19th May 2026
There were three prize winners from 5th Class in Woodland NS in the recent art competition run by Letterkenny Community Heritage Group. The competition was seeking pictures from children in the local primary schools, to be included in the new Letterkenny Heritage Trail brochure. The standard of entry was very high and we are pleased to say that the winning entries form Woodland NS and Scoil Cholmcille are with the printers now to be incorporated into the new brochure.
A huge thank you to Enda Nicholls for supplying vouchers for Arena 7 for the winners of the competition.
Included in the picture from L-R Back Ms Breda Kelly, 5th Class teacher, MS Patricia Slevin, Principal Woodland NS, Ms Joanne McLaughlin LCHG, and Ms Eimer Shea, LCHG.
The three prize-winners are Emily, Alex and Farah.
🔗 • Link27th April 2026
Antheanne, a 5th class pupil in Ms Emer Byrne's class was awarded a prize of a voucher from Arena 7 for her beautiful picture which will be featured in the new Letterkenny Heritage brochure.
Present were Ms Emer Byrne, teacher, Antheanne, Joe Dorrian, Joanne McLaughlin and Brian Walsh of LCGH, and principal Pauric Cannon.
🔗 • Link22nd January 2026
Teacher, historian and author, Niall McGinley has been honoured with the installation of a seat in Sentry Hill, Letterkenny.
Letterkenny Community Heritage Group commissioned McCaul Memorials to create and install a granite seat in recognition of Niall's contribution to the people of the town through his work as a teacher and for sharing his passion for the history and heritage with the community.
Brian Walsh was the MC for the event and Johnny Joe McCollum, Chairperson of the Heritage Group, welcomed Niall and his family and thanked him on behalf of the people of Letterkenny for his contribtion to the history of the town through his writing, and for his enthusiasm for the subject.
Monsignor Kevin Gillespie, County Councillors Donal Kelly, Donal Coyle and Tomás Sean Devine were in attendance, as well as members of the Community Heritage Group and members of the public.
🔗 • Link21st August 2025
Letterkenny Community Heritage Group, in association with Letterkenny Toastmasters, hosted a "A Walk Around Letterkeny" on Monday 18th August as part of Heritage Week. There were four different stops with different aspects of Letterkenny's history and heritage discussed. A large crowd of about fifty people, gathered at Letterkenny Museum, formerly the workhouse, for the first of the stops. Jeremy Worth from the Toastmasters gave an account of what life was like in the workhouse in the 1800s, how the place was run and how the building has been used since the workhouse closed down in the 1920s.The tour then proceeded up the steps beside the Museum, to the peaceful memorial garden in honour of those who died in the workhouse, following the Famine.
From there, the tour moved, through Ard O'Donnell, to the grounds of Conwal Parish Church, where Brian Walsh, from LCHG gave a brief history of the church and Protestantism in Letterkenny. He also spoke about Dr John Kinnear, a Presbyterian minister who was the first cleric to be an MP and who championed the rights of tenants. Dr Kinnear is buried in the grounds of Conwal Parish church. Brian also gave an account of the building of the Cathedral of Saints Eunan and Columba and pointed out some of its most distinguishing features.
Onwards from there, down the hill to the Market Square, where Joanne McLaughlin, also from LCHG discussed the old practice of hiring fairs, which took place in Letterkenny and other locations in Ulster, twice a year from the 1700s to the 1900s. The Hiring Fair statue by sculptor Maurice Harron commemorates these events, and although the statue is placed in the Market Square, the hiring actually took place at Speers Lane, at the start of the High Road.
The tour proceeded down the Main Street to the Station House Hotel. Brian Marshall from the Toastmasters spoke about the development of transport in Letterkenny, and how the Port and the development of the railways brought prosperity and growth to the town.
Following the refreshments, we had the launch of the website. Stephen Coyle gave a brief overview of how the website came into being and he received a gift from the LCHG for all his work on its development. Johnny Joe McCollum thanked Joanne McLaughlin for her work in helping to bring the website to fruition and Brian Walsh, acting as MC drew the meeting to a close.
An enjoyable evening was had by all, and it was decided that the Walking Tour of Letterkenny could be an annual event during heritage Week from now on.
🔗 • Link6th August 2025
Join us on Monday 18th August for a walking tour of some of Letterkenny's most historic and interesting sites, followed by some refreshments and the official launch of our new website.
Meeting point: Letterkenny Museum
Time: 7:00pm
Venue: The Station House Hotel, Oldtown Road, Letterkenny
🔗 • Link5th August 2025
On Sunday 27th October 2024, Letterkenny Heritage Community Group unveiled a plaque in honour of Peggy Harkin at her late residence of 79 Lower Main Street, Letterkenny. Considering the inclement weather a large crowd had gathered for the unveiling of the plaque. Refreshments were later served at the Station House Hotel . Speeches were made by master of ceremonies, Brian Walsh, chairman, Johnny Mc Collum and committee member Joe Dorrian. Many locals recalled Peggy being a familiar figure in the town, always wearing her distinctive beret hat, riding her bike and carrying her medical bag.
