rich in megalithic remains, some dating back more that 5000 years, and it is believed that the current pilgrimage occurs on a site where pagan ritual was commonly observed, indeed some of the structures that act as 'stations' on the route are certainly pre-Christian.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Twenty four: the great hunger.
Location: 54.692587, -8.064501
Speaker: Patsy McNulty, Lough Eske.
Theme: gathering to survive a natural disaster.
From this pot were the impoverished locals fed during the Great Hunger of the late 1840s. It stands as a memorial to all those brave souls that perished during those dark days. The famine of the 1840s or the Great Hunger, caused by a complete failure of the potato crop, was the most devastating event in 19th century Ireland. The famine pot at Lough Eske reminds us of that sorry period when a million people died of starvation and famine related disease and another million plus were forced to emigrate from the likes of The Hassans near Donegal Town, many of them to die in the coffin ships before reaching their destination.
Up until very recently, the area still had a handful of locals who could recount some poignant tale in their own family which has been handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. Jim McMullin, from Meenadreen was one such local who recalled many harrowing stories told to him by his grandfather who was one of the lucky ones to live through the famine and die naturally in 1911. There's further signage about the area by the pot, as well as a good car park and a looped walk starting right beside the pot which takes in fine views of Lough Eske.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine Twenty five: time out with a difference.
Location: 54.607471, -7.859516
Speaker: John Cunningham, Belleek, author of Lough Derg, legendary pilgrimage.
Theme: gathering to cleanse the soul.
Located on Station Island in the middle of Lough Derg, this is believed to be where St. Patrick fasted and so do 30,000 pilgrims from June to mid August. It's quite gruelling so check out the website; best to a genuine pilgrim, not a curious traveller! See the Lough Derg website for travel details. First boat out to island, 11am. Mentioned in everything from 'McCarthy's Bar' to 'Hamlet' no less, this place has been a big deal for quite some time. As goes with the modern age, there's a less austere version now available that is much shorter in duration.
Look out for Patrick Kavanagh's somewhat caustic poem on the place before traveling. As a tenuous tie in with the need for 'faith in our fathers', there's a story from the mid nineteenth century about a group of children who encountered a group of fairies dancing to music by the shores of the lough. One of the fairies charged towards the children, striking one girl with a plant. The other children ran home and the girl who was hit had gone into a coma, only waking when a priest visited her...
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Shrine One: the angler's first salmon.
Location: 54.473728, -8.312702
Speaker: Shane Gallagher, Lareen, Kinlough
Theme: gathering to be the first of the season.
Right on the border with Leitrim is the River Drowes, duly famous for regularly producing the first salmon of the year, being one of the few rivers opening on the 1st January. Rarely is there a year when a fish is not caught on opening day. Indeed this is a very festive occasion with some 250 anglers fishing, all striving to land the first salmon of the year and invariably ending up on the cover of the national papers. As such, this stretch of river is an unlikely, but worthy member of the hallowed sites of Donegal where Mother Nature rewards the patient, the wily and the downright lucky.
Fishing is an integral part of the Donegal economy, but fishing on New Year's Day and trying to be the most famous angler in the land is a well nigh sacred rite of passage in these parts. All fishermen are of course superstitious and so to add to the mandatory magical quality of the water, there is an affiliation to St Patrick - his well just outside of Ballyshannon has been seen as a place of cures and pilgrimage for centuries.
Legend has it that on his way to it, St Patrick stopped for a feed at the Duff river, but was denied a salmon. Disgusted, he cursed the Duff and headed to the Drowes where he duly got a huge salmon and blessed the Drowes and the fishermen. The river flows for about 5 miles draining the 103 square mile catchment into the Atlantic. The river generally keeps good water levels right through the season being fed by Lough Melvin. There is a good run of spring salmon from the 1st January through to April/May with some summer and autumn fish. The main grilse run starts around the end of May peaking around June/July.
URL: Drowes Salmon Fishery
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Bertie's longest and most detailed story at nearly 30 minutes, this is one that requires your full attention - and maybe a stiff drink.
The late great Bertie Bryce from Inch Island in Inishowen, Co. Donegal telling us about witches.
From our Samhain lore playlist: https://audioboom.com/playlists/4634161-samhain-lore
Samhain #Halloween #Otherworld #Supernatural #Witches
Bertie recites one of his signature recitations, Deegan's Motorbike. Hoping to be able to add more details about this gem (including a transcript) in time.
For our 500th post, we are proudly placing an outtake that in these strange times is very comforting - the pre show banter, the buzz, the tuning up of the band, the excitement of a live event with people looking forward to a good night's craic. Taken from our Poitín Republic episode out in Dan's Cottage, Urrismanagh, here's to these nights returning sometime soon.
From our forthcoming remastering of the Bluestack Way files, Patsy McNulty tells us how folk 'win' their turf up in Donegal.
Paddy McCartney finishes off the evening with a self-penned tune that captures the maritime theme with aplomb.
Tony recalls the lucrative market from what was washed up on the shores during the war as well as telling us about the local phenomenon that is the Malin Head bore, a wave that will take you miles in no time!
Charlie McCann sheds further light on the family tree to tell us how ingrained the sea is in his family history.
tony concludes by telling us that the area is one of scenic splendour and is well worth a visit - something our main photo will have indicated we hope!
Thomas Colby's 1824 mapping of Ireland started across the Foyle in Magilligan and Tony sheds some light on just how fine a job the engineer did.
Tony tells us about some famous historical figures with connections to the area in the form of Earl Montgomery through to the Earl Bishop of Derry.
Maritime disasters go back a long time around here and our host, Patsy Cavanagh, sings a song he wrote about a tragedy from 1831.
Anna Connolly tells us a great piece of mythology from Harry Percival Swan's book, 'Romantic Inishowen' on how Lough Foyle came into being with some help from Connemara.
The Foyle has seen it all from the Celts to the British navy to the surrender of the German fleet. Dessie tells us some more with others contributing to the fascinating discussion.
From the Greencastle's Maritime Heritage episode on the Racontour Archive.
A lively and still topical discussion took place regarding the perceived inequities of the EU's fishing policy, but devil's advocate Tony comes away with a different point of view.
Local historian, Sean Beattie, tells us about the unlikely Spanish connection in the area thanks to a ship from the Spanish Armada.
