Sheep wars, Lion's gates, mythology and lore all part of Dunlewey heritage

Sheep wars, Lion’s gates, famine walls, a white-marble church and the back of Errigal road were all interesting points of discussion at a workshop which was held at Ionad Pobail Dhún Lúiche on Saturday.

The Donegal Heritage Network event was organised in partnership with the Heritage Council and people traveled from across the county and further afield to attend the event. Last year, the groups were invited to congregate in Glencolmcille and they later met online. Last weekend marked the group’s first meeting since they met in the south of the county, last.

The event which took place under the towering shadow of Errigal was led by Mrs Josephine Kelly who has carried out mammoth work in researching the history of the local Dunlewey area. A new website, Dunlewey’s new heritage resource, was showcased to those present.

Mrs Kelly acknowledged the work that was carried out by Eileen Murphy who passed away in 2019 and who researched the background to the many of the place names on the heritage trail before the digitization of archives. She also acknowledged the work carried out by Sean O’Donnell who published many pamphlets on Dunlewey. He passed away in 2015.

Preserving the culture and the heritage of the area were among the reasons Mrs Kelly cited for undertaking the project. Dunlewey and the surrounding areas contain many place names which are steeped in lore and history, Mrs Kelly said. The website contains The Dunlewey story trail where people can click on yellow pins which will guide them to locations of interest. Some of the points of interest are Cró Nimhe, Oileán Ghráinne and Leaba Dhiarmada.

Mrs Kelly also explained the history of the Dunlewey estate, an estate which has played a central part in the history of Dunlewey, since the early 1800’s. This was the home of the local landlords who built the Old Church, the Agricultural School and the Wooden Bridge. The old Dunlewey estate was originally located further back in the trees. The house people see today was built by Sir James Dombrain, Inspector General of the Irish Coast guards in around 1830. The gardens contained a boathouse, manicured lawns, a walled vegetable garden and flowers near the Lion’s gate.

Mrs Kelly touched on the history of sheep wars adding a more detailed discussion could take place at a future date in May. The old barracks on the road stand testament to a time when landlords protected their shepherds and sheep they imported from Scotland, a source of consternation among locals. The barracks was built by the Russell family in the 1850’s. The local people used to keep their sheep in the area and when the imported sheep were introduced it was thought the local people were killing them. However, it is now understood that the imported sheep were impacted by the harsh weather conditions of north west Donegal.

The Chapel of Ease was also built by the Russel family. James Russel began to campaign for a church - he died from Typhoid aged 48 and his wife Jane continued to campaign and raise funds for the church which was built in 1853. Very little is known about who designed the church but an advert looking for quarry men, at the time, was sourced in Downpatrick and the contact name was Charles Disney. A small field in Dunlewey is known as Disney’s field.

She hoped to convert people from Catholicism and to the Church of England Faith.

Protestant farmers were brought into the area in the hopes they would marry local women. The two farmers who remained in the area were said to have converted to

Catholicism. Efforts were also made by Mrs Russel to open a school where only Protestant teachers could teach, however this also didn’t work.

The information collected and correlated by Mrs Kelly was commended by the Heritage officer with Donegal County Council, Joseph Gallagher who described it as magnificent. Mr Gallagher gave a presentation to those gathered in relation to funding.

Following the presentations, people were brought on an informative walk through the historic and picturesque village of Dunlewey.