Our home, at Ardlenagh (gael. high rolling plain), is located just 2kms south of Donegal Town and is ideally situated for touring the North West. Set in its own private lands Ardlenagh looks onto the Bluestack Mountains and Donegal Bay.
'‘like an Ireland in miniature, county Donegal embraces heathery moors, vast peat bogs, mountains and 230 miles of sea-torn coastline, which varies from golden beaches to Europes high ocean cliffs at slieve league. Living on the islands far fringe has fostered an independent spirit among Donegals people, many of whom cling proudly to gaelic, Irelands native language.''
National Geographic Traveller, July/August 90’
Slieve League Cliffs
Amongst the highiest and most spectacular sea cliffs in Europe, the Slieve Leage(Sliabh Liag) cliffs are a must see!!!
Donegal Castle
The stronghold of the O Donnell Clan. The castle is partly restored to it's former glory.
Donegal Abbey
The ruins date from 1474 and were founded by the wife of Red Hugh O Donnell.
The Bank Walk
The Bank Walk winds perfectly into a wooded grove with fine views of Donegal Bay.
Magees Shop
Renowned world-wide for its Donegal Handwoven Tweed.
Craft Village
Meet artists at work including a potter, ceramic artist, a weaver and a batik painter. The Craft Village is a 2 minute walk away.
Water Bus
Enjoy a scenic and historical tour of our lovely bay 'the hidden jewel of the Atlantic Ocean' and enjoy the craic with your guides.
Beaches
Rossnowlagh
"The heavenly Cove" located on the coast between Donegal Town and Ballyshannon, is regarded as the most scenic and dramatic beach in the entire North West.
Murvagh
A beautiful sandy peaceful retreat away from the hustle and bustle of modern life, located next to one of the longest links courses in Europe, overlooking Donegal Bay
If arriving from the North, we are located approximately 1 Mile South of Donegal Town on the Ballyshannon/Sligo Road on the R267.
If arriving from the South/East, we are located approximately 1 Mile West off the N15, on the R267.
GPS Code:
54.6344231, -8.1161001
N54° 38.0654', W008° 6.966'
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Eileen & Tony Mulhern B & B
Ardlenagh View
Sligo Road. (R267 Off N15)
Donegal Town
Co. Donegal
Ireland
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The Four Masters
The work begun in 1632 in the Abbey of Donegal was originally entitled by the compilers as the 'Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland' and it was also known as the 'Annals of Donegal' and was later styled and popularly known as the Annals of the 'Four Master'.
The Four Masters were Brother Michael (Tadhg) O'Cleary, his cousin Peregrine or Cucogry O'Cleary, Fearfasa O'Mulconry and Peregrine O'Duigenan. For the period of their work the scribes were kept by the Friars of Donegal and their fees were paid by Feargal O'Gara who was presented with a copy of the Annals in appreciation of his patronage.
Brother Michael O'Cleary (the only Franciscan, the other scribes were lay professional writers) descended from a long line of scholars. After he had joined the Franciscan Order he was sent from Louvain to Ireland to work on a history of Irish Saints, and while here he got the idea of compiling the 'Annals'.
The Four Masters are commemorated in Donegal today by a beautiful Church incorporating examples of Celtic Art and design, a community hall, a school and a 10 metre monument of local cut stone on which the names of the four are inscribed.
The original 'Annals of the Four Masters' is now kept in Switzerland, by the Franscians, but details can be obtained from the National Library on Kildare Street in Dublin.
Four meek men around the cresset,
With the scrolls of other days;
Four unwearied scribes who treasure
Every word and every line.
Not for fame or not for fortune,
Do these eager penmen dream.
Oh ! that we who now inherit
All their trust, with half their toil,
Were but fit to trace their footsteps
Through the Annals of the Isle;
Oh ! that the bright Angel, Duty,
Guardian of our task might be,
Teach us as she taught our Masters,
In that Abbey by the sea,
Faithful, grateful, just to be !
T.D. McGe
O Donnell Clan
Surnames were not in use in Ireland until about the tenth century. The O'Donnells take their name from Domhnaill, son of Eighneachain (d. 905) and they are sometimes called Clann Dalaigh from Eighneachain's father (d. 874).
The O'Donnells were a leading branch of Cineal Conaill (race of Conall), formed by Conall Gublan who established the Kingdom of Tir Conaill (the county of Conaill) which almost corresponds to the present county of Donegal. Conall Gublan, so called on account of his fosterage or schooling at Binn Gublan (now Ben Bulben) in County Sligo, was a son of Niall of the nine Hostages, the High King of Ireland in the fifth century.
Niall of the Nine Hostages was one of the last pagan High Kings of Ireland. On on of his foreign military expeditions he captured, brought to Ireland and sold as a slave a young boy who afterward became St.Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland. Niall was an ancestor of eight of the most illustrious families in Ireland and of the most lasting, most important and most powerful Irish dynasty. His descendants shared the High Kingship, the Cineall Conaill having ten High Kings up to the Anglo-Norman invasion in the twelfth century.
