Let me imagine a visitor to our regions leaving Moville in order to walk three miles towards Greencastle. I will accompany him to point out objects of interest.

The first house on the right, not yet described, is Cairn-a-Gariff, or, as it is now called, Carnagarve. On the whole, I think it is the finest we possess. In the year 1828 there was nothing but a fisherman's cottage on the spot. The low rooms, visible on the right just before you reach the hall door, are the cottage, but completely transformed. In 1829 two gentlemen, Sir George Hill and Mr. Lyle, used to rent this cottage when they came to shoot. The only access to it was by an avenue, part of which is still in view. It led away towards Greencastle, not in the direction of the present approach. I don't think Sir George ever himself lived in the house; Mr. Lyle took it over, making it what it is.

On passing the Carnagarve Lodge you come to Carrick House on the left. It was originally a cottage, owned by Mr. Patrick M'Kinney, but I do not know the date of erection. M'Kinney also owned Inistrahull Island and a small mill in Termone. His nephew, Patrick, of Moville, then owned the property, and built the present house.

Just before you reach Carrick House there is a haunted spot on the left, called "Pipers Hill." Finn M' Cool's piper, living on the other side of the lough, passed under the bed of the lough through a passage, and nearly emerged on the spot on our side, but not quite. He is still there; at Hallow E'en you may hear him playing; and singing

"I doot, I doot, I'll ne'er get oot,
The farther I go the deeper I git."

Passing on, we soon come to an "ancient fortification" - close to the road on the right, not large, but neat and attractive looking. There it may have been for 2,000 years; and may it remain as it is for another 2,000 years, the fairies happily ensconced within it! As usual, it is erected just above a stream of water. There is no instance of a "fortification" with water inside it, for sanitary reasons.

Down by the shore, out of sight of the road, is Glenburnie, once a cottage, as all these larger houses were. Mr. Bartholomew M'Corkell built the present house in the 'fifties. From there, he watched his sailing ships enter the lough and proceed to Derry. Well did we know the "Minniehaha," to us the most famous of them all.

Soon you come to the parting of the ways. The upper road is the oldest. Let us proceed that way for the present. On the left the Roman Catholic Church, on the right Ballybrack. This townland and house belonged to the Boggs' Family. Then Dr Cary was the occupant, to be followed by Mr. Wallis.

Beyond Ballybrack House there are for the next mile five "rights-of-way" leading down to the lower road. And 80 years ago there was a much larger population than at the present time in the fields between the two roads - they were chiefly fishermen. Their names are gone and the houses have disappeared.

We pass on, and on the left is "Finmount." A cottage was on the site by Mr. David M'Cool as long ago as 1750. It was let to the Church of Rome and used as the Parochial House. Here Father Doherty lived and died, and was buried in Ballybrack Churchyard. In due time Mr. Robert Nolan, sen., bought this property and built the present house.

Pass on to the Cross Roads. Here of old stood "The Pound" on the right; here, too, was the famous rope-walk of the Baird family; and the group of cottages is still known as "Pound Town." But I hasten on to what will be of general interest, returning in due time to more local details.

THE OLD CASTLE

I quote from Bishop Reeve.

In 1305 the Red Earl, that is, Richard de Burgo, Earl of Ulster, erected in Inishowen a fortress, which the Irish called Newcastle, now known by the name of Greencastle. It was also called Northburgh, and mentioned as such in the history of the Scottish invasion, under Edward Bruce, in 1315.

It is said that the Red Earl built this fortress as a protection against the O'Dohertys. The truth is that the de Burgos came over with the Normans in the time of Henry II, and were rewarded by the gift of Inishowen, of which O'Doherty had been despoiled.

In 1315, Edward Bruce captured Northburgh; but he does not seem to have held it long, for in 1332 we find the Dun Earl de Burgo, son of the Red Earl, in possession. This personage was a cruel and brutal creature. He had a daughter, who one day was crossing the sands on the other side of the lough and was nearly engulfed in a morass. Young Burke, son of Sir Walter Burke, saved her, and the two fell in love with each other. Shortly afterwards young Burke was captured by the Dun Earl in a battle between the O'Neills and the O'Donnells, and he was brought to Northburgh and fastened to a ring in the dungeon and left there to starve. De Burgo's daughter, who secretly supplied him with food, was detected by her father, thrown by him from the battlements and killed.

It is good to be able to tell vengeance overtook him. In June 1332, Sir Richard Mandeville stabbed the Dun Earl to death at the Fords of Belfast. Manderville had married Gyl de Burgo, and was related to the murdered girl.

It is worth telling that this wicked Earl, or perhaps his brother, had a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Lionel, third son of Edward III. In her right Lionel was created Earl of Ulster and Lord of Connaught. These titles came back to Edward IV, and have been, I think, borne ever since by the King's sons. For the sake of those who care for ancient historic details, I may state that in 1342 Matilda, Countess of Ulster, "seized of a castle in the Island of Incheoun, which was called Castellum de Northburth."

