Ballyshannon - Irish Pictures (1888)

From Irish Pictures Drawn with Pen and Pencil (1888) by Richard Lovett

Chapter VIII: The Donegal Higlands … continued

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Passing through Bundoran, Ballyshannon is reached, noted for its salmon fishery and its falls. These are 150 yards wide and from fourteen to sixteen feet high, and over them the waters of Lough Erne find an outlet. The chief sight at Ballyshannon in the proper season is the salmon making their way up these falls. Only a few miles from the town is Belleek, the site of the celebrated pottery works, where a very beautiful and delicate china ware, possessing a rich iridescent lustre, has for many years been manufactured. The works are not so prosperous as formerly, but all who know the excellence of the pottery trust that the depression will prove to be but temporary. Lough Erne and Lough Derg are both within easy reach of Ballyshannon, the latter having been for ages a famous place of pilgrimage. By road Donegal is only a little over thirty miles from Sligo, but in order to reach it by rail a circuit covering a considerable part of Ireland is needful. The journey ranks high among picturesque railway trips. The train traverses the rich district of Manor Hamilton, and enables the traveller to visit one of the most noted and best-situated towns—Enniskillen. Lough Erne is an expansion of the River Erne, forming a lovely and most extensive lake, which takes very high rank for natural beauty. About midway it contracts into a narrow stream, and upon this Enniskillen stands, eminently beautiful for situation. Two miles below the town is Devenish Island, with a Round Tower and old ruined abbey. On leaving Enniskillen the railway continues through Omagh and Newtown Stewart to Strabane, and there the branch to Donegal turns off abruptly to the west and southwest, passing through the Barnesmore Gap, a fine gorge through the mountains, which rise on one side over 1,700 feet, and on the other over 1,400 feet. The rail extends only to Druminin, two or three miles from Donegal, the journey thither being completed by car, the ride giving a good foretaste of the pleasures to come in the way of beautiful views.

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