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Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

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DUN<br />

ing mountain, from a basin containing a considerable<br />

portion of iron ore; thence it percolates the earth and,<br />

after a course of about four miles, issues out at the foot<br />

of the mountain; it has been found to contain, on<br />

analysis, as much carbonate of iron as the strongest<br />

chalybeate spas of Cheltenham and Leamington. At<br />

Shandon are two caves in the limestone rock, one on<br />

the sea shore, about 40 feet square, with a long passage<br />

leading to inner apartments; the other is in the middle<br />

of a plain field, near the river Colligan; in both are<br />

stalactites. To the west of the town is a large barrow,<br />

surrounded by a fosse. Dungarvan gives the inferior<br />

title of Viscount to the Earl of Cork and Orrery.<br />

DUNGIVEN, a market and post-town, and a parish,<br />

in the. barony of Kenaught, county of Derry, and<br />

province of Ulster, 16 miles (E. S. E.) from London-<br />

derry, and 138¼ (N. N. W.) from Dublin; containing<br />

3565 inhabitants, of which number, 1162 are in the<br />

town. This place was a seat of the O’Cahans, and was<br />

called Dun-y-even, or Doon-yeven; and here, on the<br />

summit of a rock, on the eastern bank of the Roe,<br />

Domnach O’Cahan, or O’Cathan, founded, in 1100, an<br />

abbey for Augustinian canons, which, being shortly after-<br />

wards polluted by a cruel massacre, lay for a long time<br />

in ruins, but was restored with much solemnity by the<br />

Archbishop of Armagh, and flourished till the dissolu-<br />

tion, after which the lands were granted to the Irish<br />

Society, and are now in the possession of the Skinners’<br />

Company. It is situated on the road between London-<br />

derry and Dublin, and on the banks of the river Roe;<br />

and comprises, according to the Ordnance survey,<br />

30,367½ statute acres, one-third of which is mountain,<br />

everywhere affording excellent pasturage. The land<br />

around the town is fertile and well cultivated; even the<br />

mountain Benbradagh, 1,530 feet above the level of the<br />

sea, is chiefly under tillage; and Carntogher, Money-<br />

neiney, Cam, and other mountains, all very high,<br />

afford turbary and sufficient pasturage for vast herds of<br />

cattle: grouse and other game abound in the higher<br />

parts. The town is in a vale, near the junction of the<br />

Owen-reagh and the Owen-beg, which descend in nearly<br />

parallel lines from Glenfin and Cairnaban, with the Roe,<br />

here crossed by a handsome bridge of freestone: it con-<br />

sists of one long street, intersected by two shorter;<br />

some of the houses are well built, but the greater num-<br />

ber are low and only thatched. Formerly there were<br />

four extensive bleach-greens; they are now unemployed,<br />

and the manufacture is limited to a small quantity<br />

woven by the inhabitants in their own houses. A large<br />

market is held every Tuesday; the market-house is<br />

extensive, and there are stores for grain, &c.; consider-<br />

able fairs are held on the second Tuesday in each month,<br />

except May and October, when they take place on the<br />

25th. A court for the manor of Pellipar is held in the<br />

court-house at Dungiven, every third Thursday, for the<br />

recovery of debts under 405.; its jurisdiction extends<br />

into the parishes of Dungiven, Banagher, Bally-<br />

nascreen, and Upper and Lower Cumber. Petty ses-<br />

sions are likewise held monthly in the court-house.<br />

Here is a constabulary police station; adjoining the<br />

market-house is the barrack store. The gentlemen’s<br />

residences are Pellipar House, that of R. Ogilby, Esq.;<br />

the Cottage, of R. Leslie Ogilby, Esq.; and Roe Lodge,<br />

of M. King, Esq.<br />

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Derry, and<br />

581<br />

DUN<br />

in the patronage of the impropriator, Robert Ogilby,<br />

Esq., lessee of the manor of Pellipar under the Skinners’<br />

Company, to whom the entire tithes, amounting to<br />

£480. 14. 8., are payable; it is usually held in connection<br />

with Banagher. The glebe townland of Tirmeal com-<br />

prises 654a. 2r. 17p., of which 89 are mountain and bog.<br />

The church is a commodious cruciform edifice of hewn<br />

freestone, built in 1817 (on the site of a former one<br />

erected in 1711), at a cost of £1460, of which £1200<br />

was a loan from the late Board of First Fruits. In the<br />

R. C. divisions this parish is the head of a union or dis-<br />

trict, comprising Dungiven and parts of Banagher and<br />

Bovevagh; the chapel is a large building in the town.<br />

At Scriggan is a Presbyterian meeting-house, in connec-<br />

tion with the Synod of Ulster; and one is in course of<br />

erection at Dungiven, in connection with the Seceding<br />

Synod. The male and female parochial schools are<br />

situated on the glebe of Tirmeal, and are aided by the<br />

vicar, who also contributes principally to the support of<br />

a school at Gortnacross; a school at Ballymacallion is<br />

endowed with an acre of land by the Marquess of Water-<br />

ford; and in the town are a school built and supported<br />

by R. Ogilby, Esq., and a female work school support-<br />

ed by the vicar and his lady. In these schools about<br />

190 boys and 90 girls are taught; and there are five<br />

private schools, in which are about 200 boys and 80<br />

girls, and four Sunday schools. An excellent dispensary<br />

is supported in the usual manner. The interesting<br />

remains of the abbey church occupy a remarkably<br />

picturesque situation, on a rock 200 feet in perpendicular<br />

height above the river Roe; they consist of the side<br />

walls of the nave and chancel, which are nearly entire,<br />

with the gable of the latter, in which, within a circular<br />

arch resting on corbels and cylindrical pillars, are two<br />

narrow lancet-shaped windows, with a niche on each<br />

side and a square-headed window above. The nave is<br />

separated from the chancel by a lofty circular arch,<br />

and has on the north side a low doorway of corre-<br />

sponding style; it was lighted by a window orna-<br />

mented with tracery, in good preservation. Under a<br />

beautifully ornamented arch in the chancel is an altar-<br />

tomb, bearing a recumbent effigy of an armed warrior,<br />

said to be one of the O’Cahans; the stones in front are<br />

ornamented with figures of armed knights, sculptured<br />

in relief, in niches. The remains of the abbey have<br />

from time to time been removed, and the capitals, pillars,<br />

mullions, &c., may be seen in the churchyard, forming<br />

boundaries round the graves or head-stones. Adjoin-<br />

ing the town are extensive ruins of a castle and<br />

bawn; built in 1618, by the Skinners’ Company. A<br />

lofty stone stands near the old church, set up as the<br />

record of an ecclesiastical assembly held here in<br />

590, at which St. Columbkill was present. Near<br />

the river Roe is Tubber-Phadrig, or St. Patrick’s<br />

fountain; and a single stone, in the bed of the<br />

river, exists, around which the people assemble on<br />

certain days. There are many raths or forts in differ-<br />

ent parts of the parish: celts of stone and bronze,<br />

spear-heads, and Roman coins and other antiquities<br />

have been discovered, and are in the possession of R. L.<br />

Ogilby and M. Ross, Esqrs.<br />

DUNGLOE, or CLOGHANLEA, a post-town, in the<br />

parish of Templecroan, barony of Boylagh, county of<br />

Donegal, and province of Ulster, 19½ miles (N.) from<br />

Ardara, and 154 (N. W.) from Dublin, on the north-west

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