INVER

INVER, a parish, in the barony of BANNAGH, county of DONEGAL, and province of ULSTER, 6 miles (W.) from Donegal; containing, with the town of Mount Charles (which is described under its own head), 11,785 inhabitants. This parish, which is also called Invernayle, is situated on the river and bay of Inver, on the north-west coast; and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 36,810 ¾ statute acres, of which 35,943 are applotted under the tithe act, and 205 1/3 are water. St. Natalis, who died in 563, was abbot of a monastery here, on the site of which was founded, in the 15th century, a monastery for Franciscans of the third order, which after the dissolution was granted by James I. to Viscount Clandeboy. The bay of Inver lies between Doorin Point and St. John's Point, both of which are included in this parish; and within the bay is Port harbour, on the south of which, at Ballymacdonnell, vessels may anchor in from three to six fathoms of water during north-west or south-east winds. In a precipice on the coast of the bay are indications of iron-ore, but none has yet been worked. Fairs are held at Mount Charles, which has a penny post to Ardara, Donegal, and Killybegs. The principal seats are White Hill, the residence of the Rev.— Montgomery; Bonny Glen, of Murray Babington, Esq.; and the Hall, of Colonel Pratt.

The living is a consolidated rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Raphoe, constituting the corps of the prebend of Inver in Raphoe cathedral, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the tithes amount to £346. 3. 1. The glebe-house is a neat residence, and the glebe comprises 210 acres, of which 97 are cultivated. The church, for the repair of which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently granted £186, is a spacious edifice with a spire. The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church: the chapel is a spacious edifice. About 360 children are taught in five public schools, of which the parochial school is partly supported by grants from Colonel Robertson's fund, a school at Mountcharles by the trustees of Erasmus Smith's charity, and a school by the Wesleyan Missionary Society. There are also 12 private schools, in which are about 350 children, and four Sunday schools. In the bog of Drumkellin, in this parish, was found, in 1833, at a depth of 16 feet beneath the surface, a wooden house 12 feet square and 9 feet high, with a roof perfectly flat, completely framed and compactly joined; the frame-work consisted of large trunks of trees, the sides of cleft planks of oak about three inches thick, and the joints were cemented with a composition resembling tar and grease. The house rested on thick layers of sand and gravel spread on the bog, which was 15 feet deep beneath its foundation; and traces of a paved road leading to it, and resting on sleepers of timber, with numerous vestiges of domestic utensils, were found in several places around the building.