The McDonalds are sixth generation boat builders located in Greencastle. Brian McDonald tells us a bit more about their essential contribution to the area's maritime heritage.
Britain may have tried to say the Irish did not help out during World War Two, but several contributors make it very clear they not only did in these parts, but made a significant contribution to D-Day to boot.
Moville raconteur par excellence, Paddy McCartney, always thrills the crowd with his wit and fine voice. Here, he sings 'The water is wide'.
Local man Charlie McCann brings to life some of the area's stories, with a teasing nod to some misapprehensions of the past.
Seoirse reads a D.J. O'Sullivan poem about the iconic Inishtrahuill island off the coast of Inishowen. tony then tells us a little more about it with his local knowledge.
Tony's research turned up some interesting material on what the weather here was like back in 1851 and reads eye-witness accounts from that time.
The introduction of the Foyle ferry was a game changer in how people could enjoy the full scenic splendour of the Causeway Coast as well as Inishowen.
Anna Connolly tells us how the woman folk of the area had to use all of their resources to get across the Foyle to their market town of Coleraine long before there ever was sight of a ferry.
From the Greencastle's Maritime Heritage episode on the Racontour Archive.
Tony recalls how the halfday in Derry meant that traffic across the border could be bumper to bumper all the way up to Greencastle.
Greencastle/Moville have seen many foreign visitors as well as saying farewell to locals set to leave the island for good.
Tony recalls how dividing the share after a fishing trip was always a fraught occasion!
Tony tells us a bit about some of the many superstitions that fisherman have as well as moving on to other matters unique to them.
Northburgh castle on the outskirts of Greencastle has a colourful past that several contributors were happy to tell us about.
Greencastle has suffered the loss of many lives at sea, but they are not forgotten in this seaside town.
Tony McLaughlin lets us know how the town is flourishing to this day with some great landmarks.
A miscellany of local sea objects is covered by our Rambling Reporter and sea lover, Tony McLaughlin.
A super brief intro from the radio station setting up the premise before heading to The Cairn theatre in Greencastle.
Following on from the Rockytown Lights story, Sean Beattie told us why he was apprehensive about driving home along a certain route!
A Big Night needs a big scary story and the tale of the mysterious local phenomenon is a humdinger.
In the spirit of a proper Big Night, many different voices were heard and Dessie McCallion told us a cracking tale about a famous incident not too far away from Shandraw.
The Henry Girls' Jolene McLaughlin plays 'The Plains of Boyle' on the harp and blows everyone away with her exquisite rendition.
In the audio piece recorded from our Rambling House series at Dinny White Harra McLaughlin's Dinny tells Seoirse about the origins of the first proper Irish trad music session in Ireland and yes, it was none other than at Huidí Beags pub in 1970's Gweedore - and two weeks was the duration of that first session no less!
Not only is Dinny a raconteur, but he is wise artist with some good advice on how to get places.
Inishowen chronicler, Harry Swan, would have been no partaker in them, but it is interesting to hear Dermot McLaughlin read Swan's summary of what a Big Night was.
Dinny tells us the difference between the two and reminds us that honeymoons back in the day were much simpler affairs!
By way of a good enough introduction to the night, Dinny explains where his curious nickname comes from.
Rambling Reporters Tony McLaughlin and J.P.Bradley pay a lovely tribute to their old friend, Dinny 'White Harra' McLoughlin before handing over the interviewing reigns to Rambling House director and note musician, Seoirse O'Dochartaigh.
The episode starts with Dinny and his band playing a tune that we're getting checked as to the exact title - bear with us.
The studio sets the tone for the night to come in Shandrum outside Buncrana, Co. Donegal
Placenames expert, Seoirse O'Dochartaigh, tells us about one or two places associated with poitín in the area.
Tony McLoughlin recalls what happened when he saw a Volkwagon Beetle filled with straight alcohol from the alcohol factory in Carndonagh!
It's a staggering statistic, but at its peak in the 1800s, some 43% of all poitín in Ireland was sourced to Inishowen.
Inishowen chronicler, Harry Swan, may not have been in regular possession of the cratur, but he still was able to write about it as part of the Inishowen story.
Interviewed by the police, Seoirse O'Dochartaigh's relative had an original response when asked why he had so many treacle jars about the place!
Former Wildlife ranger for Inishowen, Dermot McLaughlin, recalls some telltale signs for spotting a poitín still.
Poitín was seen as an integral part of farming for many as it kept the wolf from the door in getting bills paid to run a farm.
As usual, the rambling reporters, Tony McLoughlin and J.P. Bradley, tell us a bit about the history of poitín making in the Urrismaneagh area.
Tony and J.P give us a flavour of what ot expect in this week's show. B&W image used - WAG 1187, courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.
J.P. Bradley finished the night off with a rendition of the local recitation, The Jolly Smuggler followed by The Flough's house band sending us off in style after a night to remember.
Dessie McCallion reminds us that a permit signed off by an RUC inspector was needed to work in Northern Ireland after partition.
Yet another inconvenience of the border for people from Inishowen was the need for a motor vehicle bond. This bond needed to be stamped and failure to do so could lead to impounding of the vehicle.
With rations coming during World War Two or more euphemistically, 'The Emergency' as it was officially referred to in the south, locals were deprived of proper tea and coffee and got a much despised chicory brew instead.
A ruse to get around the new laws affecting the sale of alcohol with a meal was to serve up some chicken bones with your drink - just don't taste them whatever you do!
Dessie McCallion elaborates on his earlier piece on the ramifications of the border. Some twenty square miles of Inishowen were permanently lost to the United Kingdom with partition.
Zealous customs officers may have scored victories over the smugglers, but there was always the possibility of sweet revenge in time as this story about an officer called George down Lifford way tells us.
The late Bertie Brice tells us the incredible story of Winter Willy and the little coffin. More than any other story that night in The Flough, this one stands out years later.
Seoirse O'Doherty tells us a humorous story of how one wily smuggler down in Louth fooled the customs officers.
The customs officers along the Derry/Inishowen border became wise to the fact that women were just as capable of smuggling as the men. Here, Bertie Brice brings the house down with a story about two ladies trying to be one step ahead of the lady searchers!
J.P. Bradley with his trademark rogish rasp tells us how he recalls certain pigs being transported along the Derry/Inishowen border.
From the Best of J.P. Bradley playlist.
