Our second Field Day event of 2024 was at Lifford, led by our guide, Seán Boner.
Lifford is our county town, the administrative centre of the county and the seat of Donegal County Council.
Lifford is one of the more interesting towns in Donegal historically. It is a place where old ghosts meet as a poet once put it.
We met in the Diamond, the hub of our walking tour of the town.
The first stop on our walking tour was at the parish church of St. Lugadius on The Roughan where we were welcomed by the Rector, The Very Rev’d Liz FitzGerald.
The church dates from 1622 funded from the estate of Sir Richard Hansard. A memorial to Sir Richard and his wife (unnamed) is on the south wall of the nave.
The church in its original form was thatched with an earthen floor and expanded in the early 1800s, in part due to the need to accommodate the additional congregation of the Donegal Militia who moved to Lifford from Ballyshannon in 1821.
In the graveyard to the north of the church stands a gravestone memorial of Elizabeth and George Gardiner and their children. George Gardiner, soldier, earned the Victoria Cross for valour in the face of the enemy in an earlier war in Crimea (1853-1856).
Opposite the church stands the school, a contemporary of the original church, also funded by the estate of Sir Richard Hansard. The ground floor of the school, like the church is constructed of carved stone. After the addition of the first floor the building became the church hall.
Our group then moved onto Station Road to see the site of the Lifford Gaol which was here from 1793 until it was demolished in 1907.
A model of Lifford from 1870 in the Old Courthouse showing St. Lugadius, the school / church hall on the left, the women’s prison block facing onto the Diamond with the governor’s house and the semi-circular prison block for men at the rear.
Moving onto the site of Manus O’Donnell’s castle, now a small car park, overlooking the River Foyle now with the combined waters of the River Finn and the Mourne River.
Our final stop for the tour was to the Old Courthouse, now thankfully more welcoming as a visitor centre. Seán enlightened us on the history of the gaol, the courthouse, crime and punishment along with local history and industry of Lifford. Our tour concluded with tea and cake in the bistro situated in the courtroom, hosted by the staff of the Old Courthouse.
The County Donegal Historical Society is in the process of setting up its museum in the Old Courthouse. It is expected that the museum will be a useful addition to what the Old Courthouse already provides. The museum was housed free of charge for many decades in the friary in Rossnowlagh through the generosity of the Franciscan Order. The Society is excited by the move to Lifford Courthouse and believes that it will work well for both the DHS and LATCH who run the Courthouse that is owned by the County Council.
Seán Boner was the President of the County Donegal Historical Society in 2021 and is a long time contributor of articles on local historical events to the Donegal Annual and other local journals.
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The photograph of the Customs Post was taken after 1959 when the Mini Car was first manufactured. .Post 1992 and the Single European Act the border became blurred and while there is still a border it does not have anything like its former significance. The Post was removed some time after 1992.