At the gathering locals recalled Peggy being known as the “cycling nurse”. Peggy would be called out to many houses in the area day or night, no matter what weather was like. She would visit mothers and deliver babies. It was known Peggy cycled out as far as Glenswilly. One can only imagine how many babies Peggy delivered in the Letterkenny area. The committee contacted Letterkenny Hospital to ascertain further information on Peggy’s career as a midwife, unfortunately all records were either lost or destroyed. In general local residents remember Peggy to be a very kind and compassionate lady.
Peggy Harkin and her twin sister (Minnie) were born on the 27th July 1898 and she had two other siblings. Her father, John was a carpenter and her mother, Catherine was house wife. Peggy never married. It is believed Peggy became a midwife from the 1930 until she retired in the later 1960’s. Peggy died on 2nd of April 1975 and is buried at Conwal graveyard.
🔗 • Link29th June 2025
The Letterkenny Community Heritage Group, founded over a decade ago, is a volunteer-driven organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of Letterkenny, County Donegal. This is our story...
How often do you think about local history or heritage: quite a lot, every two weeks or hardly at all? Chances are, you think about it more often than you realise, because every time you think about a relative that used to live in some house or a shop that used to be in your town or an event that happened twenty years ago you are, in a sense, thinking about local history and heritage. Okay, so you're not digging a trench in some archaeological site or peering at a dusty document in an archive trying to decipher the writing with your half rimmed glasses dangling around your neck, but you are asking the same basic questions: who lived there, and what did they do?
There was a time when the only local history organisation in the county was the Donegal Historical Society, but in recent years a huge number of smaller, more locally focused groups have emerged. Amongst those is the Letterkenny Community Heritage Group, which was formed in 2011 when a group of interested parties met to discuss the possibility of setting up a local history or heritage group.
It took a little while to get things going, but the first mark the group made on the town was when the words of the song, 'Letterkenny Town,' were unveiled on the wall of Mac's Mace on the High Road. It was the first of many such events as the group sought to unveil some aspects of the history and heritage of the town to the good people of Letterkenny. A magazine, 'By The Way,' was published in 2013, 2014, and 2015, which contained many wonderful nuggets about the town's history including the the town's unexpected connection to the broadcaster and actor, Micahel Palin. In August 2013, a monument was unveiled at Sentry Hill to mark the spot where, during Penal times, a watchman would keep an eye out for advancing British redcoats while mass was being said at a nearby mass rock.
Perhaps the most poignant event was in August 2014, when a large crowd gathered near the Cathedral for the unveiling of a sculpture by local sculptor, Redmiond Herrity, to commemorate the 91 people from the area who died in World War I. It was a very moving moment when the 91 names were read out accompanied by the sound of a lone piper. Sadly, the sculpture was later destroyed in an act of pointless violence.
Our meetings in the Station House Hotel had a tendency to get distracted by some elongated discussions on some local historical issues. In 2015, in order to put a stop to that, we started the Letterkenny Debates. These debates took place as part of Culture Night and considered such issues as whether or not Theobald Wolfe Tone was arrested in Letterkenny, what was the oldest part of Letterkenny, the rights and wrongs of naming places after people, the impact of the local council on the heritage of the town.
In 2016, we had our first heritage weekend and launched our Letterkenny Heritage Trail as part of it. The trail covered twelve points of interest around the town and it was a always joy when some member of the group reported seeing some tourists with the brochure in their hands. The heritage weekends continued for a number of years and lectures were given on many topics such as the life and times of James McMonagle, the Battle of Farsetmore (1567), St. Conal's Hospital, the railways that once ran through the town and the old businesses that existed in the 1950s and the 1960s.
In 2018, we held a tribute night for Eunan 'Busty' Blake, and in the following years tribute nights were held for Letterkenny Comhaltas Charlie Collins Snr., Evelyn Gallagher and Hugh McLean. Wonderful murals by local artists Kevin Gallagher Snr. and Jnr. were created at the Station House Hotel and the Hugh Duffy Car Park. The group also played a prominent role in the organisation of the Letterkenny Festival in 2019. In October 2022, the Letterkenny Community Heritage Group hosted a conference with the intention of getting members of the various heritage and history groups in the county together to discuss our shared interests and cocerns.
October 2022 saw the launch of what was our most ambitious project to date: a publication about the Donegal Summer Cups. These tournaments ran annually from the mid 1940s until the late 1980s and attracted many footballing stars from England and Scotland. Founding member and driving force behind the group, Johnny Joe McCollum, used all his his county-wide footballing contacts to obtain information, photos and stories about the Donegal Summer Cups. European Cup winner Paddy Crereand lent his support to the project and penned a heartfelt foreword for the publication and many others, such as former Finn Harps captain Jim Sheridan and former Derry City goalkeeper Eddie Mahon, made valuable contributions. The launch itself was a glorious night of laughter and stories as old goals, own goals, and definetly 'offside' goals were argued about long into the night.