Historian Sean Beattie adds to Dessie's piece by telling us that the report from the Boundary Commission could have had much more detrimental effects to the size of Inishowen.
Dessie McCallion tells us about how the Boundary Commission set up as part of the 1921 Treaty worked in practice around Inishowen.
Dessie McCallion recalls childhood memories of how his community in Killea got around the inconvenience of customs on the border.
Not only did the locals get wise to the permutations of the border, so did their animals!
Dermot McLaughlin tells us a true story of how one ingenious farmer was able to get a turkey to the GIs across the border in time for Thanksgiving with some creative thinking!
Set to the tune of The Black Velvet Band, this merry tune tells us of the perils of smuggling around north Derry!
The legendary Bertie Brice gives us this priceless rendition of a recitation called The Free State Farmer.
Tony and J.P. give an excellent summary of how the border was perceived both by the press and the locals who were affected by its creation.
A quick introduction on this episode from Tony McLaughlin and J.P. Bradley before heading off to The Flough in Muff.
A dramatic twist at the end finishes off a lively performance completed with some rousing music from Dinny White Harra and his band on the night!
Speakers: Anna Connolly, J.P. Bradley
There's a host of charms and cures that deserve attention and the court duly obliged by looking at some of the more unusual ones. Ably elaborated on by Finbarr Mowlam alias the late great J.P. Bradley, a man well used to entertaining the Carn locals over the years.
The great Paddy McCartney tells the court about the lore of the fairies in Ireland during The Twilight Court back in 2009.
The court then moved on the joint subjects of births and death. Ever versatile, local guide Dessie McCallion is Mr. Robert Graves for the sake of artistic licence!
The next topic examined by the court was on how superstitions play a major part on the love life of the Irish - hear why from the incomparable Mary Murphy playing Madame Lightfeather!
In collating the amount of material for The Rambling House radio series, we became aware of the density of material regarding superstitions, folklore and customs in the northwest of Ireland. In an effort to try and bring the full range of material to the attention of the listeners, we devised a method by which we could present as much information as possible in a short space of time that would be both fun and non didactic.
The result was 'The Twilight Court', which is a mock court trial under which superstition itself is on trial to be decided by the audience at the 'court' on any given evening. The question being asked is “is there any room in a modern age for superstitions?” A number of common topics associated with superstitions and customs are examined with an “expert witness” such a seventh son of a seventh son being cross-examined by counsel. The topics include good and bad omens, births and deaths, love and marriage, charms and cures as well as fairies and sprites. Each one is examined and counsel debates the pros and cons for Superstition for Common Sense respectively. Whilst counsel for superstition was showing how each area should be regarded as beneficial and helpful to us all, counsel for common sense emphasised some of the more unusual items and perhaps the ridiculous ritual that comes with them.
Audience participation was encouraged with any tales that they may have heard on the night. There was a delightful twist in the story to keep the “jury” on their toes and the tone of the night was one of good humour whilst delving into the deep treasure chest of strange and unusual lore out there. To the passing visitor or native, 'The Twilight Court' serves a helpful resource in knowing how generations dealt with issues from warts to weddings, piseogs to pookas! We hope you enjoy this innovative medium of telling you just some of the great lore of the north west of Ireland.
http://www.ramblinghouse.ie/twilight
Before the play commenced, this famous lawyer told us one or two of his favourite stories, including how he managed to get 28,000 people off from one case no less. The sound quality improves over time.
One of the oldest streets in town, we take you back to the days when local merchants plyed their trade here. Walk down the hill making your way to Lady Erin which is pictured, the 1798 uprising monument and the end of the tour. We do hope you have enjoyed yourself and if so, please share this tour on social media or leave a review on Trip Advisor.
This site has witnessed everything from the 1832 cholera epidemic to some famous historic trials. Look out for the plaque of the law firm Argue and Phibbs across the road! Staying on the Courthouse side of the street, you'll be making your way up Market Street after this and right on to High Street.
Built around 1252, this is Sligo's only remaining medieval building with a rich and fascinating history accordingly. Open 10am-6pm Last admission 5.15pm. €3 adults, €8 family. Guided tours available.
Abbey St., Sligo
+353 71 9146406
sligoabbey@opw.ie
As you make your way across the Garavogue river, we'll tell you what to look out for. Once you are over the river, take a right to find a seat 200 metres further up by the river and we'll tell you about Bram Stoker's connections with the town. Once done, make your way up the slope on to Thomas Street where you'll be taking the first left for Sligo Abbey, which is signposted.
As you make your way down this sloping walkway by Calry church, we'll tell you about the story of one of Sligo's most famous sons, Captain Edward Doherty, the 'brave avenger of Lincoln' no less!
The Model is one of Ireland's leading contemporary arts centres.
From its own website it states: -
'The Model, home of The Niland Collection, is one of Ireland's leading contemporary arts centres. Built in 1862 as a Model School, the present building has been extended twice. The first extension was in 2000 when it was completely refurbished and extended by McCullough Mulvin Architects. The building was redeveloped again by architects Sheridan Woods in 2010, whose extension to The Model has increased the building by a third in size to create a world-class visitor centre. The building boasts a restaurant and coffee dock, a bookshop, a wonderful gallery circuit, a purpose built performance space, and a suite of impressive artist studios on the top floor with enviable views of Sligo town and County.
This award-winning building is home to the impressive Niland Collection of art, one of the most notable collections in Ireland and featuring works by John and Jack B. Yeats, Estella Solomons, Paul Henry and Louis Le LeBrocquy among others.
The Model's acclaimed contemporary art programme features several major exhibitions of noted national and international contemporary artists. The Model is known for experimental, urgent programming, including projects that have critically tackled issues of war and contemporary religion (Signals in the Dark: Art in the Shadow of War and Medium Religion) as well as projects that question the role of art and artists today (Reverse Pedagogy). The Model develops projects in collaboration with artists, and is itself a site of artistic production with artist/musician commissions and a full-time artist residency'.
Look out for the Yeats Room as well as paintings by Irish artists from Jack B. Yeats to George Russell.
The library's website has this to say: -
'Since the 1950's Sligo Library has had a collection dedicated to W.B. Yeats and his works. From an assembly of the poetry, plays and prose of Yeats, this grew, over the years to a much larger gathering together of letters, biography, critical appraisal and translation of Yeats' works, often donated by scholars and authors at the Yeats Summer School. Nora Niland, former County Librarian was partly responsible for the inauguration of both.
