BALLYSHANNON
From Atlas and Cyclopedia of Ireland (1900)
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Description of County Donegal | Donegal Castle | Derrybeg Chapel | Moville | Bundoran | Ballyshannon Bridge | Donegal Map
BALLYSHANNON.—This pretty town is situated on the southeast corner of Donegal Bay. It presents an attractive appearance from the steep hill on which it is built, and its two parts on both sides of the Erne are connected by a splendid bridge of 16 arches. The name in Celtic, Bel-atha-Seanaigh, signifies "the Mouth of Shanagh's Ford." There is a fine waterfall nearly 20 feet high and 150 yards wide extending the entire breadth of the river a few hundred yards below the bridge. There is what is known as the famous "Salmon Leap." The basin into which the torrent falls is literally alive with these fish, and curious as it may seem the salmon are able to spring up the falls, and make their way up the river to the placid lake. The town possesses the remains of an ancient castle, which was the scene of a defeat of the English forces under Sir Conyers Clifford, in 1597.
Ballyshannon Bridge
Description of County Donegal | Donegal Castle | Derrybeg Chapel | Moville | Bundoran | Ballyshannon Bridge | Donegal Map