JOURNAL OF THE COUNTY DONEGAL l:irsT6RrCAL socr~1'~ · Creevykeel, -County S1igo, in 1935. At- ished by 1832-34 the gibbet at Barnaderg tention was first directed to it by the was removed. ;: late Mr. Henry !Morris in the summer of · Retracing our steps to Ballintra, we 1 1938; but the. outbreak of the war put can see from the road at the northern ' a stop. to further investigation, and end a long valley as we gaze towards the nothing has since been done by way of sea. It ends at a steep hill which excavating. To reach it from Ballintra embraces some of the best land in the · we follow the main road to Ballyshannon parish. The townland is called Mullinafor a.bout one and a quarter miles to cross, .and it was in this valley at tlrn Ballymacgroarty School, built in 1846, foot of the hill that the most celebrated and a ·short distance above the school monastery in Drumholm was founded in we come to a cross roads and take the :\.D. 6·50 and dedicated to St. Adamnan. road going west. About 1,000 yards St~ Ernan, the patron saint of Drum~ along this westerly road we see, on our holm, was one of its earliest abbots. left, a great gap in th~ hillside, wn.,;re The monastery was used as the an old road from Derry to Sligo passed Protestant Church of Drumholm followthrougih, and along which the armies of ing the suppression of all religious ·· centurfes ago marched on their way north houses, on the introduction to this counor south. When the present main re.ad try of the Reformed Religton; but there was made over a century ago the old one is not any record of when a new church was closed. was built on the site to replace the The gap refeerred to in ·the hillside original building or buildings after St. is called Barnaderg and it has a rather ·Ernan's time. .. grim .history attached to it. Here in . All we know for certain is that the the olden days people were executed for ··last church which stood there had an anything from murder down to the ins:de.~measurement of 65 feet by 22 feet, stealing of a sheep or the cutting of a ':and that a new gallery was built in 1783 tree. At Barnaderg about 140 years ago at a cost of £ 13. By 179-5 the chur~h a man, who used to attend fairs to Sfll had fallen into such a state of disrepair various small wares, was travellipg fro:n and cost so much in upkeep· that it was , Bally.shannon accompanied by his wife. .· thought better to build a new church ·.The woman mysteriously disappeared .at Ballintra, against the wishes of the and, for a time, no trace of her could Rector then in the parish, who wished be found. Then one day a lad with a the church to remain where it was. · dog, hunting for rabbits, was attract·3d On the top of the hill overlooking ~· by the animal's behaviour at the mouth th2 graveyard at Mullinacross there is a of a pipe. This led to the discovery -of remarkable mound, known locally as the body of the missing woman, and her O'Flaberty's Grave. The following par- . · husband, who was known as the Domino ticulars are given in The Annals of the ·· man, was hanged for murdering her, on Four Masters: the hilltop overlooking the scene of the "Flaherty O'Muldorey, Lord of crime. Tirconail and Origall, the defender Margaret Hoyne, who was born near of Tara and heir-presumptive to the · Laghey in the year 1793 and died in 1888, throne of Ireland; a Conan in is thought to have been the last pers:m, heroism; a Cuchulain in valour; a at the time of her death, who, as a !ittle Guaire in hospitality; and a Mac · girl, was amon~ the crowd at Barnaderg Lugagh in bravery, died on the 2nd ·when Manus Og O'Doherty and his sister February after patient suffering at <_,were hang€1 for stealing a cow. One. ,Inis Saimer (Ballyshannon), in the ·incident which she particularly remem- thirtieth year of his government and jbered about the execution was the re- 59th year of his age, and was buried ·:moval of the shoes from the dead woman at Drum Tuama (Drumholm), A.D. by a neighbour who said they were too 1197." rrood to lr let go to loss. Margaret spent The late iHenry Morris carried cut · a long time in the home of the Mol!Jys an excavation at the site of the sup- ',. 'at Aughnadrin. on a hillside overlookin.,, posed grave in the autumn of l!).2.7. He ···· the village of Laghey, where she nursed d"scribed it as "an earthen mound about many of the family, including the five feet high with a few large bould·~rs mother of Seamus Mac Manus, the well- protruding here and there through the known author. who was one of them. earth." On digging from the top downWhen public executions were abol- wards he found that the centre of the 102
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