More recently, the collection has expanded to include the literary works of, and books about, Jack B. Yeats and books about the Yeats family members and their coterie.
As interest in this fascinating family grows, so does the written output. The Yeats Collection, currently containing nearly 1800 volumes, will continue to expand'.
Spike Milligan, the original alternative comedian, had an Irish passport, due to his Sligo roots. This house is where his father, Leo, lived for a number of years. Take note of the plaque on the door. You'll be making your way down the street past Connolly's pub and turning right on to Stephen Street.
Forget the Irish pubs you've seen abroad with bikes nailed to the roof - this is the real thing, where Parnell himself supped, groceries could be bought and in numerous cubbie holes were tales told. Please make your way through it coming out the back on to Holborn Street.
Standing by the Ulster bank, this Rowan Gillespie sculpture was erected on the 50th anniversary of the poet's death in 1989. Look closely to see Yeats's own words enwrap the statue.
One of the main bridges along the Garavogue river since 1846, it was originally the Victoria bridge - it's name change from a monarch to an Irish patriot being a not so subtle removal of the memory of that queen's reign! Today, it is where you will find the Glasshouse hotel entrance.
Headquarters of the Yeats International Summer school as well as home to a great Yeats museum run by the Yeats Society.
www.treadsoftly.ie
This is the town's tribute to the people who died or emigrated as a result of the Irish potato famine of the 1840s. The shows a starving family with a young girl pointing to the nearby dicks where many fled to North America from.
Currently the city hall, this site served as the New Fort for Oliver Cromwell's troops in the mid 17th century. The current building is in the Italian Renaissance style and dates from 1865.
Make your way down the narrow alleyway pictured on your device to get to Wine Street car park, the best location from which to see Pollexfen's turret as well as Queen Maeve's cairn in the distance on Knocknarea. By the tourist signage, you should be able to see the turret to the right and the cairn to its left in the distance.
Designed in 1730 by Richard Cassels, this Protestant church is where William Pollexfen, grandfather of Yeats is buried as well as Bram Stoker's mother, Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornley.
Open mid week during the Summer months from 2-5pm.
One of Sligo's oldest streets and a key part of Sebastian Barry's book, 'The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty'. You'll be looking out for St. John the Baptist church on the right hand side of the street as the next stop on this tour.
Built in 1874, this Sligo's primary place of worship for Catholics. Look out for the light streaming through the 69 stained glass windows. Enquiries Mon - Thurs 9am-4pm, Fri 9am-2pm.
http:/www.sligocathedral.ie
The north west's best venue for theatre, music, dance, comedy and the main Yeats summer school events. Once you've had a look at what's on offer, press '4' on your device to hear of Sligo's past as you walk to the cathedral some 200 metres further along the wall.
The curious name of the theatre comes from a 1917 one act play by Yeats - there is an actual hawk's well near Coolaney south west of Sligo. From the theatre's website, here's more information about the theatre's history:
'The history of the Hawk's Well Theatre began in Sligo's long and deep tradition of amateur dramatics. Sligo had a theatre as far back as 1750, according to Wood-Martins' History of Sligo, and often "her Majesty's servants from the Theatre Royal, Crow Street …. visited Sligo, even during the Dublin season, showing that in those days the townsfolk appreciated the Drama, for in some instances the company remained during several months".
The dream of a "Theatre for Sligo" was the aim of many people in Sligo, particularly those associated with the amateur drama movement locally and especially members of Sligo Drama Circle. Sligo Drama Circle was founded in 1956 to promote higher standards in local drama and to increase the range of plays available to Sligo audiences. In 1966 the Drama Circle was invited to perform plays by Yeats as part of the programme of the Yeats Summer School. This led to the setting up of what became known as the "Little Theatre" project or "A Theatre for Sligo" project. The Drama Circle presented summer seasons of plays, the proceeds of which went towards this visionary project. Though faced with many setbacks the Drama Circle made a great stride forward in 1974 when it successfully lobbied the then Bishop Dr. Dominic Conway to grant them the plot of land on Temple Street where the current Hawk's Well stands. On the strength of this the company focused on raising funds to begin construction: sourcing funding possibilities, courting Sligo's business community for support and seeking professional advice on possible government grant options. At the same time, the Irish government was mounting a concerted effort to de-centralise the arts in Ireland. There were already a number of strong Irish touring companies and other permanently housed companies, eager to tour. The changing face and rising profile of the arts in Ireland meant that theatre companies were eager to arrange regional tours and anxious to have access to the best possible facilities. When the Sligo Drama Circle's plan for a theatre in Sligo was presented to the Arts Council of Ireland, the Arts Council saw an opportunity and made them an offer.
The Arts Council along with North West Tourism, The Sligo County Council, and Sligo Borough Council recognised the need for a designated, well-equipped cultural centre in Sligo and offered to find the funding to build and maintain a theatre on the Temple Street site. They stipulated that the theatre would be professionally run according to Arts Council standards and would have a remit broad enough to facilitate the touring professional performing artists as well as community arts groups. The Sligo Drama Circle agreed, signed over the land and soon after construction began on the first purpose-built theatre west of the Shannon. When the Hawk's Well opened in January 1982, it was a fulfilment of the dreams of many Artists and drama lovers in the area. The establishment of the theatre was seen by many as an acknowledgement of the richness of the many Arts in Sligo and indeed in Connaught'.
(c) Hawkswell theatre
http://www.hawkswell.com
The school is shown for illustrative purposes only - there's no need to visit it! Alma mater to some great Irishmen, including John McCormack as you'll hear.
From the school's website: -
'The College of the Immaculate Conception was founded by the then Bishop of Elphin, Dr Gillooly in Summerhill, Athlone in 1857. It was transferred to Sligo in 1880 and provided with temporary accommodation in Quay Street, pending the building of a new school.
This, the present college, was formally opened in 1892. Popularly, the college has always remained known as "Summerhill". For many decades the College catered for both boarders and dayboys and operated essentially as a junior seminary for the diocese of Elphin. With the introduction of Free Education in 1967, there followed an explosion in student and staff numbers. The number of dayboys soon exceeded the number of boarders and thus a new dynamic resulted.
