Ballyshannon

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The River Erne in Ballyshannon

Ballyshannon ( Irish : Béal Átha Seanaidh ) is a place in the extreme south of County Donegal in north-west Ireland with 2299 inhabitants (Census 2016). The name goes back to the old Irish fire and sun god Áed. The Assaroe waterfalls are in front of the site.

history

Ballyshannon describes itself as "Ireland's oldest city". On the offshore island Inis Saimer is said to have been around the year 2700 BC. The chief Parthalon from Macedonia set foot on Irish soil with his tribe. (Ballyshannon Town Council). Archaeologists were able to prove settlements from the Neolithic. Kilbarron's well-preserved Wedge Tomb is near the R231 road between Corker and Creevy, north of Ballyshannon.

The written history of Ballyshannons begins in the Middle Ages. According to the "Annals of Ulster", Vikings used the mouth of the Erne as a starting point for raids from 795 onwards. The travel writer Richard Twiss describes the salmon migration at the Assaroe waterfalls in his book “A Tour in Ireland” in 1775.

The Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway connected Ballyshannon to the Irish railway network in 1868. After the Anglo-Irish peace treaty and the partition of the country in 1922, the border between Counties Donegal and Fermanagh became a state border. The rail link between Ballyshannon and the rest of the Free State (later the Republic of Ireland) passed through Fermanagh. The government of Northern Ireland increasingly obstructed rail transport until it was finally closed in 1957.

A hydropower plant was built in the 1950s. A new bridge has now been inaugurated over the Erne . A bypass road relieves the city center.

Festivals

  • The Rory Gallagher International Memorial Weekend on the first weekend in June has been held annually since 2002. It is now the largest festival of its kind in the world and attracts over 10,000 fans from all over the world every year. In addition to large concerts in the marquee, there are free open-air gigs at Rory Gallagher Place and “The Gables” on the main square, as well as free gigs in the city's numerous pubs.
  • The Ballyshannon Folk & Traditional Music Festival , one of the three most important Irish folk festivals in the country, has been held annually since 1977 .

Sons and daughters of the place

Bronze statue of Rory Gallagher (2010)

Web links

Commons : Ballyshannon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ballyshannon (agglomeration) on citypopulation.de, accessed on January 22, 2018

Coordinates: 54 ° 30 ′  N , 8 ° 12 ′  W