2024 saw us discuss the possibility of creating an old railway carriage for the town while reflecting on the life of Peggy Harkin, a midwife like no other and the contribution to the town of people such as John Gorey Curran, a contribution not lost on former Republic of Ireland, goalkeeper, Packie Bonner, who travelled to Letterkenny specially for the event.
Since 2011, the group has made a contribution to the town, but on the way, we have sadly lost some of our most cherished members. Jim Lynch was the Honorary President of the group and his contribution to the group, as with so many other groups in the town, cannot be understated or forgotten. Our former treasurer, Colm Ferry, passed away in 2019, and he too made an immense contribution to the town and to the group.
We are indebted to the councillors and staff of Donegal County Council because without them we could do nothing. And of course the people of Letterkenny and those that visit the town who regularly come out to give us such support and encouragement.
So that's the story of the Letterkenny Community Heritage Group so far. What does the future hold for those who are interested in the past? Who knows but we look forward to unveiling more of our town in the years ahead -- the past, it's where we all came from. Are you thinking about local history and heritage now?
🔗 • Link11th June 2025
On Tuesday 10th June, an exhibiton of a selection of Johnny Joe McCollum's photographic collection took place in the County Museum, High Road, Letterkenny. The photographs depict Letterkenny throughout history and provide a fascinating snapshot of life in the town, many years ago.
Brian Walsh acted as MC for the evening and he introduced Niall McGinley, historian, author and former teacher, who shared some of his memories amd insights into the life and times of some of the inhabitants of Letterkenny.
Refreshments were served and a very enjoyable evening was had by all.
The photographs will be on permanent display in the Courtyard Shopping Centre.
Check out more photos of the event here.
🔗 • Link21st May 2025
Letterkenny Community Heritage Group is very excited to to launch its new website!
Here we will have information about the heritage, social history, buildings of interest, and upcoming events in Letterkenny. We will have heritage trails for you to explore and links to Google Maps for ease of navigation around the town. Check out the videos about some of the highlights in Letterkenny, which help to bring the trail to life. Soon, we plan to bring our heritage trails to life with signs at historic locations around the town, with QR codes so that you can access more information on this site.
We wish to acknowledge the sterling work done by our website developer, Stephen Coyle. Stephen has done amazing work and has been so helpful and supportive to all of us in the group, as we get to grips with the new skills of website management.
A big thanks to the Heritage Keepers of the Burrenbeo Trust who provided us with training and funding for the production of our videos, and a very informative field trip to check out the wonderful Clones Heritage Trail.
Thanks also to Pauric McGranaghan of MG Media for doing a terrific job on the video production.
We hope you all enjoy navigating your way around the website, and that you will be well informed about our wonderful town!
🔗 • Link12th May 2025
The Hiring Fair, a statue in Letterkenny’s Market Square, was commissioned by Donegal County Council in 1994 and sculpted in bronze by Derry sculptor Maurice Harron. It represents a social phenomenon in Ulster from the 17th to the 20th century. Driven by hunger and poverty, many men and women hired themselves out as labourers, housekeepers, or potato diggers '(tattie hoakers'). Often, parents were forced to bring their children, some as young as seven years old, along to these hiring fairs so that they could go and work for farmers. This meant one less mouth to feed, and the money the children made could be used to pay the rent.
The largest of these fairs were in Strabane, Letterkenny, and Derry, with smaller fairs in Ballybofey, Limavady, and Omagh. The hiring fairs were also known as 'rabble days', and there was a general air of excitement in the town on the day. There were two hiring fairs in Letterkenny, held on 12th May and 12th November (or on the Friday immediately following the 12th, if the 12th wasn’t a Friday). Those seeking work stood at the head of the town in Letterkenny, where the High Road meets the Ramelton Road (known locally as the Port Road) at the old McCarry’s Hotel, now the Warehouse. They were inspected by their potential employers and their teeth and bodies examined to make sure they were healthy, and anyone showing signs of weakness or ill health was rejected.
In a 1906 issue of The Donegal News, a writer noted:
A sadder sight it would be impossible to witness […] it is pitiable enough to see these poor creatures, boys and girls, standing up like cattle to be examined and cross-examined […] cattle would not have been allowed to be treated as those poor young people.
Children and young people in the depths of desperation would be mocked by their potential hirers, and young women and girls were sometimes victims of sexual abuse. Patrick MacGill of Glenties wrote in his 1914 book, Children of the Dead End, that:
...to [the farmer] I was not a human being, a boy with an appetite and a soul. I was merely a ware purchased in the marketplace, something of less value than a plow and of no more account than a barrow...
This sculpture commemorates the countless children and young people who experienced the hardships of the hiring fairs.
🔗 • Link