The boarding school itself was closed down in the 1980's as changing circumstances meant that it was no longer economically viable.In recent times the number of subjects on offer in the college has expanded to the extent that Summerhill now offers greater choice than almost any other secondary school in Ireland. Gradually, new courses have been introduced and these are now operating alongside more traditional ones'. (c) Damian Keenan.
Yeats is not the only writer who has Sligo & its environs to thank for inspiring some of his best work; writers as diverse as Spike Milligan, Sebastian Barry and even Bram Stoker have used the streets and stories of Sligo in their works as we'll tell you. There's an emphasis on heritage and cultural, but there are plenty of humorous moments and a few surprises along the way.
The tourist office marks the starting point of the walking tour and is a one stop shop for all tourist information in the north west. Open all year. We designed this tour way back in 2010 when the office was opposite Summerhill college, so there is method in our madness in getting you to the college. Once doen, you'll be following a natural line of places of interest.
To get to Summerhill college, you will need to turn left down O'Connell Street, then right briefly onto John Street before turning up Charles Street which leads onto The Lurgy. At the end of The Lurgy, you'll be facing Summerhill college across the road of Temple Street.
The evening ends on a high with two old friends, Tony and JP, and their hilarious take on the evening's events in all houses of the locality, including the dreaded Rosary!
Seoirse reads extracts from the highly regarded memoir by local man, Charles McGlinchey called 'The last of the Name'.
An essential item in any house in the locality long before electricity was the tilley lamp.
Tony McLaughlin describes in detail how the locals got themselves ready with enough fish to get them through the Winter.
Seoirse tells the gathering about the wily way a family got out of having to feed some hungry tailors who had to be fed.
JP Bradley brings the house down with his hilarious retelling of a story about a man who accidently ate some food meant for the farm animals!
From the Best of J.P. Bradley playlist.
A great feature of country living in Ireland is eating the substantial meal during the daytime, something that should be back it seems listening to the audio clip!
Seoirse starts an interesting discussion about clachans or small hamlets in the area with Dessie and Tony joining in.
Dessie McCallion takes us back a few thousand years to tell us about the earlier inhabitants of the headland.
Historian Sean Beattie explains how the locals were helped in their day-to-day living with the development of four key governmental agencies.
Michael The Sprigger remembers the fine patchwork of a relative that could be found far away in palaces.
Tony McLaughlin and J.P. Bradley explain the many customs and rituals that were in place to ensure that the locals kept warm surrounded by such adverse weather.
Michael the Sprigger, Tony McLaughlin and JP Bradley reminisce about the courting days and how the man with transport was king - if he dared encroach onto another man's patch.
Seoirse O'Dochartaigh adds a nice touch of levity with the telling of a joke about how the purchase of a mirror lead to confusion and chaos.
There was always something to do around a house up in Malin as Tony McLaughlin explains.
This is a great telling by Tony McLaughlin of how a typical local house in the area would have prepared for the Winter back in the 1940s. Guile, hard work and know how were the key ingredients.
Tony McLaughlin tells us of how the last horse and cart made it home before the Big Snow stopped any further movements for the next six weeks in January 1947.
Rambling Reporters Tony McLaughlin and JP Bradley set the scene for the first Rambling House radio show. The theme is one of how the locals survived in such a remote location and how, when in 1947 they were snowed in for six weeks, they prospered through tenacity and meitheal.
Bonus Shrine: the place where it all happened.
Location: 54.653831, -8.110346
Speakers: Mairead McNulty and Paddy Meehan
Theme: gatherings for all occasions.
*Taken from our now defunct App from 2012, The Bluestack Way Guide, now
a key part of our soon to be launched 2021 Bluestack Way playlist*
Photo: LinenHall Digital Collection, Belfast
The Diamond
Before moving off from the Bluestack Way sign, savour the rich heritage that The Diamond offers. Salute a time that may be long gone, but where the beauty and the serenity of the area remain intact; this is a town from which to base yourself for hillwalking, golf, scenic drives, water sports and fine dining. Like the thousands of foreigners that have marveled at its many assets throughout history, we believe that you will be delighted with your time in the town.
The Diamond is the rather fanciful name that squares in the northwest are called - you'll see Diamonds in Ardara, Carndonagh, Raphoe and Derry as well. Donegal Town served as the market town for the surrounding villages and hinterland as far as Ballintra to the west, Barnesmore to the north and Killybegs to the east. For centuries, it has been the hub of commerce and socialising, where the sounds and smells could be overwhelming and there was eating and drinking to be done in the local hostelries at the end of it all.
The Diamond is where folk would travel for the fair day and the market day. Patents for these days go back as far as the early 1600s when Sir Basil Brooke had taken over the castle from the O'Donnells. The fair day was held on the second Friday of each month while the market occurred every Saturday.
Hiring fairs where young men were 'sold' to farmers for up to six months at a time took place here - Paddy and Mairead tell us more in the audio piece.
The Four Masters obelisk
In front of the Abbey Hotel, you’ll see the impressive Mountcharles sandstone monument in the centre of the town was erected in 1935 from funding by local solicitor P.M. Gallagher. It honours the four men who helped to write the celebrated Annals of the Four Masters, Brother Michael O'Cleary and laymen Peregrine O'Clery, Peregrine O'Duignan and Fearfeasa O'Maolconry.
It serves as a full account of Gaelic Ireland from its origins until the end of established Gaelic order when the last of the chieftains fled in 1607 from Rathmullan, Co. Donegal in what is known as the Flight of the Earls. To read the Annals would take you several months and set you back about e900 - not quite a breezy holiday read if you're thinking about it! With every second building in town named after them, you may be wondering where exactly are the Annals of the Four Masters today? They're now kept by the Franciscans in Switzerland, but details can be obtained from the National Library on Kildare Street in Dublin, as well as from the Four Masters bookshop.
'Four meek men around the cresset,
With the scrolls of other days;
Four unwearied scribes who treasure
Every word and every line.
Not for fame or not for fortune,
Do these eager penmen dream.
Oh ! that we who now inherit
All their trust, with half their toil,
Were but fit to trace their footsteps
Through the Annals of the Isle;
Oh ! that the bright Angel, Duty,
Guardian of our task might be,
Teach us as she taught our Masters,
In that Abbey by the sea,
Faithful, grateful, just to be!'
