a maritime county in the extreme N.W. of Ireland, in the province of Ulster; bounded on the N. and W. by the Atlantic Ocean; on the E. by Londonderry, or more strictly Lough Foyle, the Foyle river, and Tyrone; on the S. by the Bay of Donegal, and the counties of Fer- managh and Leitrim. According to the ordnance survey, it comprises an area of 1865 square miles, or 1,193,443 acres; of which 393,191 are arable, 769,587 uncultivated, 7079 in plantations, 479 in towns, and 23,107 under water. Donegal, in Irish Dun-na-ngall, or the fortress of the fo- reigners, probably so named from a fortress erected here by the Danes, was anciently called Tir-conaill, or the country of Conall; and it was sometimes called O'Donnell's country, after the head chieftains of the district. The other chief- tains of note were the O'Doghertys, MacSweeneys, O'Boyles, O'Gallaghers, O'Gormleys, O'Breslins, &c. Tyrconnell is connected with some of the earliest events recorded in Irish history or tradition. The chief castle of the O'Donnells, who became princes of Tyrconnell in the twelfth century, was at Donegal, and the place of their inauguration the rock of Doune in Kilmacrenan. The celebrated Red Hugh Donegal. O'Donnell, one of the most distinguished chieftains of the race, in conjunction with the Earl of Tyrone, became a formidable opponent to the government of Queen Elizabeth; but being ultimately defeated, he sailed to Spain to solicit fresh succours, was there seized with fever, and died at Valladolid. Rory O'Donnell, who was promoted to the chief-ship by the English government, and created Earl of Tyrconnell, a title now extinct, became afterwards disaffected to the government and fled to Rome, where he died in exile, his estates having been previously confiscated by James I. In 1608, Sir Cahir O'Dogherty, lord of Innishowen, deceived by hopes of aid from Spain, raised an insurrection against the English government in Ulster. He burnt Londonderry and maintained his ground for a short period; but the Lord-deputy Chichester having offered a reward for his head, he retired to the wilds of Kilmacrenan, and was shot by a Scotch settler in his encampment on the rock of Donegal. His extensive estates were confiscated and transferred to Chichester, the able governor of Ireland at that time, and ancestor of the earls and marquises of Donegal. Shortly afterwards, the colonization of Ulster with English and Scotch undertakers and settlers, in pursuance of the scheme of James I., was partially carried out, and the baronies of Boylagh and Bannagh were allotted to John Murray; Sir James Cunningham, Sir John Stewart, and other Scotch undertakers, received the district of Portlough; the London Grocers' Company obtained Muff in Innishowen; Sir Roger Bingley, Sir John Kingsmill, and other English settlers the district round Lifford; Sir William Stewart, Sir John Kingsmill, Sir George Macburie, Captain Hart, Sir M. MacSwine, Turlogh Roe O'Boyle, MacSwine Bannagh, MacSwine Fannet, and other servitors and natives the district of Kilmacrenan. Since the period of the settlement of Ulster, no forfeitures have taken place in this county. The landholders remained loyal in the rebellion of 1641, and also during the war of the Revolution.

This district was formed into the county of Donegal in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, A.D. 1585, by the Lord-deputy Sir John Perrott. It is now divided into six baronies, viz., in the N. Innishowen, which is peninsulated by Loughs Foyle and Swilly, and the mountainous Kilmacrenan; in the W. Boylagh; in the E. Raphoe, including the best land in the county; in the S. Bannagh, a mountainous barony and Tyrhugh, containing the towns of Donegal and Ballyshannon. These six baronies are subdivided into fifty-one parishes, comprising the entire diocese of Raphoe, and small portions of the dioceses of Derry and Clogher. The union workhouses are at Ballyshannon, Donegal, Dunfanaghy, Glenties, Innishowen, Letterkenny, Millford, and Stranorlar. Portions of the county are included in the neighbouring unions of Strabane and Londonderry. The net annual value of property rated to the poor is £267,398; and the amount of property valued under the 6th and 7th William IV., cap 84 (Griffith's Valuation), £225,049. The county is in the Belfast military district, with barracks for infantry at Lifford and at Ballyshannon, where the staff of the county militia is stationed. The constabulary force, consisting of 275 officers and men, has its headquarters at Letterkenny; the district stations are at Buncrana, Ballyshannon, Carnoagh, Glenties, Dunfanaghy, Killybegs, Raphoe, and Ramelton. This county, as being the chief seat of illicit distillation in Ireland, affords occupation to a considerable portion of the revenue police, namely, to 290 men and officers, at 18 different stations.

