Mountcharles ()Placenames Database of Ireland: Mountcharles/Tamhnach an tSalainn
/ref> is a village and

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 ...

(of 650 acres) in the south of

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 Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It lies 6 km from Donegal Town on the Killybegs road ( N56). It is situated in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

of Inver and the historic barony of Banagh. The village's name is usually pronounced locally as 'Mount-char-liss'.

Name

Before the

Plantation of Ulster The Plantation of Ulster ( gle, Plandáil Uladh; Ulster-Scots: ''Plantin o Ulstèr'') was the organised colonisation ('' plantation'') of Ulstera province of Irelandby people from Great Britain during the reign of King James I. Most of the se ...

, the area from the present N56 to the sea, including modern day Salthill, was known as ''Tamhnach an tSalainn'' ('the Field of Salt'). This refers to the fields along the coast which flooded with seawater with the flow of the tide, as the water receded, salt remnants remained in the fields. The Irish name for the village refers to this salt mine in the area which local people worked in, and at a growing rate, as the salt extraction rate was increased by the plantation founder, Charles Conyngham. The name was later anglicized as ''Tawnaghtallan'' and ''Tawnytallan''. Whereupon English became the only language permitted for placenames in Ireland, the Cistercian Grange in the area was known as the Grange of Tawnytallon which led to the area being

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 ...

as ''Tawnaghtallan'' and ''Tawnytallan''. The English name for the village owes its origin to the Scottish

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

'undertaker', Charles Conyngham, who arrived in

during the

and asserted a

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, ...

control over the area, renaming the region '' Mount Charles'' after himself. He is the ancestor of The 8th Marquess Conyngham (frequently, if inaccurately, known as 'Lord Henry Mountcharles') of Slane Castle,

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the ...

. By controlling the sale of salt from the region, Charles Conyngham then financed the building of the few surviving buildings in the village in the 17th century. The Conyngham estate and its large estate house (Hall Demesne), close to the village, are now unoccupied. The

courtesy title A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but rather is used through custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some c ...

of the

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

of The Marquess Conyngham is ''

Earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form '' jarl'', and meant " chieftain", partic ...

of Mount Charles'', being named after the village. Alternatively, the origin of the modern name, Mountcharles, is from the 1660s. Albert Conyngham, son of Rev. Alexander Conyngham (

Dean of Raphoe The Dean of Raphoe is based at the Cathedral Church of St Eunan, Raphoe, County Donegal, Ulster in the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe within the Church of Ireland. The Deanery is currently vacant since January 2021. List of deans *1603 John Alb ...

), was knighted by Charles II in 1666, and, in honour of the king, the plantation founders, the Conyngham's enforced the name change to Mountcharles.

History

In 1611, at the start of the

, The Rev. Alexander Conyngham, first

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 ...

Rector of Inver and Killymard, took ownership over the area, designating the area near the present Hall House as his own. The village of Mountcharles was controlled by the Conyngham family thereafter. In 1676 Mountcharles was granted the sole right to hold markets and fairs: "Mountcharles, alias Tounytallon, a Friday market and four fairs on the 19th May, 11th September, 11th November and 17th March. Pursuant to patent signed and dated at Whitehall 9th December 1675 – granted to Sir Albert Conyngham, Kt. – July 27th 1676". The

of the

of The Marquess Conyngham is ''

of Mount Charles'', is named after the village. Arthur Young, noted agriculturist and social and political observer, mentioned visiting Mountcharles in his book ''A Tour of Ireland (1776-1779)''.

Pre-Famine Mountcharles

The early houses were built with stone, which was quarried near St. Peter’s Lough and at the quarries behind the town. The early houses were thatched. According to both the 1841 Census and Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Mountcharles was the only town in the parish pre-Famine times.

Hall Demesne

The former country house of the Conyngham family, The Hall, is nearby the village. From the beginning of the 18th century the Conynghams no longer regarded Mountcharles as their principal seat, but

Slane Slane () is a village in County Meath, in Ireland. The village stands on a steep hillside on the left bank of the River Boyne at the intersection of the N2 road (Ireland), N2 (Dublin to Monaghan road) and the N51 road (Ireland), N51 (Drogheda ...

. It was sold by The 6th Marquess Conyngham immediately after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, in 1946, to pay for the installation of electricity in Slane Castle, Co. Meath.

Politics

Mountcharles gave its name to the Electoral Division of Mountcharles (Mountcharles DED) from 1850 to around 1956 but this Electoral Division was renamed to Tantallon in the late 1950s and statistically enumerated as such from the 1961 Census. Mountcharles is part of the five-seat Donegal constituency.

Transport

Mountcharles railway station Mountcharles railway station served Mountcharles in County Donegal, Ireland. The station opened on 18 August 1893 on the Donegal Railway Company line from Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in ...

was on a branch line of the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee, a narrow gauge railway system. It was opened on 18 August 1893 and shut on 1 January 1960.

Amenities

The village has one general shop on the Main Street. A fishmongers, a local butchers, a post office, a pharmacy and local tea rooms. The area also hosts a pilates and yoga centre as well as a massage therapist, a beauticians, several hairdressers and a barber shop. There are two bars on the main street.

Sport

The village has a

Gaelic games Gaelic games ( ga, Cluichí Gaelacha) are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, th ...

pitch that belongs to the local club Saint Naul's (Irish: ''Naomh Naile'') and a nearby a football club, Eany Celtic F.C. In 2013, the Mountcharles Rowing Club was established.

Notable people

* Cahir Healy, politician * Seumas MacManus, author, dramatist and poet *

Stephen Joseph McGroarty Stephen Joseph McGroarty (1830 – January 2, 1870) was an Irish American soldier who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Biography Early life McGroarty was born in Mountcharles, Donegal, Ireland, in 1830 and died in Colleg ...

, Irish-born American soldier

References

{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Donegal Civil parish of Inver Townlands of County Donegal