- T.D. McGee
These days the Diamond area is used to celebrate the homecoming of local heroes such as the victorious Donegal Gaelic football team in 1992 and more recently on a wet night in September 2012 when over 20,000 watched the team raise the Sam Maguire cup to the adoring fans.
From the sublime to the ridiculous, it also played host to Irish Eurovision phenomenons, Jedward, as well as 2008 X Factor winner, Alexandra Burke behind a fortress of industrial bin bags to keep onlookers out. Farmers' markets and fayres occur here on a regular basis. The chroniclers of medieval Ireland may not approve of everything they'd see before them today, but in the town of the Four Masters, they are not forgotten and we'd like to think they'd be proud to be in the heart of the action of this thriving historic town.
Looking for more heritage information on the town? The two best books to have (and are gratefully acknowledged as sources for this part of the App!) are: Joe McGarrigle's 'Donegal, past and present' and Malachy Sweeney's 'The Sands of Time; a history of Donegal Town and its environs', the later of which you should be able to get in The Four Masters bookshop.
Audio taken from Donegal's Hallowed Sites on the Racontour Archive.
Spotify URL: Donegal's Hallowed Sites playlist on Spotify
Two forgotten chapters from Donegal Town's history as told by its great champion, Paddy Meehan. The first is a bit about the houses backing onto the Eske river and the second is about possibly the town's most famous visitor and his less than welcome reception in the local dancehall!
Photo: LinenHall Digital Collection, Belfast
Methodist chapel in the heart of Sligo, where Methodist founder, John Wesley, was a frequent visitor to the town.
The late Paudge Dorrian was a remarkable solicitor practising in County Donegal for many years. He was a great champion of the underdog and had numerous great wins including The Bog Hotel shebeen case. Here he tells Tony McLaughlin and an audience in Carndonagh District Court back in 2009 about a case that ended up getting thousands of other cases thrown out of the Irish legal system no less. Note the audible gasp from the audience around the 1.43 mark of the clip as Paudge reveals the true figure.
Rambling House is simply about storytelling and homespun family entertainment. Founder John Ward tells Catherine Rhatigan a bit more about it at its launch on the 1st May 2021.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the tour, please let your friends know about it and follow us on either Twitter or Facebook.
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Ballyhealy Castle is believed to have been a fire tower that helped the Anglo-Normans navigate across the treacherous coast known locally as the Graveyard of 1000 ships. A brazier light, similar to the one used in nearby Hook Lighthouse, was used to help the sailors gain safe passage.
Brian Matthews who lives nearby tells us about its unlikely owners today and Caimin O’Brien tells us about a spicy concoction the Anglo-Normans drank to warm the cockles of their heart which no doubt was needed when keeping watch at the top of this castle on a Winter's night!
The Norman Way, Wexford, Forth and Bargy
See https://www.racontour.com/the-norman-way/ for more content on south Wexford
Email info@racontour.com
We thought it might be helpful to explain some of the sights you will see as you cycle through the countryside on your way to Kilmore Quay. Take note of how a lot of the trees have been shaped by the prevailing south-west wind. It is no wonder the area had so many windmills in days past! Another tree feature that is possibly the most tangible remainder of the Normans is explained at our later point of interest entitled 'Kilmore wooden crosses'.
We should warn you that some pranksters do enjoy changing the direction of signs in rural parts, so if in doubt, please check the location of your next point of interest on your smartphone!
No sniggering at the back there - another unusual feature in these parts is the preponderance of phallic gateposts. These are a conflation of two Celtic - or pre Celtic monuments. The phallic boundary marker and the pairs of pillar stones which were a magical agent whereby the fertility of beasts was ensured by driving them through such, usually phallic form or male and females stones.
A number of sites on our tour (St. Catherine's, Isharton) also have bullauns - artificial hemispherical hollows in rocks or boulders. It has been suggested they served as pestles and mortars for herbal portions. The sexual symbol of pestle and mortar is universal and when you find female symbols, you find a complementary male one as well. In nearby Carnsore, there are a number of Sheela na Gigs to be found.
If cycling during the summer months, you should expect to see the houses and gardens festooned in the purple and yellow colours of the senior Wexford hurling team. Known locally as the Yellow Bellies (a term that now applies to allow people from Wexford as you'll have gathered from our earlier post), the team is usually a serious contender for the ultimate prize of the hurling calendar, the Liam McCarthy cup. This cup is awarded to the victor of the All Ireland hurling final every first Sunday in September. It is a big deal and watching a game alone has been known to exhaust viewers from excitement, hockey on steroids sort of thing - you have been warned!
Narrator: Heather Hadrill
Text: John Ward
The Norman Way, Wexford, Forth and Bargy
See https://www.racontour.com/the-norman-way/ for more content on south Wexford
Email info@racontour.com
As you cycle along, we thought you’d like to hear more about Wexford itself, its nicknames and their origins including the famous sobriquet, ‘the Yellow Bellies’. Wexford and its denizens have many names that need some explanation to the inquisitive visitor. On the signs, it is referred to in Irish as Loch Garman and in English as Wexford, a name that has Norse provenance being 'Waesfjord' meaning 'inlet (fjord) of the mud-flats' in the Old Norse language. In pre-Norman times the are was part of the Kingdom of Uí Cheinnselaig, with its capital at Ferns. The County was formed in Norman times having been created in 1210 by King John during his visit to Ireland.
Due to its sunny climate, it grows the greatest number of strawberries on the island and is referred to as the strawberry county - look out for the strawberry fair every July in Enniscorthy. The giveaway as to why it is also referred to as 'the model county' can be found in the official motto of the county, 'Exemplar Hiberniae' and while the more formal version has it that its progressive farming methods and model farms were the envy of the rest of the island, waspish wags have suggested it was coined by the English due to Wexford ancestors' willingness to roll over and be subordinate!
More curiously, its people are commonly known as the Yellow Bellies. This sobriquet is said to have been first applied to a Wexford hurling team raised by Sir Caesar Colclough, (pronounced Cogley) which won a challenge match in Cornwall in the reign of William III of England.
