County Dossier
Donegal
A north-western county of headlands, mountains and Gaelic tradition.
Donegal occupies the far north-west of the island, with a broken coastline of loughs, peninsulas and islands facing the Atlantic.
At a glance
Donegal at a glance
A north-western county of headlands, mountains and Gaelic tradition.
- Tir Chonaill of the O'Donnells
- Named for the fort of the foreigners
- Birthplace of Enya, singer (1961)
- Area: 1,869 sq miles / 4,841 sq km
- Population: 161,137
- County Top: Errigal (2,464ft / 751m)
County Geography
Donegal meets Derry / Londonderry to the east and north-east, Tyrone to the south-east, Fermanagh to the south, and Leitrim to the south-west, while the Atlantic forms the county’s western and northern sea edge. The county is shaped by its indented coastline, the Derryveagh and Bluestack uplands, and the inward-cutting bays and loughs that divide its outer frame.
Donegal is easy to recognise through its peninsulas, mountain core, Atlantic inlets, and long northern and western sea edge.
Map Reference
View Donegal on the map
Donegal is the county. The map shows its boundary, places, and neighbouring counties.
The county.
The county boundary.
Nearby counties and places.
Places and routes
Letterkenny, Donegal town, Ballyshannon, Buncrana, and Killybegs show the county from its central basin and southern gateway to its northern peninsula and south-western coast.
Connections
The county’s routes have long crossed through Letterkenny and Donegal town, followed the bay and lough edges, and run outward toward Buncrana, Ballyshannon, and Killybegs. Movement follows the same mountain, peninsula, and coastal pattern.
Names
- Donegal
- County Donegal
- County of Donegal
Dún na nGall is the Irish form of Donegal. County Donegal is the formal historical style, the county name means the fort of the foreigners, and the older county background lies in Tír Chonaill and the O’Donnell sphere of the north-west.
Donegal was a county by the early seventeenth century, but its mountain-and-peninsula geography and older Gaelic continuity had already given it a strong territorial identity. That far north-western geography still gives the historic county a clear shape.