Creeslough ( , locally ; ga, An Craoslach ) is a village in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

, Ireland, south of Dunfanaghy on the N56 road. The small village overlooks an arm of

Sheephaven Bay Sheephaven Bay ( ga, Cuan na gCaorach) is a broad, shallow inlet on the north coast of County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland. Bounded by the peninsulae of Rosguill, to the east and Horn Head ( ga, Corrán Binne) to the west, the bay is relativ ...

, with the population of the surrounding area engaged mainly in agriculture, mostly livestock rearing.

Name

The English name 'Creeslough' (occasionally 'Cresslough') is an

anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

respelling of an Irish name, the modern official spelling of which is (including the

definite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" ...

). According to the

Placenames Database of Ireland The Placenames Database of Ireland ( ga, Bunachar Logainmneacha na hÉireann), also known as , is a database and archive of place names in Ireland. It was created by Fiontar, Dublin City University in collaboration with the Placenames Branch of t ...

, this means "the gorge". Under the

Official Languages Act 2003 The Official Languages Act 2003 ( ga, Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla 2003) is an Act of the Oireachtas of Ireland. The Act sets out rules regarding use of the Irish language by public bodies; established the office of to monitor and enforce compl ...

, only the Irish name of Creeslough

electoral division An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

has official status, because part of it is in the

Gaeltacht ( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially recog ...

, whereas Creeslough village is outside the Gaeltacht and its English name has equal status. is usually interpreted as +; where means "lake", while literally means "gullet, throat" and metaphorically can mean either a gap or gluttony. In the 1830s, John O'Donovan glossed the name as "Craoslaoch icswallowing lake; throat lake",Placenames Branch file on Creeslough
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Patrick Weston Joyce Patrick Weston Joyce, commonly known as P. W. Joyce (1827 – 7 January 1914) was an Irish historian, writer and music collector, known particularly for his research in Irish etymology and local place names of Ireland. Biography He was born i ...

glossed it in 1875 as "''Craos-loch'' — a lake that swallows up everything". In 2000, Lawrence Donegan wrote: :Craos Loch in Irish, meaning Throat Lake or Gullet Lake. Why? Because there was a tiny lake at the top of the village that gathered a lot of rainwater from the surrounding hills and leaked only a little away through a tiny stream. Where did all the water go? It had been swallowed by the hungry lake, obviously. Why not call the village Hungry Lake? It wasn't poetic enough. Suggested alternative derivations are + "duck throat", or (or variant ) "limit, border". Niall Ó Dónaill advised the Placenames Branch in 1962 that, although there was evidence that was the older Irish form, it had long been changed to .

History

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area include a number of

ringfort Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wale ...

holy well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christian or pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualities, through the numinous presence of its gua ...

, enclosure and burial sites in the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

s of Creeslough, Killoughcarran and Masiness. Nearby

Doe Castle Doe Castle, or Caisleán na dTuath, near Creeslough, County Donegal, was the historical stronghold of Clan tSuibhne (Clan McSweeney), with architectural parallels to the Scottish tower house. Built in the early 15th century, it is one of the b ...

, a

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strate ...

with a surrounding

bawn A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional ...

, dates from the 1420s. On 7 October 2022, an explosion at Creeslough destroyed a shop and

Applegreen Applegreen is an Irish company founded in 1992 that operates 620 petrol stations in Ireland, the UK and the US. It is a major petrol retailer in Ireland, and operates convenience stores and motorway service areas. Applegreen's headquarters are ba ...

petrol station, as well as the adjoining apartment block, resulting in ten deaths and multiple injuries.

Places of interest

Muckish - panoramio - Alistair Cunningham

Nearby places of interest include: *Doe Castle, a 15th-century

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

of the MacSuibhne clan, restored between 2002 and 2005. It is perhaps best known as the place to which

Owen Roe O'Neill Owen Roe O'Neill ( Irish: ''Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill;'' – 1649) was a Gaelic Irish soldier and one of the most famous of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster. O'Neill left Ireland at a young age and spent most of his life as a mercenary in the Spanish ...

returned to command the Irish Confederate's Ulster army in 1642 during the

Irish Confederate Wars The Irish Confederate Wars, also called the Eleven Years' War (from ga, Cogadh na hAon-déag mBliana), took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars in the kin ...

. * Ards Forest Park, which contains some megalithic tombs, ringforts and a

Mass rock Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...

. The forest park encompasses a variety of habitats, including sand dunes, tidal salt marsh as well as several small lakes, two of which are vegetation-filled and in the process of becoming bogs. *

Owencarrow Viaduct The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company (The L&LSR, the Swilly) was an Irish public transport and freight company that operated in parts of County Londonderry and County Donegal between 1853 and 2014. Incorporated in June 1853, it ...

