Tales from Gweedore
Father McFadden the fighting priest of Gweedore
In the parish of Gweedore on the Wild Atlantic Way, a man of faith who fought for the rights of his parishioners against unjust foreign landlords is still celebrated 102 years after his death.
Battle of Tory Island
The last battle of the United Irishman led rebellion of 1798 was not fought, by Irishmen or even on an Irish battlefield, but at sea, off the stormy waters of Tory Island in a navel engagement between the French and British navies. History records this as the battle of Tory Island.
The Old Church of Dunlewey - The Donegal Taj Mahal
A tale of love and death in the majestic Poison Glen
Black Jack Adair and the Derryveagh Evictions
It is often said that everyone is well thought off when they die, but there is one man with links to Gweedore of whom that can never be said. He was the Landlord ‘Black’ Jack Adair, the mastermind of the infamous Derryveagh Evictions.
The great flood in Gweedore 15th August 1880
On the 15th August 1880 tragedy struck the parish of Gweedore, while parish priest Father James McFadden said Mass in a packed St Mary’s Chapel in Derrybeg. This is known in Gweedore as the great flood, while the Irish Times would describe the event as the Gweedore catastrophe.
Wiggins Patch Massacre
In 1875 hired hitmen savagely murdered a pregnant Gweedore emigrant woman and her brother in vengeance against the Molly Maguires.
The Sinking of HMS Wasp
In September 1884, a royal navy gunboat on route to carry out an eviction sunk off the coast of Tory Island in Donegal. Smashed on rocks, she sank in just 15 minutes and 52 men perished. The official cause of the sinking was due to negligence, but rumour and folklore persist that sabotage or even a curse could be responsible for the sinking of HMS Wasp.
The master of Glenveagh who may have faked his own death
Did Arthur Kingsley Porter, the Yale-educated professor of American Art and owner of Glenveagh Castle, fake his own death and start a new life in Europe?
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