The towns are small in extent and importance. Lifford, the county town, "the smallest of county towns," and formerly a parliamentary borough, is practically nothing more than a suburb of Strabane, in the neighbouring county of Tyrone, which derives all the advantages properly belonging to the county town of Donegal; and in the same manner the trade of Londonderry is swelled into greater magnitude by monopolizing that of the county of Donegal, which is deficient in the means requisite for carrying on its own commerce. Ballyshannon (population 3697) is the most populous and important town in the county. It stands on both sides of the noble river Erne, but has not yet derived much advantage from its favourable situation, in consequence of the fall of the river, usually called the Salmon Leap, above the town, and the bar at the mouth of the harbour. Were these impediments to its prosperity removed, as it is supposed they might be, the first by a canal four miles in length, and the other by a change in the position of the harbour, Ballyshannon would become an important commercial town. Letterkenny, with 1947 inhabitants, is next to Ballyshannon the largest town in the county. Rathmelton and Killybegs are considerable seaports; and Donegal, which, instead of Lifford, should have been the county town, is of insignificant extent. It is situated at the foot of a range of magnificent hills in the midst of scenery of great natural beauty, with a mineral spa of the same quality as that of Harrogate, and sea-bathing close to the town. "Were all the advantages of scenery, locality, bathing, and cheapness of living, which this town possesses, connected with any English town, it would not be long before it was a second Brighton, or Bath, or Cheltenham."—Foster's Letters on the Condition of the People of Ireland.

This county returned no fewer than twelve members to the Irish parliament; two for the county at large, and two for each of the insignificant boroughs of Ballyshannon, Donegal, Killybegs, Lifford, and Johnstonstown. Since the union with Great Britain, it has been represented in the imperial parliament by two county members only.

The population of Donegal, according to the different enumerations taken by authority of parliament, has been returned as follows:

| Year | Population | |------|------------| | 1821 | 248,270 | | 1831 | 289,149 | | 1841 | 296,448 | | 1851 | 255,160 |

The manners and habits of the people differ according to the local circumstances of the districts they inhabit. The lowland and fertile districts are chiefly peopled by an industrious and comfortable yeomanry, composed of small farmers and artizans, whose modes of life differ little from those in similar circumstances in the adjoining counties. In the mountainous and less cultivated tracts the want of free intercourse, and the consequent tardy spread of manufacturing and agricultural improvement, have occasioned a corresponding backwardness in education and civilization. "If you enter their cabins and converse with them frankly and kindly, you will find the people intelligent and communicative, quick to comprehend, and ready to impart what they know. Small holdings and minute subdivisions of land prevail in Donegal to a greater extent than I have found in any other part of Ireland; and the consequent growth of population has been there so great as to press hard upon the productive powers of the soil, and to depress the condition of the people to nearly the lowest point in the social scale, exposing them, under the not unfrequent contingency of an unfavourable season, or a partial failure of the potato crop, to the most dreadful privations. . . . Yet with all this suffering, no disturbance or act of violence has occurred in Donegal."—Second Report of Mr Nicholls, Poor-Law Commissioner, 1837.

The houses, particularly in the mountainous parts, are mean, and very little attention is paid to cleanliness. The pigs and cattle, if any, are not unfrequently housed along with the family. The fuel used by the people is everywhere turf; their food, potatoes and oatmeal bread, with milk and butter occasionally, and fish if near the sea. The men are clothed in home-made frieze; the women, chiefly in cheap cottons. The Irish language still maintains its ground in the retired parts, though its use is every year diminishing. Adepts in the language consider the dialect spoken in this county as the purest known.

