Lifford

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This article is about the Irish town of Lifford. For the article on the solo artist, see Lifford (artist).

Lifford (Leifear in Irish) is the county town of Donegal (near Castlefin) in the Republic of Ireland and the seat of Donegal County Council. The town grew up around a castle established there by Manghus Ó Domhnaill, ruler of west Donegal, in the 16th century, and later became a British army garrison until Irish independence in 1922. It is situated across the River Foyle from Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland and joined by the Lifford Bridge.

1 History
2 People
3 Transport
4 References
5 See also

[edit] History

Lifford came into the possession of Sir Richard Hansard during the Plantation of Ulster in 1607. One of the conditions of his grant was that a ferry crossing be provided over the River Finn. This service continued until 1730 when the first bridge linking Lifford and Strabane was built.

In the 19th century a curious custom existed when if, by the end of the Assizes in Lifford or Omagh courthouses, a jury could not reach a unanimous verdict in a case, they were sent to the "verge" of the county to be dismissed. In the case of counties Donegal and Tyrone, this was the middle of the Lifford Bridge.

The present bridge was constructed by engineering company McAlpines in 1964, jointly funded by Donegal County Council and Strabane District Council. During The Troubles in 1968, an attempt was made to blow the bridge up. However, it was only closed for a short time and today remains an important road link.

[edit] People

Mickey Joe Harte(singer), Sharon Foley(athlete) and Shay Given(footballer) are Lifford natives.

[edit] Transport

In 1792 the four mile Strabane Canal was constructed from the tidal waters of Lough Foyle at Leck, to Strabane. The canal fell into disuse in 1962. In June 2006 the Strabane Lifford Development Commission awarded a £1.3m cross-border waterways restoration contract. The project was launched by President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, in Lifford and involves the restoration of one and a half miles of canal and two locks to working order. Work is due to start on the Lough Foyle side of the canal in the summer of 2006.