St. Colmcille belonged to the Cineall Conaill, the same family as the O'Donnells and he, too, was close in line for the High Kingship. Other important members of the Cineall Conaill were the O'Cannon's, the Maeldory's, the O'Boyles, the O'Doherty's and the O'Gallagher's.
As leading members of the Cineal Conaill, the O'Donnells were very highly regarded in other countries, as well as Ireland, and were accorded the designation of Princes, Chiefs and Kings of Tir Conaill by the rulers of England, Scotland, France and Spain. Keating, the Irish historian, describes the inauguration ceremony of the O'Donnells as follows - 'the ceremony of inauguration of the Kings of Tir Conaill was thus : The King, being seated on an eminence, surrounded by the nobility and gentry of his own country, one of the chief nobles stood before him, with a straight, white wand in his hand: and on presenting it to the King of Tir Conaill, used to desire him: "To receive the sovereignty of his country, and to preserve equal and impartial justice in every part of his dominions." The reason that the wand was straight and white was to put him in mind that he should be unbiased in his judgment, and pure and upright in all his actions.'
The Famine
The Great Famine of 1847, caused by the total failure of the potato crop, was the most cataclysmic event of the last century. Even today remaining artifacts such as the famine pot at Lough Eske remind us of that grim period when a million people died of starvation and famine related disease and another million plus were forced to emigrate, many of them to die in the coffin ships bearing them to the land of promise.
Famine of course is a misnomer for the tragedy, because there was in fact a good grain crop in that year but the government allowed this to be exported while the people at home were dying of starvation. So much has been written about the famine that almost every schoolchild is conversant with its history, and we still have people with us who can recount some poignant tale of a harrowing experience in their own family which has been handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. Jim McMullin, from Meenadreen did recall many stories told to him by his grandfather who lived through the famine and died at a very ripe age in 1911.
Nevertheless they did cause great distress wherever they occurred and left the people in the affected areas economically and psychologically unprepared for the trauma that faced them in 1847. This was true of our own two parishes of Tawnawilly and Killymard which suffered badly in the potato failure of 1830/31. Whole families had to resort to begging to keep body and soul together. Let us look for a moment at conditions that prevailed in this area even before "black forty-seven".
The failure of the potato crop two years in succession, 1830/1831, created dreadful hardships and led inevitably to a breakdown in ordinary trading practice. People deprived of their staple diet had to resort to the shops to buy alternative supplies. This led eventually to a scarcity of provisions resulting in a marketing situation of supply and demand which regulated the prices. A continual rise in prices meant that even when supplies did become available the poorer classes could not afford them. The cottier or small farmer who had not enough land to provide for his family depended on odd labouring jobs with the better off farmers to supplement his meagre income, but eventually even the big farmers had to cut back on their outlay which meant less work for the already suffering cottier; and his wife fared no better. A woman might spin for a whole week to earn eightpence. The little seasonal employment housewives got preubsist by begging?" The response in Donegal was 100 and in Killymard it was 20. It is difficult in these days of affluence to perceive of a situation so desperate that a proud people were forced to strip themselves of their dignity and resort to what was for them a degrading experience. There were some who just could not bring themselves around to taking this final step to mendacity. Patrick Doherty, a labourer, told the enquiry that he was sure there were many who would prefer to die from cold and hunger than go out regularly to beg for charity - but what mother would let her child die if asking for help would save its life.
William McDonagh, shopkeeper, said that most of the women who go about begging with their families are the wives of cottier tenants who inhabit the upper parts of the Parish and have no more than a rood of land which is not enough to support a family. He said that the men are always ashamed to enter the town or district where their wives are known to beg. Thomas Brooke, High Sheriff, who lived in Ardnamona, in an implied criticism of the Board of Education who were threatening their tenants in Tawnawilly with eviction, said that one estate in Tawnawilly with over 8,000 acres and belonging to the Board, furnishes more paupers than any other part of the country.
When asked what the churches were doing to alleviate the suffering of the poor both Father McCafferty and the Rector Rev. Homan said they had often appealed from the church for help for some distressed person or family and people responded to the best of their ability. Rev. Homan said that visitors to the Spa Baths in the summer always contributed to his appeal. The shopkeepers set up their own scheme of relief and in order to ensure that it was local people who benefited and not outsiders who were taking advantage of their generosity they adopted a system of identification tags. Monday was declared "help day".
Anthony Diver, Postmaster, told the enquiry that within the past seven years no less than seven corn stores had been built in the town and these gave good employment and, he continued, Lord Aran had made a number of improvements to the town and quay. About 2,000 tons of grain were exported from Donegal Quay the previous year; despite this, he said, the condition of the labouring classes and small farmers seemed to be getting worse and they were growing poorer every day. Richard Corscadden who had a grocery business on the Diamond (now part of the Abbey Hotel) said that the majority of the beggars came from the country parts of Killymard and Donegal and from parishes in the immediate neighbourhood.