, the scene of a 1925 rail disaster. *

Glenveagh National Park Glenveagh ( ; ) is the second-largest national park in Ireland. Located in County Donegal, it includes Glenveagh Castle grounds, Lough Veagh, and much of the Derryveagh Mountains. National parks in Ireland conform to IUCN standards. Geograph ...

, created in 1981 from lands granted by

Henry P. McIlhenny Henry Plumer McIlhenny (October 7, 1910 – May 11, 1986) was an American connoisseur of art and antiques, world traveler, socialite, philanthropist, curator and chairman of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Early life and art collections During hi ...

, of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. * Muckish, a mountain with distinctive outline and a number of routes to the summit, a common hiking destination. The surrounding mountainous areas are also suitable for hiking. The annual Glover Highlander walk goes from Muckish to

Errigal Errigal () is a mountain near Gweedore in County Donegal, Ireland. It is the tallest peak of the Derryveagh Mountains and the tallest peak in County Donegal. Errigal is also the most southern and the highest of the mountain chain called t ...

. There are also several marked trails in Glenveagh National Park. *Doe Chapel (1784–1971); the remains of its outer walls are situated within the current graveyard at Doe (in

Cashelmore Cashelmore, also called Clogher Stone Fort, is a stone ringfort (cashel) and National Monument located in County Sligo, Ireland. Location Cashelmore is located 1.6 km (1 mile) southwest of Monasteraden, to the west of Lough Gara. History ...

, 3 km north of Creeslough). The bell tower stands intact. * St. Michael's

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

Church, known locally as 'the Chapel', designed by Derry architect

Liam McCormick William Henry Dunlevy McCormick (24 October 1916, Derry – 28 August 1996) was one of the founders of the modern Irish architectural movement and one of the most important church architects in Ulster. He was responsible for designing twenty-se ...

in 1971. Notable for its unique design, which mimics the shape of the nearby table mountain of Muckish. McCormick was also responsible for the design of the RIAI Triennial Gold Medal-winning St Aengus' Church in Burt, County Donegal. The chapel bell was moved from the bell tower at Doe Chapel.

Transport

Creeslough railway station Creeslough railway station served the village of Creeslough in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland. The station opened on 9 March 1903 when the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway opened their Letterkenny and Burtonport Extension Railway ...

opened on 9 March 1903, closed for passenger traffic on 3 June 1940, and finally closed altogether on 6 January 1947.

Education

N56 between Portnablaghy and Ards Forest Tunnel - geograph

The area around Creeslough is served by three primary schools: * Scoil Mhuire – Roman Catholic, 142 pupils (2011 figures) * Creeslough National School –

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second l ...

, 20 pupils (2011 figures) * Glassan National School – Roman Catholic, 29 pupils (2011 figures), located 5 km to the west of Creeslough village

People

Kathleen Antonelli Kathleen Rita Antonelli ( McNulty; formerly Mauchly; 12 February 1921 – 20 April 2006), known as Kay McNulty, was an Irish-born American computer programmer and one of the six original programmers of the ENIAC, one of the first general-purp ...

, programmer of

ENIAC ENIAC (; Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, completed in 1945. There were other computers that had these features, but the ENIAC had all of them in one pac ...

, the first ever computer * Thomas Bartholomew Curran, barrister and Anti-Parnellite * Lawrence Donegan, Scottish journalist and musician, author of ''No News at Throat Lake'' (2000). Donegan lived in Creeslough for a short time. *

Bridie Gallagher Bridget "Bridie" Gallagher (7 September 1924 – 9 January 2012) was an Irish singer, affectionately known as "The Girl from Donegal". She has been described as "Ireland's first international pop star". Gallagher shot to fame in 1956 with her re ...

, singer described as "Ireland's first truly international pop star" * Bernard Lafferty, butler and heir to

Doris Duke Doris Duke (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American billionaire tobacco heiress, philanthropist, art collector, horticulturalist, and socialite. She was often called "the richest girl in the world". Her great wealth, luxurious ...

* Neil McBride (Niall Mac Gioll Bhridé), poet, author, and lyricist * Martin McElhinney,

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...

er * Colm McFadden, Gaelic footballer * James McNulty, activist for Irish Independence and father of

* Christy Toye, Gaelic footballer

In popular culture

* ''No News at Throat Lake'' is a memoir by Lawrence Donegan about his year living in Creeslough as a reporter for the bi-weekly newspaper, '' Tirconaill Tribune.'' * The area has featured in a number of

Irish folk songs Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

, including "''Cutting the Corn in Creeslough''" which has been covered by

Daniel O'Donnell Daniel Francis Noel O'Donnell, MBE (born 12 December 1961) is an Irish singer, television presenter and philanthropist. After rising to public attention in 1983, he has since become a household name in Ireland and Britain; he has also had c ...

and Creeslough native Bridie Gallagher.

References

External links

Creeslough News
{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Donegal