Carraig Airt (anglicised as Carrigart or Carrickart) is a small

Gaeltacht A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The districts were first officially recognised ...

village in the

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

of Kilmacrenan in the north of

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

, Ireland. The village is on the R245 route between Letterkenny and Creeslough. Situated as it is at the base of the Rosguill peninsula, in one of the more remote but most scenic parts of the country, the village provides services for a large hinterland, with a supermarket with banking facilities, a post office, a doctor's surgery and a barracks staffed part-time by the

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace") is the national police and security service of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards". The service is headed by the Garda Commissio ...

. Carrigart has a public park that borders the shoreline behind the houses on the main street. Designed by Angela Gallagher, it is maintained by the Tidy Towns Committee and has won several awards. The village and its environs remain largely agricultural, relying on passing trade and tourism during the summer months. In common with the rest of this part of Donegal, Carrigart has many second homes, owned especially by

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

holiday makers. The village, which celebrated its centenary in 2002, although there is evidence of Carrigart's existence for longer than that, originally formed part of the estates of the Earls of Leitrim, nearby Mulroy House being one of their seats. William Clements, 3rd Earl of Leitrim, was assassinated in nearby Cratlagh wood in 1878 by men from the neighbouring peninsula of Fanad. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Carrigart had a fair day on 21 June. The town now hosts a festival that runs from 8 to 14 August. The official name given to Carrigart is ''Carraig Airt'' but it has also been translated as ''Ceathrú Fhiodhghoirt'', meaning ''Quarterland of the Wood of the Field'' Deirdre and Laurence Flanagan, ''Irish Place Names'', Gill & Macmillan, 2002.

References

{{County Donegal Gaeltacht places in County Donegal Gaeltacht towns and villages Towns and villages in County Donegal

See also

References