The Letterkenny & Burtonport Extension
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NUI MAYNOOTH Oll&coti nb r*£ir«sn;i wa Niiaa THE LETTERKENNY & BURTONPORT EXTENSION RAILWAY 1903-47: ITS SOCIAL CONTEXT AND ENVIRONMENT by FRANK SWEENEY THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF PH. D. DEPARTMENT OF MODERN HISTORY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: Professor R. V. Comerford Supervisor of research: Professor R. V. Comerford October 2004 Volume 1 CONTENTS Volume 1 Illustrations v Appendices vii Acknowledgements viii Abbreviations ix Introduction 2 Chapter 1 The condition of northwest Donegal 1875-1900 41 Chapter 2 The 1889 act and Balfour’s promise of a railway 94 Chapter 3 The fight for a railway under the 1996 act 147 Chapter 4 The planning and making of the railway, 1898-1903 194 Chapter 5 The early years 240 Chapter 6 The calm before the storm 296 iii VOLUME 2 Chapter 7 In the shadow of the great war 1 Chapter 8 The War of Independence 60 Chapter 9 The Civil War 110 Chapter 10 Struggling under native rule 161 Chapter 11 Fighting decline and closure 222 Epilogue 281 Bibliography 286 Appendices 301 iv ILLUSTRATIONS VOLUME 1 Fig. 1 Map of County Donegal 1 Fig. 2 Map of northwest Donegal 28 Fig. 3 Poor Law Unions of County Donegal 29 Fig. 4 Baronies and civil parishes of County Donegal 30 Fig. 5 Northwest Catholic parishes 31 Fig. 6 CDRJC rail systems in 1909 34 Fig. 7 Railways of County Donegal 1909 37 Fig. 8 Ownership of estates in Gweedore and Cloughaneely 44 Fig. 9 Donegal population trends 1841 - 1911 47 Fig. 10 PLV index County Donegal 48 Fig. 11 CDB district analysis of northwest Donegal 49 Fig. 12 Typical income and expenditure in northwest homes 1890s 65 Fig. 13 Great Northern Railway (GNR) system 96 F ig .14 Topography of County Donegal 105 Fig. 15 Poor Law Valuations Co. Donegal 1856-58 107 Fig. 16 Immediate lessors in County Donegal 108 Fig. 17 Protestants as a percentage of total population 110 Fig. 18 Railway proposals for Donegal 1890-91 112 Fig. 19 The Board of Works railway proposal 1890 131 Fig. 20 Board of Works proposed route in 1896 156 Fig. 21 Owencarro w V iaduct 212 Fig. 22 Barnes Viaduct 213 Fig. 23 Gradient profile of the Burtonport railway 219 Fig. 24 Locomotive and rolling stock with L&BER lettering 237 Fig. 25 Route, stations & gatehouses on Glenties and Burtonport railways 238 Fig. 26 A typical gatehouse of the Burtonport Extension 239 Fig. 27 Number of horses in the northwest 1901-1911 247 Fig. 28 Fish carried on L&BER 1903-7 251 Fig. 29 Herring purchased other than by CDB 1896-1903 252 Fig. 30 Housing comparisons 1901-11 256 Fig. 31 Classes of houses in northwest 1901-11 257 Fig. 32 Thatched and slated houses in northwest 1901-11 257 Fig. 33 Comparison of railway running costs in Ireland 1903-07 264 Fig. 34 List and cost of changes demanded by L&LSR 286 Fig. 35 Kincasslagh and Downings ports 316 Fig. 36 Growth of herring fishing in Downings 318 Fig. 37 S. and L. Railway and Letterkenny CDRJC & L&LSR stations 323 Fig. 38 Receipts for L&LSR and Burtonport Extension 338 Fig. 39 Herring landed at northwest ports and cured to export 345 Fig. 40 New Fludswell Clarke engine no. 12 347 v ILLUSTRATIONS VOLUME 2 Fig. 41 Special trains to and from the Letterkermy Hiring Fair 10 Fig. 42 School attendance in Gweedore and Cloughaneely 1918 12 Fig. 43 New fares Derry-Burtonport 1916 17 Fig. 44 Delays on Burtonport Extension 42 Fig. 45 Indictable offences committed in July 1920 in Co. Donegal 77 Fig. 46 Proposed wages and grades 114 Fig. 47 Irregular strongholds in Donegal 1922 127 Fig. 48 First count in Donegal General Election 1923 163 Fig. 49 Population trends 1911-1926 193 Fig. 50 Comparison of votes between 1923 and 1927 elections 204 Fig. 51 L&LSR receipts and expenses plus governments grants in 1920s 219 Fig. 52 New L&LSR timetable introduced in 1922 220 Fig. 53 Special trains to Dr McNeely’s consecration 1923 221 Fig. 54 Bus routes in the Rosses 1931 230 Fig. 55 Persons paid unemployment assistance 247 Fig. 56 Unemployment trends 1934-5, County Donegal 247 Fig. 57 Unemployment recipients in northwest 19354 and 1935 248 Fig. 58 The L&LSR bus network in Donegal from 1939 onwards 263 Fig. 59 Exports of turf from northwest Donegal 267 Fig. 60 Population trends 1911 -1946 274 APPENDICES 1 Mileposts, gatehouses and stations 301 2 Accident log of Burtonport Extension 1919-1935 303 3 Goods carried in 1913 308 4 Merchandise carried in 1921 on all L&LSR lines 309 5 Passengers carried 1903-16 310 6 Itemised costing of the L&BER 314 7 Two sample accounts from Duffy’s shop, 1888 318 8 Creeslough Station 329 v i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks to Professor R V. Comerford and the staff of the Department