Gweedore - History

History

The Ulster Plantation in 1609 added a twist to the fate of the parish. Irish-speaking families who were driven from their fertile lands in the Lagan and the surrounding areas made their way to the poor boglands of west Donegal. Some of them made it as far as Gweedore and could go no further west. Around the same time, English and Scottish settlers began to arrive, when this uncharted territory was converted to baronies. It appears the parish was very sparsely populated up until the 17th century. The first people to arrive lived on the islands or by the shore in clusters, pockets of houses built close together and in each other's shade.

Up until the early 19th century the parish was only lightly populated and it seems the people had an amicable relationship with the landowners.

The standard of life was to deteriorate with the arrival of new landlords in the 19th century, in particular George Hill (1801–1879) and his son Arthur. The people of the parish led by Fr James McFadden (Irish: Séamus Mac Pháidín), the parish priest in 1875-1901, challenged the landlords with the founding of the Land League and the Plan of Campaign. The killing by parishioners of District Inspector William Martin (locally known as An Mháirtínigh) outside the local church, Teach Phobail Mhuire, in Derrybeg on Sunday 3 February 1889, while trying to arrest Fr McFadden with a drawn sword, was the climax of the Land War in Gweedore. The case was recalled in the 1928 memoirs of Tim Healy, who defended some of the parishioners.

An Irish-American journalist, W.H. Hurlbert, also investigated the landlord-tenant dispute in Gweedore in minute detail in his book Ireland under Coercion, published in 1888.

Many books have been published in Irish, and several in English, detailing Gweedore's rich history. One of the most prolific of local historians was Cáit Nic Giolla Bhríde.