| Burtonport Ailt an Chorráin |
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| Location | ||
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| Irish grid reference B717154 |
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| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Ulster | |
| County: | County Donegal | |
| Dáil Éireann: | Donegal South West | |
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Population (2002) |
1,120 | |
Burtonport (Irish: Ailt an Chorráin)[1] is a fishing village situated on the northwest coast of Ireland, some 7 km northwest of Dungloe in County Donegal and it forms part of the official Gaeltacht region.
The main employers in the village are the Burtonport Fishermen's Co-op and the Bord Iascaigh Mhara (Irish Sea Fisheries Board) ice plant. In recent years these establishments have been in decline due to the abandonment of fishing as a career and way of life by locals, due to depleted fish stocks and very restrictive fishing laws.
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History
A plaque there commemorates the brief landing on the nearby island of Rutland (Inishmacadurn in Irish) of a French military force led by James Napper Tandy in a failed attempt to assist rebels during the 1798 rebellion on September 16, 1798.
Transport
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- Burtonport had a railway service from Letterkenny between 1903 and 1940 provided by the Letterkenny & Burtonport Extension Railway (L&BER), a company jointly owned by the State and the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway (L&LSR). Burtonport railway station opened on 9 March 1903, but finally closed on 3 June 1940.[2]
- As the mainland port for both the Arranmore car ferry service and the Arranmore fast ferry passenger service, Burtonport receives a lot of passing tourist traffic.
- In 1917, the Irish Times christened the Letterkenny and Burtonport Extension Railway ‘that old sinner’. It was a well deserved title for after 14 years in operation, it had become a legend in its own time for its wayward methods, broken down engines, bad management, erratic driving, poor punctuality, passengers travelling in cattle trucks, lost goods, pilferage, nights stuck in the bogs between Letterkenny and Burtonport and severe conflict with the Board of Works.
It seemed that nobody loved the L&BER. There were calls for investigations and inquiries almost annually. Questions were regularly asked in Parliament. Donegal County Council discussed it at almost every meeting. Letter writers vented their fury at its errand ways in the columns of newspapers. Demands for a change of management were made throughout its existence. And yet nothing seemed to change or improve it. It went to its demise as an unrepentant sinner. And yet then people were faithful to it. They travelled in their thousands to the hiring fairs, then feiseanna (festivals of Irish music and song), the football matches, the political meetings, on pilgrimages to the Doon Well or to the Derry Boat. It had its court cases, its funny incidents and its sad and inglorious moments.
People
- Packie Bonner is from the area around Burtonport.
- Peadar O'Donnell novelist, leftist, and prominent IRA activist from the 1920-30s era was born in Burtonport.
See also
References
- ^ Placenames (Ceantair Ghaeltachta) Order 2004
- ^ "Burtonport station". Railscot - Irish Railways. http://www.railscot.co.uk/Ireland/Irish_railways.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
Coordinates: 54°59′N 8°26′W / 54.983°N 8.433°W
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