The Norman Way, Wexford, Forth and Bargy
See https://www.racontour.com/the-norman-way/ for more content on south Wexford
Email info@racontour.com
The Norman Way is a heritage trail that runs along the south coast of County Wexford. Along this Wexford Trail, you will discover authentic medieval sites which will help you to understand the Norman way of life. These hidden gems of the Norman Way are waiting to be explored by you down quiet country lanes, in beautiful seaside villages and alongside stunning beaches. We have listed a host of points of interest on our tour, both official points of interest along the route with interpretive panels beside them and some we feel will add to your enjoyment and understanding of this remarkable part of Ireland.
The Norman Way in Wexford is a true treasure of Ireland's Ancient East. Lose yourself in this beautiful, ancient landscape as you discover the Anglo-Norman way of life in the place where it first took hold in Ireland over 800 years ago. Anyone seeking a more detailed overview of this period in history should read Billy Colfer's 2002 book, 'Arrogant Trespass', the definitive study on the Anglo-Normans in Wexford from 1169 - 1400 published by Duffry Press. We would suggest you review the tour's contents in advance and are familiar with the route. The tour is designed to run from east to west, being from Rosslare to Kilmore Quay with a nod to St. Mary's church in New Ross as well. We have also designed two tours for use as Spotify playlists, both from east to west (e2w) and west to east (w2e) depending on which way you're travelling the route.
Part Two of the tour covering Kilmore Quay to Hook Head and up to New Ross can be found on thenormanway.com. Greater details of Part One complete with videos pertaining to the route and the county can be found on our website at https://www.racontour.com/the-norman-way/
Narrators: John Ward and Heather Hadrill
With thanks to the narrators credited along the points of interest, in order of appearance: Ronan O'Flaherty, James Maloney, Monica Crofton, Gerald Meyler, James Hurley, Rose Hurley, Yvonne Doyle, Pat Hickey, Brian Matthews, Nicky Furlong, Willie Murphy, Caimin O'Brien, Breda Hayes and Catherine McLoughlin.
The Norman Way, Wexford, Forth and Bargy
See https://www.racontour.com/the-norman-way/ for more content on south Wexford
Email info@racontour.com
Willie Murphy tell us about some of the sites to look out for when paying a must-see trip to St. Anne’s Holy Well and grotto in the village of Tomhaggard.
We have also provide a video link of both the well and a surprise at the top of the steps: https://youtu.be/S1BRy5nFMrs
Narrators: Willie Murphy and John
Video: Racontour Productions
The Norman Way, Wexford, Forth and Bargy
See https://www.racontour.com/the-norman-way/ for more content on south Wexford
Email info@racontour.com
Many people hope to make it through the Pearly Gates to Paradise in the next life, but just by passing through the graveyard gates of Ishartmon, a person has technically made it there in this one, for you are standing in the heart of the townland of Paradise no less!
It served as the parish church of Ishartmon, a name that is thought to have been derived from Disert Munna - St Munna's Church. The Ishartmon parish may have been defunct before 1615 as it does not appear on Bishop Rams visitations for that year. Munna was a somewhat conservative and curmudgeonly disciplinarian afflicted with leprosy, but with the power to read his monks' minds. While not quite the ‘heavy hitter’ that minds the Pearly Gates, a full account of St. Munna's life and interesting times is in the URL link below.
The walls of this nave and chancel church, except for the north wall of the nave, have all survived complete. Some of the features to look out for are a rectangular nave window, a pointed chancel window and of course the famous double bellcote over the west gable. A number of internal features such as an aumbry, a stone shelf and a pointed chancel arch are present. Lying just inside the doorway is a circular granite font.
With three of the four main walls still intact, including the spectacular west gable wall, it is easy to visualise how this church would have looked in Norman times. Yvonne Doyle tells us about its double bellecote. She also offers a further video explanation in this link: https://youtu.be/o9jc80CoGew
The Norman Way, Wexford, Forth and Bargy
See https://www.racontour.com/the-norman-way/ for more content on south Wexford
Email info@racontour.com
St. Catherine was one of the Anglo-Norman’s favoured saints. It’s a well-kept verdant setting of tranquillity and has some notable architectural features. Yvonne Doyle tells us more about the site in our audio piece. She also appears in a video of the place on this link: https://youtu.be/InY4v-ymXjo
The Norman Way, Wexford, Forth and Bargy
See https://www.racontour.com/the-norman-way/ for more content on south Wexford
Email info@racontour.com
A few thanks were needed at the end to a most enjoyable evening's entertainment. The photo was a still of Dessie McCallion where he is in his prime, out and about in Inishowen - if a Rambler's Cup were to be awarded to someone on the show for both educating and entertaining us, Dessie might just steal it by a whisker - thank you Dessie!
A big thanks to you for listening and if you enjoyed it, please spread the word on this free heritage service by following and sharing Twitter @ramblinghouseie or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ramblinghouse2021
As a nice tangent from the Bealtaine lore, Dessie and Seoirse discuss the ability of the Irish to enjoy hearing a story again and again.
Photo by John Ward features Seoirse O'Dochartaigh in blue talking to the late Sean McMahon before the legendary Border Tales second instalment from the radio series in 2009.
There's a fair bit of folklore about the hare around the 1st of May and Dessie McCallion tells it better than most.
Bealtaine was the most potent time of the calendar year to perform charms known in Ireland as piseogs. John Ward tells us a bit more about some of this rural witchcraft.
August 1966; A photo of a ring of eggs to demonstrate a piseog to Don O'Higgins of Associated Press.
May Day has long been associated as a time for gathering flowers both to ward off sinister presences, but also to celebrate the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Photo: Irish Archaelogy
Italians celebrate May Day with music and customs as well where celebrants are referred to as magerini. We were fortunate to have Marie, Fabio and Matteo to play a May Day song and tell us some lore about the day
Prunus spinosa - Blackthorn - Draighean Distinct from the hawthorn, the blackthorn has some notable lore on Bealtaine as Dessie McCallion tells Seoirse O'Dochartaigh in a conversation that developed.
Photo: Maxpixel
Inishowen tour guide, Dessie McCallion, gives a masterclass in these three Bealtaine topics.
Fairy Dance painting by Howard Weingarden 1942-2011
The boundaries of a property had to be protected on May Day. Here, we talk about some of the customs and rituals that occured to do so.
Acclaimed artist Seorise O'Dochartaigh tells us about a song that has been associated with Bealtaine for centuries before signing his own version of the song from his 2018 album, Crimson Moon with his sleeve notes below - see www.seoirse.com for more on this and his other projects.
