Letterkenny
Letterkenny is the largest town in the County, and the centre of
administration, commerce and education. The town is build on a hillside on the banks of
the Swilly where it flows into Lough Swilly, and is an excellent centre for visiting north
and central Donegal. ‘Leitir’ means a hillside settlement; Leitir Ceanainn means
it takes its name from the Ua Cannannáin sept who were kings of Tír Chonaill before the
O’Donnells.
The town’s location at the juncture of the River Swilly and Lough
Swilly meant that it was for many years an important port, dealing mainly in the import of
coal, timber etc. and the export in local products. This trade has ceased now because of
the increase in the size of ships, but the port is an important part of the town’s
heritage.
Although the name of the town is an ancient one, there was no real
settlement here until a town was established by elements of the Scots army at the time of
the Ulster Plantation. Unlike other Irish towns there was no preceding ecclesiastical
settlement either; previously the main church in the area was at Conwall, about 5 km to
the west. A Sir William Crawford brought 100 families from Scotland to settle where
Letterkenny now stands and this is the true origin of the town. The settlers quickly built
a bridge over the Swilly, and the town began trading with Derry and smaller settlements in
the Laggan.
The town continued to prosper during the 17th century,
surviving the rebellion of 1641 and the defeat of the Confederate Army at nearby
Scarrifhollis in 1650. A church serving the settlers was built alongside the Plantation
bawn in 1655. Letterkenny’s expansion continued during the 18th and 19th
centuries, with mills being built to service the farmers of the surround9ng districts.
Although the Grand Jury, the then equivalent of a local authority, met in Ramelton and the
main courthouse was in Lifford, the designation of Letterkenny as the seat of the Catholic
Diocese of Raphoe was an indication of how the town would develop. Public buildings
provided during the 19th century included a courthouse, an RIC barracks, and
the workhouse. While a new Church of Ireland was built in mid-century, it was not until
the turn of the 20th that the catholic Cathedral of St. Columba and St. Eunan
was completed, undoubtedly the finest structure in the town.
In the latter half of the 20th century Letterkenny has
really come into its own. The building of the General Hospital, the Letterkenny Institute
of technology and other civic and cultural infrastructure such as An Grianán Theatre, the
Central Library and County Museum has strengthened Letterkenny’s status as the
county’s main town. This has been matched by the expansion of commercial services of
all kinds. It is one of the ironies of history that Letterkenny has benefited from the
creation of the border and from the Troubles, with the town now providing many of the
functions which previously required visits to Derry or Strabane.
Letterkenny attracts large crowds each summer for both the Donegal
Rally and the Earagail Arts Festival. Close to Letterkenny are Churchill and Gartan (the
birthplace of Colmcille) and Kilmacrennan (in Irish Cill Mhic Neanain) where Colmcille
received his early education.
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