Ramelton

Ramelton
Ráth Mealtain
Town

The bridge over River Lennon in Ramelton.
Ramelton

Location in Ireland

Coordinates: 55°02′08″N 7°38′44″W / 55.03562°N 7.64555°WCoordinates: 55°02′08″N 7°38′44″W / 55.03562°N 7.64555°W
Country Ireland
Province Ulster
County County Donegal
Population (2011)
 • Urban 1,212
Time zone WET (UTC+0)
 • Summer (DST) IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference B847228

Ramelton (Irish: Ráth Mealtain) is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. Its population is 1,212 (2011).

Ramelton is situated at the mouth of the River Lennon, 11 km north of Letterkenny and 4 km east of Milford, on the western shores of Lough Swilly. The town is named from Ráth Mealtain, (Irish for "the fort of Mealtan"), an early Gaelic chieftain. The fort is said to lie under the ruins of a medieval castle of the O'Donnells, the ruling family of West Donegal before their exile to mainland Europe in 1607.

Ramelton was settled by English and Scots planters during the Ulster Plantation of the 17th century and is the site of the oldest Presbyterian church in Ireland.

Ramelton also has a Church of Ireland Church of St.Paul, Parish of Tullyaughnish.

The town was the setting for the 1995 television serial The Hanging Gale, which told of the potato Famine of the 19th century. The town hosts the Lennon Festival, a village fair, since 1970. Ramelton is a Fáilte Ireland designated Heritage Town.

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Irish still love their newspapers". The Guardian (Guardian Media Group). 14 August 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2010. The Irish love reading newspapers, whether they are national or local. It's a joy to see the papers piled high at my local store in the Donegal town of Ramelton in the morning and note their disappearance by the evening.

External links

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