Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Pococke's Tour in Ireland in 1752 (Author: Richard Pococke)
entry 30
On the 24th I set out in the afternoon and going along the strand for a mile, ascended the hill to the west and came to Lough Kildairar, and observed an Island in it, with a building on it; we then came to Loughros More Bay, and to a bridge over the river Oneck, where there is a stone set up an end nine feet high, four broad and three thick, they call it Fin McCoue's shoulder
p.68
stone, with which he used to divert himself by throwing it like a Quoit. We then went over the Ardara on a bridge and soon had Loughros Beg Bay to the west. There are three chains of mountains which run the length of the head of land, one on the Northern shore, another on the southern, and the third running along the middle of the country are called the mountains of Boylagh, from the half barony of that name; the other half barony of Banagh being to the south, we came to Mugurry on the entrance between the mountain in the middle, and passing several streams came to Mulmusog Mountains mountains which are part in Boylagh and part in Banagh and at length to the long bog called Stragate Mountain, over which there is a very good road made to a village call'd Carrignabouhil on a rivlet called Bougoshton that falls into the Bay of Killybegs, at which place we arrived a very poor town or rather village, situated on the west side of the bay, about a mile from the sea, and from the north end of the bay; it is esteemed one of the finest harbours in Ireland: There is a narrow entrance to it, on the inside of which is an old Castle, and over it the foundations of another, call'd Cat-Castle. At the lower Castle the East India ships when they came in during Queen Anne's war, planted a battery and another on the opposite side, and there is a height over the town, where they say, there was a Castle: There are a very few fishing boats here; but ships belonging to Ballyshannon Merchants come here and unload, having Warehouses for that purpose; Ballyshannon being a bad harbour, by reason of a barr which hinders any ship of Burthen from coming into a safe place. To the west there is an open bay call'd Ti or Tilcers, where there is a curious cave, and beyond it at Mount Sleavebag there is a bed of Marble.