Clondahorky

CLONDEHORKY, a parish, in the barony of KILMACRENAN, county of DONEGAL, and province of ULSTER; containing, with the post-town of Dunfanaghy, 6477 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the bay of Sheep Haven, on the north-western coast, and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 29,632¾ statute acres, of which 26,859 are applotted under the tithe act, and 421½ are water. A small portion is woodland, a considerable portion arable and rough pasture, and there is a large tract of waste land and bog, of wbich much might be easily reclaimed. Near Rough Point is an extensive rabbit-warren. There are quarries producing slates of tolerable quality, and an inferior kind of marble is also found in the parish. Silicibus sand of excellent quality is obtained from Muckish mountain, where iron ore is found: this mountain rises to an elevation of 2190 feet above the level of the sea.

The gentlemen's seats are Horn Head, the residence of W. Stewart, Esq.; Marble Hill, of G. Barclay, Esq.; Ards, of A. Stewart, Esq., attached to which is a beautiful demesne; and Castle Doe, of Capt. Hart, formerly the residence of the Sandford family, and described as a very strong castle surrounded by a bawn 40 feet square and 16 feet high. Fairs are held on the 10th of every month at Creaslough, and there are others at Dunfanaghy which see. A manor court is occasionally held, at which small debts are recoverable. At Sheep Haven is a coastguard station, one of the seven constituting the district of Dunfanaghy. Within the limits of the parish is the point called Horn Head, in latitude 55° 12' 50" (N.), and longitude 7° 58' 20" (W.); and between it and the peninsula of Rossgull, or Rosguill is Sheep Haven, off the eastern side of which are several rocks above water, the outermost of which, nearly two miles west of Melmor Point, is called Carrickavrank rock.

The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Raphoe, forming the corps of the prebend of Clondehorky, in the cathedral church of Raphoe, and in the patronage of the Provost and Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin. The tithes amount to £280. There is no glebehouse; the glebe comprises 400 acres, of which 200 are a barren sandy tract. The church is a neat plain structure, built by aid of a gift of £300 from the late Board of First Fruits. The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church: the chapel, a spacious building, was erected in 1830, at an expense of £600, and there is a place of worship for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod of Ulster, of the third class. The parochial school is supported partly from Col. Robertson's fund and by annual donations, and a school at Cashelmore is supported by Mr. Stewart, of Ards. In these schools about 120 boys and 70 girls are instructed; and there are three pay schools, in which are about 170 boys and 90 girls. At Ballymacswiney are some ruins of a monastery for Franciscans, founded by M°Swine; and near the coast is "McSwine's Gun," a perforation in the rock, through which the sea is forced, during or immediately after a storm from the north-west, to a height of between 200 and 300 feet, with so great a noise as to be heard for 10 miles. See DUNFANAGHY.

from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.