The state of instruction in the county of Donegal may be deduced from the following statement relating to the population above the age of five years:

| Year | Rural Districts | Civic Districts | Total | Males | Females | |------|-----------------|----------------|-------|-------|--------| | 1851 | | | | | |

This return exhibits a state of education much lower than that of any other county in Ulster. Yet crime, which is sometimes supposed to be in proportion to the ignorance of the population, is by no means frequent in Donegal; for although backward in the knowledge of the useful arts, the people are stained with few of the vices which indicate a demoralized state of society. The most common offences against the laws are connected with the practice of illicit distillation. The nature of the country peculiarly favours the operations of the unlicensed distillers, whose occupation is facilitated by an abundant supply of fuel and numerous inaccessible retreats, where they are able, by setting watches on the hills, to gain sufficient time to sink their tubs in the lake near at hand, knock off the head of the worm, and carry off the wort and whisky to the other side of the lake, before the revenue police could reach the scene of their operations.

In addition to the mountainous district, a considerable portion is high bog and moor land, making the general character of the surface of the county highland, inferior in elevation and grandeur to the Scottish highlands, but partaking of their nature, with a much larger proportion of bog land. The mountains and irregular groups of highlands occupy the whole interior of the county, sloping from Belbeck on the border of Fermanagh in the south to Barnesmore hills northwards, turning westwards along the sea-coast by Killibegs to the great promontory of Tellen Head, from thence spreading northwards over the waste expanse of the Rosses round by the northern coast to Lough Swilly, and through Inishowen barony to Main Head and Greencastle, rising occasionally to a considerable altitude. Arrigal mountain attains an elevation of 2462 feet above the level of the sea, and commands from its summit a fine panoramic view over a considerable portion of the county. Bluestack (2213 feet), Muckish mountain (2190 feet), in Kilmaclaren barony, and Slieve Snaght (2019), in Inishowen, are, next to Arrigal, the highest mountains. The eastern and southern portions of the county are comparatively level, and contain the most fertile land. Occasionally the scenery attains a character of savage and romantic grandeur in the highland districts and on the sea-coast, and of much beauty in the eastern part of the county; but a considerable portion of the surface, disfigured by bogs, entirely destitute of timber, and partaking of sombre sameness, may be described, in the language of the first Lord Bristol, as presenting "nothing curious to engage admiration, and nothing horrid enough to stare at."

The main body of the county rests upon mica slate, which forms the eastern districts and most of the barony of Banagh. From Sheephaven to Lochrusmore and the north-western coast, granite forms the surface rock, and quartz is very abundant, often forming mountains of considerable elevation. Carboniferous or mountain limestone occurs round Donegal Bay. The geological aspect of the county affords many indications of internal wealth, which are in most cases but conjectural, very few attempts having been made to ascertain more accurately the mineral resources of Donegal, the district. The minerals hitherto discovered are lead and iron. Mines of the latter of these metals were formerly wrought in the parish of Templecarne, until relinquished in consequence of the failure of timber for fuel. Manganese, copper pyrites, and clay for potteries and brick-making, are also found. Siliceous sand, raised in Muckish Mountain, and rolled down in bags, was formerly conveyed in large quantities to Belfast and Scotland for the manufacture of glass. Indications of coal have been observed near Lough Swilly, and at Inver on the southern coast; and marble of fine quality is found in many places. Among the mountain streams the pearl-mussel (*Unio margaritifera*) is sometimes found.

With the exception of the tidal river Foyle, which forms the boundary between this county and Tyrone and Londonderry, the rivers though numerous are of very inferior size. The branches of the Foyle which rise in Donegal are the Derg, issuing from Lough Derg, and the Swilly; the Finn rising in the beautiful little lake of the same name in the highlands, and passing through some of the best cultivated land in the county. The Foyle, augmented by their contributions, and by those of several other branches from Tyrone and Londonderry, proceeds northwards, discharging its waters into the southern extremity of Lough Foyle, at the city of Londonderry. It is navigable for vessels of large burden to this place, where their farther progress is prevented by a bridge; and thence by lighters of fifty tons as far as Lifford. Boats of fourteen tons can proceed up the Finn river as far as Castlefinn. The fine river Erne flows from Lough Erne through the southern extremity of the county into the southern extremity of Donegal Bay. Its navigation is prevented by a fall of 12 feet, generally called the Salmon Leap, in the neighbourhood of Ballyshannon, and by rapids between Ballyshannon and Belleck, on the confines of Fermanagh. Schemes for opening the navigation to the sea have been formed, but never carried out. The Gubarra, the Awen Ea, and the Eask, are the only other streams of any note.