It was around this time that John Hamilton, Landlord, came to reside in St. Ernan's, and his benevolence then and again in 1847 was to make him a well loved and revered figure in Donegal. Many years later the parish priest of Donegal, Father John Doherty, in a letter to the Derry Journal wrote, "In all Ireland there never was, nor is there, a more considerate and humane landlord than the good and kind-hearted proprietor of St. Ernan's. I know the pulse of his tenants well, and I know of my own knowledge that they honour him.
Genealogy
We have many relics of the past to remind us of our proud heritage. The town is set in a valley girdled by Barnesmore Mountains and Donegal Bay and overlooking the town can be seen the remains of several earthen forts.
There is a record of an early Danish fortress being destroyed in the town by Murtagh Mac Lochlainn, High King of Ireland in 1159. The O'Donnell Castle in the town was built by the first Red Hugh and his wife Lady Nuala. They also brought the Franciscan Monks to Donegal. The Abbey was built in the same year, 1474. As you know there were two Red Hughs. The last one was the most colourful. He was captured by the English and thrown into Dublin Castle but he eventually escaped and managed to make his way back to Donegal. It was said that he suffered frostbite during his escape and as a result lost a big toe and had to ride into battle from then on.
The O'Donnells were noted for their patronage of the church and learning. The Chieftains were always inaugurated head of the clan at a simple ceremony held on Doon Rock at Kilmacrennan. The Chief, or King, was inaugurated by one of the nobles of the clan presenting him with a straight white wand saying, 'Receive the sovereignty of this county and preserve equal and impartial justice in every part of its dominions'. The white wand was to remind him that he should be unbiased in his judgments and upright in his actions. I am afraid his cousin Niall Garbh O'Donnell did not subscribe to these high sentiments for he betrayed the family by throwing in his lot with the English. However, he became reconciled with his clan and was in fact the last Chieftain of Tirconaill. He was inaugurated at Doon in 1603. Ironically he was imprisoned by his one time friends the English and died in the tower of London in 1621.
The last great battle in which the O'Donnells were involved was the Battle of Kinsale in 1601 where they were badly defeated. Red Hugh went to Spain to seek help to resume the fight but he died there. Other Chieftains including the O'Donnells and O'Neills were forced into exile. This became known as the Flight of the Earls and it took place from Rathmullan in 1607. Before going they partially destroyed the castle to prevent the English using it.
This led to the plantation of Ulster. O'Donnell Castle and their lands were given to an English Captain, Basil Brooke, who carried out major reconstruction work and added a wing to it known as the manor house. Basil Brooke eventually moved to Lough Eske where he built a house.
The Franciscans were brought to Donegal by Hugh O'Donnell and his wife Lady Nuala and it was at her request that they set up a community here. They contributed greatly to the spiritual needs of the area. It was here that Brother Michael O'Cleary with Peregrine O'Cleary, Peregrine O'Duignean and Fearfasa O'Maolconry worked on their famous Annals of The Four Masters which is a full account of Gaelic Ireland since what they took to be its birth until the Flight of the Earls. It took several years to compile but was actually written up from 1632 to 1636.
The 1900's
The Partition of Ireland in the early 1920s was to have a massive direct impact on County Donegal. Partition cut the county off, economically and administratively, from Derry, which had acted for centuries as the county's main port, transport hub and financial centre. Derry, together with West Tyrone, was henceforward in a new, different jurisdiction officially called Northern Ireland. Partition also meant that County Donegal was now almost entirely cut off from the rest of the jurisdiction it now found itself in, the new independent state called the Irish Free State, known since April 1949 as the Republic of Ireland. Only a few miles of the county is physically connected by land to the rest of the Republic. The existence of this 'border', cutting Donegal off from her natural hinterlands in Derry City and West Tyrone, has greatly exacerbated the economic difficulties of the county since partition. The county's economy is particularly susceptible, just like that of Derry City, to the currency fluctuations of the Euro against Sterling.
Added to all this, in the late twentieth-century, County Donegal was, by the standards of the rest of the Republic of Ireland, to be adversely affected by The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The county was to suffer several bombings and at least two assassinations. In June 1987, Constable Samuel McClean, a Donegal man who was a serving member of the R.U.C., was shot dead by the I.R.A. at his family home near Drumkeen. In May 1991, the prominent Sinn Féin politician Councillor Eddie Fullerton was assassinated by Loyalist paramilitaries at his home in Buncrana. This added further to the economic and social difficulties of the county. However, the Good Friday Agreement (G.F.A.) of April 1998 has been of great benefit to the county.
Rooms & Pricing:
Per Person Sharing
Minimum €30.00 / Maximum €35.00
Single Room
Minimum €35.00 / Maximum €40.00
Children sharing with two adults get a 33% discount.
We have six rooms available including, single, double and family rooms