2. Samhradh! Samhradh! (Summer! Summer!)
"This song was sung on 'Baal tine' or 'May day' which was considered as the boundary day that divides Winter and Summer. On this day two separate parties met, the one dressed in the gloomy garb of Winter, the other in the gay dress of Spring. They carried on a sportive war for some time, but the Spring always obtained the victory: they then marched away in triumph, carrying branches with flowers attached to them, proclaiming and singing 'The Song of Joy' or 'We have brought the Summer in' " (Horncastle, Music of Ireland)
Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn (“Samhradh! Samhradh!”) was sung by groups of children in 1662 to welcome the Duke of Ormond to Dublin as the Lord Lieutenant after the Restoration. It was sung again in 1689 when Patrick Sarsfield and King James landed at Kinsale. Although it displays a certain modernity, derived from continuous oral tradition, the medieval origins of this May Day song are plainly visible. Musically, it resembles the French estampie and verelai. Its wide melodic leaps of a sixth are typical of other music from the medieval period. In Co. Louth, this song, within living memory, used to be sung by the youths and maidens on May-Eve while they carried around the “May-Baby” (Bábóg na Bealtaine) from house to house.
The idea of interpolating the Tchaikovsky into the arrangement came about when I realized that several melodic phrases in the introductory part of the Andantino simplice to his 1st Piano Concerto were almost identical to phrases in the song. The Russian composer frequently used Ukrainian folk tunes in his works. In this case, he uses a simple, expressive melody beautifully decorated like the floral offerings of the Irish May-Day children. Tchaikovsky’s music, like the song itself, is absolutely glittering in sunshine.
Below we have listed the lyrics in both Irish and English.
Samhradh! Samhradh! (Trad. Arr. Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh)
- Babóg na Bealtaine, Maighdean an tSamhraidh,
Suas gach cnoc is síos gach gleann,
Cailíní maiseacha bán-gheala gléasta,
Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn.
curfá :-
Samhradh! Samhradh! Bainne na nGamhna
Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn.
Thugamar linn é is cé ‘bhainfeadh dínn é?
Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn.
- Thugamar linn é ón choill chraobhaigh,
Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn.
Samhradh buí na nóinín ngléigeal,
Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn.
- Tá an fhuiseog ag seinm ‘s ag luascadh sna spéartha,
Beach agus cuileog is bláth ar na crainn,
Tá an chuach is a héanlaith’ ag seinm le pléisiúir,
Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn.
- Cuileann is coll, trom is cárthainn,
Thugamar Féin an Samhradh linn
Fuinseog ghléigeal Bhéal an Átha
Thugamar Féin an Samhradh linn.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Babe of the May-time, Maid of the Summer,
Up every hill and down every glen.
Girls bedecked both bright and white,
We brought the summer with us.
chorusSummer! Summer! Milk of the Calves!
We brought the summer with us.
We brought it with us and who would take it from us?
We brought the summer with us.
We brought it with us from the branchy wood.
We brought the summer with us.
Yellow summer of the bright daisies
We brought the summer with us.
The lark is singing and swinging in the skies.
Bees and insects and blossoms on the trees,
The cuckoo and chicks are singing with pleasure
We brought the summer with us. Holly and hazel, elder and rowan,
We brought the summer with us.
The brightest ash from the Mouth of the Ford,
We brought the summer with us.
(© and ℗ Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh, IMRO 2018)
Shrine 22: saluting the Sun.
Location: 54.851216, -7.604685
Raphoe is the smallest cathedral city in Europe, but it a site of worship over a mile south of the 'city' that there stands one of the best preserved stone circles in Ireland. Reputedly older than Stonehenge, it consists of 64 standing stones out of an original 80. Beltony is a corruption of Baal tine, the fire of Baal; this suggests that the inhabitants of this area worshipped Baal, the sun god, and ruler of nature.
Tradition tells us that the principal ceremonies were performed at the summer solstice; a sacred fire was lit in the centre of the circle of stones, which represented the stars and fire of the sun god Baal. The Irish word for the month of May is 'Bealtaine', and two fires were lit on the first day of this month.
Domestic animals were then driven between the fires, so as to gain protection against diseases and the dreaded 'Evil Eye'. This custom has also been practised in other Celtic regions such as Scotland and Brittany. One romantic tale suggests that the outlying stone represents a musician, while the circle of stones represents dancers turned to stone for their revelry during the Sabbath. The more sober explanation is the alignment was used to determine astronomical alignments. We know which version we prefer to believe!
In this extended audio piece, Mary Harte knows about this hallowed place near Raphoe. Get the accompanying GPS tour here: http://donegalapp.com/tours/donegals-hallowed-sites/
Host John Ward tells us a bit more about the lore of Bealtaine.
Photo from 1964 in Co. Westmeath, Ireland. Thanks to Coimisiún Béaloideasa Éireann (CBÉ) / Irish Folklore Commission in UCD.
Show host, John Ward, started by wishing a very happy Bealtaine to everyone watching – and a happy Cantor Maggio to our Italian friends.
The show opened with the original intro music from the 2009 radio series of Rambling House on ICR followed by Sean Beattie reading the traditional invitation poem made famous by the late Eamon Kelly in his RTÉ radio programme, The Rambling House: -
”The ricket is thatched, the fields are bare, Long nights are here again, The year was fine, but now ‘tis time, To hear the ballad men, Boul in, boul in and take a chair, Admission here is free, You’re welcome in the rambling house, To hear the Seanchaí”
The roll call of the guests on the show were: - · Mary Harte, archaeologist and broadcaster · Sean Beattie, historian and editor · Catherine Rhatigan, musician and producer · Seoirse O’Dochartaigh, musician and painter · Dessie McCallion, tour guide and oracle · Marie and the Magerini of Fabio and Gemateo in Italy
Each gave their time generously and freely which was much appreciated. Painting is Caisleán Ghleann Ó gCanannáin, Tulaigh an Rí: Feilim” (Glennagannon Castle, Tullynaree, Carndonagh: Felim [of the 4th Race]. It was one of 17 paintings from the series called Seacht Sliocht Uí Dhochartaigh Inis Eoghain (The Seven Races of Inishowen O’Doherty), from the same year. See www.seoirse.com for more.
A quick word to say don't be put off by the amount of details below - they're just suggestions. It's your Rambling House evening, so just do the parts that appeal.