Lakes, or rather loughlets, are very numerous in Donegal. The most remarkable, and also the largest in the county, is Lough Derg, comprising within its waters several small islets, on one of which, Station Island, is the cave named Saint Patrick's Purgatory, a celebrated place of resort for pilgrims and devotees—the victims of ignorance and superstition. The penances consist of constant prayer, fasting, and vigils. The circumference of the lake is about nine miles, and less than one acre is the extent of the island to which the pilgrims are ferried over. "Stowed like so many brutes in the bottom of the boat from front to stern—the master shoving and pushing them as he would a drove of pigs—no one could contemplate the scene without being forcibly reminded of the paintings of Charon and his cargo of damned." (*Iuglist.*)

The landscape around Lough Derg is desolate and sombre in the extreme. Barren moors and heathy hills, possessing neither form nor elevation, surround it on all sides, without one green spot, house, or tree, to refresh the eye. The other lakes are worthy of note only as being the sources of most of the rivers of the county.

The county of Donegal possesses a large extent of seacoast indented by numerous bays and inlets. Ballyshannon harbour, the most southern of them, is small, and has a bar at its mouth, as have Donegal and Inver harbours farther west. Killibegs harbour is well sheltered, and capable of receiving large vessels. On the western coast are Bruckless or McSwiney's Bay, and Tellen harbour, suitable for small vessels; and on the north is Sheephaven, within which is Dunfanaghy Bay, where the largest ships may lie in safety, as they may also in Mulroy Bay, farther east. Lough Foyle, which divides Donegal from Londonderry, is a noble sheet of water, but shallow and dry at ebb tide, contracted at its entrance, and encumbered with shoals. A few miles from Malin Head, the most northerly portion of the mainland of Ireland, the varied and extensive Lough Swilly runs far into the interior. From these two loughs much land has of late years been reclaimed.

Numerous islands, islets, and isolated rocks stud the coast of Donegal. The largest is Arranmore or North Arran, about fifteen miles in circumference, with a lofty hill in its centre, and a gradual declivity down to the sea. On another of the Arran group of islands Innismacduin, a town named Rutland, with stores and curing houses, was built in the last century, and the herring fishery cultivated with spirit; but the fishery having declined, the place is now in a ruinous condition. On the northern coast are Tory Island, on which is one of those singular round towers marking the holy places of ancient times, and Innistrabul the ultima Thule of Ireland. The inhabitants of the islands obtain a precarious livelihood by fishing, kelp-burning and rude husbandry, but are often reduced to extreme destitution.

The fishery districts of the county are—Dunfanaghy, Killibegs, and Carne, together comprising 395 miles of maritime boundary, employing about 2000 vessels and 9000 men and boys. In the project for the plantation of Ulster, drawn up in the early part of the reign of James I., twenty-five places in this county are named as being approved stations for the salmon, herring, and ling fishery. The principal salmon fishery at present is at Ballyshannon.

There are several mineral springs in the county, the chief of which is the sulphureo-chalybeate water at Killyward, adjoining the town of Donegal and of considerable local celebrity.

The modes of agriculture present little peculiar to the county, and the spade still supplies the place of the plough where the rocky nature of the surface prevents the application of the latter implement. The soil of the greater portion of the county, i.e. the granite, quartz, and mica slate districts, is thin and cold, while that on the carboniferous limestone is warm and friable. The number of holdings exceeding one acre in extent, in 1852 was 31,607; in 1853, 31,139—being a decrease of 468. In 1853 the number of cottier tenements or holdings which do not exceed one acre in extent, have somewhat increased in number over those of the previous year.