of Modem History, NUI Maynooth. Professor Comerford has been an inspirational figure throughout this study, giving me generously of his time and always willing to help and guide my efforts. My research was facilitated by the staff in the following libraries and repositories: National Library of Ireland, National Archives of Ireland, NUI Maynooth Library, Letterkenny Central Library and Dungloe Library, Ionad Teampall Chroine, Dungloe, County Donegal, P.R.O.N.I., Belfast and National Archives of England, Kew, London. My thanks to all of them for the patience and kindness shown. Many people in Donegal shared their memories of the Letterkenny & Burtonport Extension Railway with me. They are too many to list here but I thank them all for the many hours of time they gave me and the enjoyment I derived from their recollections. I thank my mother, Grace Sweeney, aged ninety-four years and living in Bunaman, Annagry, County Donegal. Her excellent memory and ability to recall so many detailed events with complete accuracy was a great help to me and added greatly to this research. I could not count the number of occasions when she could fill certain gaps with detail, dates, personnel and consequences and expand on written material with her own recollections and memories. My wife, Celia, gave me the time and support needed to conduct my research and she was a good critic of my efforts and a valuable evaluator of my research and writing. Likewise my family, Aisling, Grainne and Shane helped me in every way to fulfil my ambition to write the story of the Letterkenny & Burtonport Extension Railway. Special thanks to Kevin Cummins and Liam Foley for their hours of work. To my many friends in NUI Maynooth who supported my efforts and got references, articles and material for me, I say a wholehearted thanks to all especially Dr Raymond Gillespie who introduced me to the world of research. ABBREVIATIONS AOH Ancient Order of Hibernians BMH Bureau of Military History CDB Congested Districts Board Cd/Cdm Command Papers CDRJC County Donegal Railways Joint Committee CICMR County inspector’s confidential monthly report DD Donegal Democrat D l Donegal Independent DJ Derry Journal DP Derry People DS Derry Standard GAA Gaelic Athletic Association HC House of Commons IPP Irish Parliamentary Party IRA Irish Republican Army L&BER Letterkenny & Burtonport Extension Railway L&LSR Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway LS Londonderry Sentinel MP Member of Parliament NA National Archives of England (formerly Public Record Office) NAI National Archives of Ireland NLI National Library of Ireland PLV Poor Law Valuation PRONI Public Record Office of Northern Ireland RIC Royal Irish Constabulary TD Teachta Dala (Member of Dâil Eireann) UCD University College Dublin UIL United Irish League Jcamdonjjgh .TOFTiTCflAKM ISLAND Rlnmoie p* G la i e d y I N I S. H O W E M oville x Intehbofin Q Ranaghioo PL [¿¡¡¡rft BaflymagTwi iCarnwX*»! Cnoc Fob Ìà u n c ra n a fOflELABO fy fPj : Millford LIMAVA! Island Léim An Misi Em Ut) I ¿z »n ö o t ^d e b ä y / ÀRAÌNN fAHOR / " • IChiWv HB D0IRE i>**y afan ISLAND f ^ ^ S erkeni Gtondcr.van jjjJjfiCflanSfl M a g h o ry Quhy Head* R a p lio e BalLndrart Lifford! • CkTdy v s io n M ills kjiv W i d K i a BntfflO ¡jsinu/iy&rfr.' * f (J QTv>. ” S^r/i C/vvtt. Cw'l1 Glencolumbkille j /¡IMountfioid , K H lybegs logh e r Carridcmore ronvny Cartigan Krad TooLn Island Bundoran [rvineslown MutoQhmtxoQ TultegHanp^ Tritick Inistimurray f ^'Vinlouqh. ü3:? < A u g h c : cmiony ¿ f C lallard , eromB SCALE 1: «00,000 Source: Adapted by Frank Sweeney from Ordinance Survey road map o f Ireland 1997 Northwest Donegal is edged INTRODUCTION I was born in 1941 in the townland of Bunaman, in the parish of Annagry in northwest Donegal. My birth came one year after the closure of the Gweedore to Burtonport section of the Letterkenny & Burtonport Extension Railway which was visible from my home, so that I never had the joy of seeing a train passing by. During the years of my primary schooling, I passed over the railway twice daily and often joined with other schoolchildren in searching for little lumps of coal along the permanent way. In later years, the same track bed became one of my favourite walks and set me wondering about the story behind so large a development at a time when few monuments of progress left much impression on our local landscape. My interest in the Letterkenny & Burtonport Extension Railway was aroused. Most studies of railways tend to concentrate heavily on the locomotives, rolling stock, technical details and the accepted railway enthusiast’s cherished minutiae of locomotives, timetables, horsepower, manuals, specifications, signalling, gradients and memorabilia.