Dungloe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dungloe (An Clochán Liath in Irish, meaning gray stones) is a town in the Gaeltacht of County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, and is the main town in The Rosses.
Dungloe serves as the administrative centre for the west of Donegal, and in particular The Rosses, with the only mainland secondary school for the area - the others are on the islands.
The town is the current headquarters of The Rosses' indigenous supermarket chain, The Cope, and is home to the annual Mary From Dungloe International Festival.
It is known as being the favoured holiday destination of Irish media celebrity Gay Byrne. Dungloe developed as a town in the middle of the 18th.Century.
There is a river at the bottom of the town and years ago the only crossing was over a grey granite slab lying in the riverbed, hence the Irish name of the town, An Clochan Liath, or in English, The Grey Stone. The bridge was built in 1762.
The name Dungloe came into common English usage in the later years of the 18th.Century when the monthly fair, formerly held at Dún an Gleó, five miles north of the nascent town was transferred to An Clochan Liath. In time the name of the fair and that of the town were subsumed.
An Clochan Liath became Dungloe and Dungloe became An Clochan Liath. Dungloe is in the Parish of Templecrone.
The early cartographers, notably the marine cartographers of the mid 19th.Century confused the issue by spelling the name of the town as "Dunglow". This mistake is often still seen, even on signage of Donegal County Council.
- See also: List of towns in the Republic of Ireland