A gap of about two centuries now occurs, and it is during these years that the family of de Burgo seems mysteriously to have disappeared from Inishowen. Whether they sold their rights to the O'Dohertys or retired from an inhospitable land we do not know.

In 1594, we find the O'Dohertys settled in their castles all round Inishowen. In that year, we get an account of a visit paid by a French Ambassador to Lough Foyle. In the Bannatyne Library in Edinburgh there is a MS. of memoirs by Sir James Melville, written later in life, but telling of his adventures when he was fourteen years of age.

I ought to add that a friend who knows much more about such matters than I do says that the visit was to the Fort of Elagh, near Muff, and some two miles from the lough. I am impenitent, and believe that the O'Dohertys went to Greencastle to receive the Ambassador and his suite. I summarise the story: -

In 1549, Mary Queen of Scots was about five years of age; a Regent was governing in her name. There was an alliance between France and Scotland, and as the French Ambassador was returning to France he was requested to land in Ireland and confer with the chiefs, O'Neill, O'Donnell, and O'Doherty, on order to form an alliance with France against England. The Ambassador, who was also a Bishop, took James Melville with him as his page.

They had a very stormy passage, but at last arrived in Lochfeull upon Fastrons (Lent). They sent one George Paris, who had come to Scotland to them from the O'Neill, ashore to the house of a gentleman who had married Odocarte's (O'Doherty's) daughter, who lived at the lough edge. This gentleman came on board and welcomed them and they all came ashore to his house.

The next day Odocarte came and welcomed them to his house, "a great dark tower," where they had very poor fare biscuit and herring, for it was Fastrons. Then an extraordinary incident occurred. An Irish woman got into the Ambassadors room and saw there on the window "a little glass with a case. But she believed that it had been ordained to eat, because it had an odoriferous smell; therefore, she licked it clean out, which put the Bishop in such a rage that he cried out with impatience: it was a phial of the only most precious balm that grew in Egypt, which Solyman, the great Turk, had given as a present to the said Bishop after he had been two years Ambassador for the King of France in Turkey, and was esteemed worth two thousand crowns."

The young page also had his adventures.
"Odocarte's daughter sought me wherever I was, and brought a priest with her that could speak English, and offered if I would marry her to go with me to any part where I pleased. After this I had given her thanks and shown her that I was yet young and had no rents, and was bound for France."

They had other adventures, and finally went to stay with the Bishop of Roy (Doire) and met the "Patriarch of Ireland,"
"not far from the narrow firth that runs through Loughfeull to the sea."

SIX YEARS LATER

In 1556 the Fortress of Greencastle was destroyed, and by Irishmen. There was war in West Donegal between the King of the O'Donnells and his son, Calvagh O'Donnell. Calvagh was defeated, and retired to Scotland to collect a fresh army and continue the war. On his return, he landed at Greencastle and destroyed the castle. It has been a ruin ever since.

THE FORT

Two Martello towers were built, one on each side of the entrance to the lough, in 1812. The fear of Napoleon was upon our country, and, by the advice of the Duke of Wellington, such towers were built round the south coast of England to guard the entrance to ports.

It may be of interest to tell the derivation of the name. In Corsica, at Mortelin Point, there was a round tower, which was fiercely bombarded by our fleet, commanded by Lord Hood, in 1794. It withstood his attack so admirably that Wellington took the hint and erected what in those days was a strong defence.

A small force of artillerymen was stationed at Greencastle, sufficient to man the two towers. But about the year 1838 it became necessary to guard the forts from the landward side owing to troubles, and the force was increased to some eighty men. I suppose the accommodation was also increased for the men. It must have been a strong place in those days.

It is the lower battery which has always fascinated me as a spot where the most perfect of rock gardens might be made. The last commandant officer was Captain Dunlop, who left in 1870. After his departure the force was in charge of a succession of master gunners; a fine body of officers.

I remember in the 'sixties being presently in the fort when gun practice was in progress. The guns were smooth-bore muzzle-loaders, firing round shot, many of the latter being yet visible before the doors of our houses. One could see the shot all the way, forming a curve in the air, and falling into the sea near the other side. Under the Martello tower there is a deep pool of water, a well in the field providing a clean supply for the garrison by the aid of a pump. The soldiers were withdrawn in 1891.

The fort is so well known as a romantic hotel, kept by an old friend, that one need not say more. But it reminds me that I have omitted mention at present of the lower road from Moville to Greencastle, and consequently have not given the history of Drumaweir, our other well-known hotel, kept by another friend.

The history of this house is as follows: - It was once a cottage and Dr. Carey's father built the present house. In old days Lady Oaks lived there, whose daughter Dr. Carey married. Another daughter married a Vandeleur, this family living at the time in Kilmoyle. Then Mr. Watt resided here, to be followed by Mr. Hart from 1874 to 1894.

I have mentioned Kilmoyle. It, too, once was a cottage, and the spot was called Mount Venus. In the field at the back is the ancient ruin of a church. I imagine that the church was built when the castle was first built in 1305.