The division of land into holdings during the years 1852 and 1853 was as follows:

| Year | Under 1 Acre | From 1 to 5 | From 5 to 10 | From 10 to 20 | From 20 to 50 | From 50 to 100 | From 100 to 200 | Above 200 | |------|--------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|----------| | 1852 | 668 | 3147 | 11,978 | 8872 | 4085 | 2014 | 857 | 352 | | 1853 | 607 | 2942 | 10,391 | 8121 | 4297 | 2001 | 864 | 334 |

The extent of land under crops in 1853 was 236,097 acres, being 792 or 3 per cent. less than in 1852; which year, however, showed an increase of 41 per cent. over the year preceding.

The crops on the land were divided in the following manner:

| Crop, Peas, &c. | Potatoes | Turnips, Mangel, &c. | Cabbages, &c. | Flax | Madder | |----------------|----------|---------------------|---------------|------|-------| | 1852 | 122,286 | 37,231 | 18,285 | 1945 | 21,004| | 1853 | 118,547 | 39,293 | 18,876 | 1832 | 25,010|

The total produce of corn, beans, and peas in 1853 was 76,688 tons, or an average of 673 lbs. per head, being 27 lbs. per head below the average of all Ireland; that of potatoes averaged 181 stones per head (41 stones above the general average), or a total produce of 2,307,993 barrels.

Of the 32 counties of Ireland arranged in the order of the condition of their farms as to cultivation, Donegal stands number 30 on the list, and number 28 in the comparison of the state of the road-sides as to the growth of weeds. The live stock in the county, in 1852, on 31,607 holdings, consisted of 23,025 horses, 1946 mules and asses, 149,852 cattle, 88,410 sheep, 17,731 pigs, 2946 goats, and 314,265 poultry, of the total value of £1,289,750. The estimated value of stock in 1841 was £882,203.

In proportion to its extent, Donegal contains a larger portion of uncultivated land, and a smaller area occupied by towns or plantations, than any other county in Ireland. On the authority of Mr Griffiths, the general valuation commissioner, and the commissioners of inquiry into the occupation of land in Ireland, it is stated as matter admitting of no doubt, that notwithstanding the wetness of the soil, and the nature of the subsoil, "vast tracts may be easily reclaimed by the expenditure of a moderate capital, and the introduction of additional labourers. From a careful examination, it would appear that Donegal contains about 760,000 acres of unimproved and uncultivated land, 253,000 of which are situated at elevations which exceed 800 feet above the level of the sea; and, in such a climate, unless in favoured and sheltered spots, cultivation should not be attempted at elevations exceeding 800 feet. It is probable that, within the limits of the county of Donegal, there are about 150,000 acres which might be improved for cultivation, 250,000 acres might be drained and thus rendered available for the rearing of young cattle, and 369,000 acres of mountain land which it is probable would not repay the expense of draining." The reclamation of these 150,000 acres capable of being improved for cultivation would afford both present and future employment for the entire labouring population, increase the means of tenant farmers, and in addition to these advantages create a considerable rental for land now almost worthless. In some instances the process has been successfully carried out in spite of the torpidity and prejudice of the population, who are accustomed to regard as of paramount importance the amount of rent rather than the value or capabilities of the land for improvement. A remarkable and instructive instance of what may be accomplished in the most remote districts, and under great disadvantages, is recorded in Lord George Hill's work, "Facts from Gweedore," describing the circumstances of a large estate, exceeding 23,000 acres, in this county, the condition of its inhabitants, and the means employed to convert a property and community from a state of utter neglect, poverty, and disorganization, into one of order and comfort.

