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Ramelton

*Ráth Mealtain*
Ramelton Ráth Mealtain
Town
	Bridge over the River Lennon in Ramelton
	Ramelton Location in Ireland
	Coordinates: 55°02′08″N 7°38′44″W / 55.03562°N 7.64555°W
Country	Ireland
Province	Ulster
County	County Donegal
Elevation	20 m (70 ft)
Population (2022)	1,288
Irish Grid Reference	C228212

Ramelton (rə-MEL-tun; Irish: Ráth Mealtain),^[2] also Rathmelton, is a town and townland in County Donegal, Ireland. As of 2022, its population was 1,288.^[1]

History

Ramelton is situated at the mouth of the River Lennon, 11 km north of Letterkenny and 4 km south 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Facilities

Ramelton is serviced by many shops and services within the town. The Town Hall in Ramelton was built in the late 19th century and still has a vital role in the community today.^{[citation needed]}

The town has many grocery stores including Kernan's Spar Supermarket, Whoriskey's Eurospar and McFadden's Supermarket.^[3]

The town has three main churches: St. Mary's Catholic Church,^[4] St. Paul's Church of Ireland (Parish of Tullyaughnish),^[5] and the Presbyterian Church.^[6]

The town is served by two local bus operators that connect Ramelton to Letterkenny, the largest town in County Donegal, and to several other towns in the north of the county. Local Link number 300 runs between Letterkenny, Ramelton and Fanad Lighthouse, via Rathmullan, Kerrykeel, Portsalon and Ballylar;^[7] and the number 974, operated by Patrick Gallagher Travel, runs between Letterkenny, Ramelton and Downings, via Milford, Cranford, Glen and Carrigart.^[8] In addition, John McGinley Coach Travel runs a service between Ramelton and Letterkenny in order for people to connect to their onward coach service to Dublin.

Music and sport

The town is home to a marching band which frequently wins prizes in the Miscellaneous Marching Bands (Buíon Rogha Gléas) category of the All-Ireland Fleadh.^[9]

Swilly Rovers Football Club is based in the town. It was founded in 1929. It also has a tennis club.^[10]

Other

The town is home to McDaid's soft drinks manufacturer whose drinks are sold throughout Donegal and further afield.^[11] Its most famous drink is the Football Special which was originally produced to celebrate the successes of Swilly Rovers Football Club.^[12]

The town was the setting for the 1995 television serial The Hanging Gale, which told of the Great Famine of the 19th century.

Ramelton is also a key setting for the A.E.W. Mason novel The Four Feathers.

The town hosts the Lennon Festival, a village fair, since 1970. Ramelton is a Fáilte Ireland designated Heritage Town.^{[citation needed]}

The town is also the setting for Django Sur Lennon gypsy jazz festival which has been held in the town since 2015 and has featured gypsy jazz musicians from Europe and beyond.^[13]

Notable people

Catherine Black, private nurse to King George V
Robert E. Bonner, American publisher, born Ramelton
William C. Campbell, scientist, Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine in 2015^[14]
Will Carruthers, writer and musician with Spacemen 3, Spiritualized and The Brian Jonestown Massacre^{[citation needed]}
Patsy Gallacher, association football player with Celtic F.C^{[citation needed]}
Dave Gallaher, All Blacks rugby captain, author and WW1 soldier
Roy Greenslade^[15]
Arthur Gwynn, cricket and rugby union player
Edward Gwynn, scholar of Old Irish and Celtic literature
John Tudor Gwynn, cricket player
Lucius Gwynn, cricket and rugby union player^{[citation needed]}
Robert Gwynn, cricket player
Conrad Logan, professional footballer^{[citation needed]}
Francis Makemie, clergyman, the founder of Presbyterianism in the United States
William McAdoo, American Democratic Party politician
Basil McCrea, MLA, Leader of NI21 in the Northern Ireland Assembly
Anne-Marie McDaid, rower and paralympian.^[16]^[17]
Walter Patterson, first British Governor of Prince Edward Island

References

^ ^a ^b "Census Interactive Map – Towns: Ramelton". Central Statistics Office (Ireland). Retrieved 25 June 2024.
^ "Ráth Mealtain/Rathmelton". Placenames Database of Ireland (logainm.ie). Government of Ireland - Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Dublin City University. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
^ "Shops". Archived from the original on 14 July 2003.
^ "St. Mary's Church". Diocese of Raphoe. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^ "St. Paul's Church". Tullyaughnish Parish. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^ "Ramelton Presbyterian Church". Ramelton Presbyterian Church. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^ "Timetables". Local Link Donegal Sligo Leitrim.
^ "Patrick Gallagher Bus Timetables". Patrick Gallagher Travel.
^ "Ramelton Town Band Wins". Irish Marching Bands. 11 July 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^ "Ramelton Tennis Club". Local Gym and Fitness. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^ "McDaids". McDaids. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^ "Football Special". McDaids. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^ "Django sur Lennon". Django sur Lennon. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^ "Irish scientist wins Nobel Prize for Medicine".
^ "The Irish still love their newspapers". The Guardian. 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.
^ "Anne-Marie McDaid". rte.ie. 23 August 2012.
^ "From MS diagnosis to fifth in world". independent.ie.