Letterkenny

Letterkenny grew on rising ground above the River Swilly in eastern Donegal. Though people had lived in the surrounding country long before, the town itself took shape during the plantation of Ulster. In 1611 land was granted to Captain Patrick Crawford, and a market settlement was laid out. A survey in 1619 recorded forty houses in the growing town. Its streets and market brought settlers and the neighbouring countryside together under the new landholding arrangements that followed the removal of the old Gaelic lords.