Gweedore is situated in the remote north-western portion of the county, in the midst of wild and magnificent mountain scenery, and when purchased by Lord George Hill, was almost wholly uncultivated, but in part thickly peopled, the population being in the most poverty-stricken condition; "famine was periodical among them, with fever as its attendant, and wretchedness pervaded the district." The land was held in randale, i.e. a tenant had his proportion of a town-land sometimes in thirty or forty different places, each tenant considering himself entitled to a portion of each various quality of land, and the man who had some good land at one extremity was sure to have some bad at the other, and a bit of middling in the centre, and bits of other quality in odd corners, each bounded by his neighbour's holdings. Rents were almost nominal, and they were collected at fairs in small sums as they could be got; often no receipt being given, and no accurate account kept. There were arrears of eight, ten, and even twenty years' standing, and many lived on the estates who were quite unknown. The rents in fact were so small, numerous, and difficult to be obtained, that they were not worth the trouble and expense of collecting. There were no fences between the small patches of land; and "fights, trespasses, confusion, disputes, assaults, and litigation, were the natural and unavoidable consequences of this system." There was neither inn, road, nor market within a dozen miles, and the only alternative therefore was for the people to distil their grain into whisky. The people had become so far degenerated as to be reconciled to the state of things, and the chief obstacles to improvement were found in their ignorance and prejudices; yet, by skilful management and perseverance, this portion of the county has been raised to a state of comparative independence. Notwithstanding much neglect, there are many other instances of improvement in this county; prominent among which is Sir Charles Style's estate of Cloghan (16,000 acres), in Glenfinn, not many years ago an uncultivated waste, inhabited by potheen makers, but now annually covered with rich crops.

In Donegal, as in other counties of Ulster, the linen manufacture affords employment for many of the people, especially in the neighbourhood of the Foyle and about Raphoe, Letterkenny, Stranorlar, and also to some extent near Ballyshannon. There are many corn mills in the county, but the export trade is carried on through the port of Londonderry.

Numerous ruins of ancient castles along the coast prove that much attention was formerly paid to the defence of the country from invasion, or, what was more to be dreaded, piratical depredations. The principal are—Kilbarron Castle, an ancient stronghold of the O'Clerys, near Ballyshannon; Donegal Castle, built by the O'Donnells, ancientsly their chief residence, and now a fine ruin standing close to the water's edge; Burt Castle, built in the reign of Henry VIII., on the shores of Lough Swilly by Sir Cabir O'Dogherty, to whom is also attributed the erection of Green Castle, one of the strongholds of the clan on Lough Foyle. Near the Castle of Doe, or M'Swiney's Castle, at Horn Head, is a natural perforation in the roof of a cave, called M'Swiney's Gun, wrought by the workings of the ocean into the overhanging cliff. When the wind blows due north, and the tide is at half flood, the gun is seen to spout up jets of water to a height of 100 feet, attended with explosions heard occasionally in favourable weather at an immense distance.

Culmore Fort, on the coast of Lough Swilly, supposed to have been erected by the O'Doghertys, having come into the possession of the crown, was granted in 1609 to the corporation of London. It was afterwards enlarged or rebuilt, and acted a prominent part in the celebrated siege of Derry. It is, and has been for the last century and a half, unoccupied as a military station, although the governorship of Culmore and Londonderry is still continued as a post of honour and emolument.

Traces of religious houses, some existing only in traditional or documentary records, are also numerous. Ashroe Abbey, on a small stream near Ballyshannon, was of great extent. The ruins of that of Donegal, founded in 1474, also afford proofs of its ancient grandeur. But its memory will be held in veneration by the lovers of antiquity as the place in which was written the celebrated collection of ancient Irish annals, still known by the name of the Annals of the Four Masters, and sometimes called the Annals of Donegal, compiled in the year 1632, by Michael O'Clery and his learned coadjutors, fellow brothers in that house, at the instigation and expense of Fergal O'Gara, lord of Moy O'Gara and Coolavin, in the county of Sligo. The original of this curious and valuable manuscript is now in the library of the Royal Irish Academy.

market-town of Ireland, county of Cork, on the Awbeg, here crossed by a handsome stone bridge, 6 miles N.N.E. of Malone, and 23 miles N.N.W. of Cork. It is a small but neat town, with a parish church, a spacious Roman Catholic chapel, a nunnery, courthouse, and dispensary. Pop.(1851) 1856. Previous to the Union it sent two members to the Irish parliament. About two miles N. of the town are the ruins of Kilcolman Castle, at one time the residence of the poet Spenser.