Dungloe

An Clochán Liath, known in English as Dungloe (sometimes misspelled as Dunglow; ), is a town on the west coast of County Donegal in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. It is the main town in The Rosses and the largest in the Donegal Gaeltacht. Dungloe developed as a town in the middle of the 18th century, and now serves as the administrative and retail centre for the west of County Donegal, and in particular The Rosses, with the only mainland secondary school for the area.

Name
There is a river at the bottom of the town and years ago the only crossing was over a grey granite slab lying in the riverbed, hence the Irish name of the town, An Clochán Liath, which means the grey stepping-stone. The bridge was built in 1782. The name An Clochán Liath was formerly anglicised as Cloghanlea. The name Dungloe or Dunglow is believed to come from the Irish Dún gCloiche. This name came into common English usage in the later years of the 18th century when the monthly fair, formerly held at Dún gCloiche (five miles north of the nascent town) was transferred to An Clochán Liath. In time the name of the fair and that of the town were subsumed. Today, An Clochán Liath is the only officially recognised name of the town.

Irish language
The Comprehensive Linguistic Survey of the Gaeltacht (revised) found that only 21.4% of the population of the area spoke Irish on a daily basis. Despite being officially within the Gaeltacht, Irish is not the everyday language of the majority of residents. Just over one-fifth of the population are daily Irish speakers. Nevertheless, there are Irish-speaking areas outside the town and Irish is to be heard regularly in the town.

Administration
Dungloe is home to the Dungloe District Court, which covers the west and south-west areas of County Donegal. The local council offices are situated in the Public Services Centre on the Gweedore Road, including an Intreo centre, Citizens Information centre and Donegal County Council office.

There is a Garda station, Donegal County Council office, and a fire station, located on the Main Street.. Also, there are several convenience stores, supermarkets, cafes, pubs and restaurants. The town is the headquarters of The Rosses' indigenous supermarket chain, The Cope. The Dungloe Community Hospital campus also contains a hospital, mental health services and a day centre for the elderly.

A visitor centre to Daniel O'Donnell was opened in 2012 in the town's former National Irish Bank building. The visitor centre closed in 2019.

Tourism
The town attracts tourists during July and August when the annual Mary From Dungloe International Festival takes place. It was founded in the 1960s and it has attracted 'special guests' over the years including Daniel O'Donnell, Cliff Richard, Gay Byrne and Sharon Shannon. Dungloe Bay and its surrounding hills have also attracted tourists to Dungloe. There is also a festival dedicated to the socialist writer Peadar O'Donnell in Dungloe each autumn. A little to the north of the town is the site of the ancient church of Templecrone.



Transport
The town is serviced by a regional Bus Éireann route and several TFI Local Link routes, as well as a number of private bus companies, both of which provide a link to national Bus Éireann routes through Donegal Town and Letterkenny, and to the north of the county and Derry also.

In 1903, the town was linked, through Dungloe railway station, to the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway. However, the station was closed on 3 June 1940 as part of a process that saw the closure of all railways in the county. The company continued to provide coach services to the town via the Lough Swilly Bus Company in the aftermath of the closure of the railways, however this ended in April 2014.

Religion and popular culture
By the standards of a rural Gaeltacht area, Dungloe has a significant Protestant minority, many of whom are Presbyterian. This is a result of the Plantation of Ulster in the seventeenth century. However, the town has a large Catholic majority.

Dungloe is mentioned in FX series Sons of Anarchy as the source of the motorcycle club's weapons from the True IRA, a fictional representation of the Real IRA.

The song Mary from Dungloe by Emmet Spiceland.

People

 * Tony Boyle (born 1970) – All-Ireland winning Gaelic footballer
 * Alexander Campbell (1833–1877) – American businessman
 * Paddy "the Cope" Gallagher (1871–1966) – businessman
 * John O'Donnell (1910–1954) – Gaelic footballer
 * Peadar O'Donnell (1893–1986) – republican Marxist
 * Adrian Sweeney (born 1976) – All-Star Gaelic footballer
 * Goats Don't Shave, Irish folk group