6 JOU.RNAL OF THE COUNTY DONEGAL. HISTORICAL SOCJETY. ·----··------···--·--- - - ----····-- - -· '-·-----'-------- - ·----- ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• • • • • • • • : DONEGAL IN : • • • • i SONG AND STORY i • • • • ···········~····· by__ •••• Ven. Archdeacon Kerr, P.P. Lecture delivered during Ballybofey-Stranorlar Civic Week ONEiGAL has the honour of IF\\ being credited with giviI11g an · !JI a·tode to the .first human inhaibitants of Ireland. Accordin~ to the Lea.bhar Grubhala Parbh-01-an landed at and settled in the place now occupied by Ballyshannon. H!s wife biad a favourit·~ dog which Partholan slew in a fit oi jealousy. 'Ilhe dog was burled on the little island near the estua·ry, and t.ha:t island-has ever since been called Inls S1aimer, as Saimer was t'he name of th.a.t much :prized animal. Ac-cording to the ancient a.ccounlli Saimer was also ·the name of the river and of the take in Fermana.gh. T!b.e name of the river an.:i lake was afterw.arids chianged to ·the Erne in memory of a Fi11bolg chie,f C'3.1led Eamai. The boout.!ful and useful waterfall, Bas Aodha R:waidh, is sup.posed to owe l~s name to the fa.et .t•hialt t\Jodh Ruadth, a monarich of Ireland, was drowned there five centuries before the Chr.ir:itl:an era. This Red Httgh was .the father of Macha of the Gi:>Id:en 'Hair who, it is sta•ted, built the Royal Fort of Eamh:an Macha, or Emani,a, wh1oh figures so 1:argely in the stories of Gonor Mac Nes~a and the Red Boo.ncll Knights. It was here in the O'Donnell Castle of Beal-Atha-Seanaidh th:a,t Red Hugh was weic·omed by his father a1ter his esc'lllp e from ca,vtivilty ln 159'2, and here also, five .y•ears later, he won his signal victory over the EnigJ.iSh forices commanded by Oliff.Ord. The pr1I11cLPal Castle of the O'Donnells was in Donegal Town. Dun n:a niGall, or Fort of the Foreignen1, was oo caHed, it is said, because some Danes settled there in the ninth and tenth centurh~s. At the Inquisition held a:t Lifford in preparation for ihe pol:ant.a:tlon in 1509, the county was called Donegial af'ter the place which had been for 200 years the princ:Ja;al residence of the Chiefs of the· territory. Aodh Ruadh, son of Nian, and his wife, Fionngualoa, built a monastery for the Franc~cans in Donegal, in 1474, and it flourished until 1ts d estrucl:llon in 16!J.1. At that time Niall Qarlbh, who took the side oi the English, seized the Aibibey. _'\odh RUadih laid seige t;o it and the famous Alblbey was burned. Near Donegal 1he ~a:mous CWthach of Columcille was k~pt m t.he custody of tJhe Mac Gro.irt;s. The Family of Mac an Bhaird were OHam,hs and Bards to the O'Donnells. Aftier the fl!gh't of the ElaJ>1s and . the deaths of Ruaidhri and cathbh'iri' OfDc?nnell, Eoghan Rwadh Ma.c an Bh~ird wrote a touching elegy. Nuala, their stster, w·ho was married to }{1'all Garbh, but who left him when he threw i:n his·- iot w!·t.h the English, is represented· by the pcet as stand'lng ahme in the Eternal City weeping over the grave of her c}eparted brothers: O woman of the piercing wail, Who mournest o'er yon mound of clay With si~ and gioan, ' Would God thou •W'ert among the Glael! - This poem reminds us of another ooauUful lament, oontalnlng the praises o.f Ddne.g,al, placed on the lips of Nuala ~aughter ~f O'Neill, who once reigned m nroona111 a.s thie wife of O'Donnell. l r .<>.01l'.>1n11 , .<l.Ot·l'.nnn i:::ftt .O.o1M 1M. n -<:> <.\c, 1r_ <1.01fimn "' bl<.\u 45'Ur A con.at ; n1 <!.Otfine ltom n.C. 6 fin Anl<.\C Q UJ110m t n<.\md. 50 m u111·1.'>lM<\ .'-·COfid l:U 11Mtl rnc.'6 .<\}\ "00 lilt~tr l nt'.le AI' CtfC .6.f CU.an 11<.\ 11·5"-':ll., CrtoD b.<\tle O. ro e.c.nn le Sl'e111, lr mA1111rc1" slese<'L 'Ocnn n~, ,,5c.lL. lr .c.011.'>11111, N}tt~11111 b~.tL <1n De&1111 ,,, -0.5 e1rS·e 4\nldC 'OUJi:; 1)16,J'()ln ceOUdC ;
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