Going up the hill, looking back: Ballyshannon has a One-Way-System

The first time we came to Ballyshannon was back in 1985. It was a terrible summer, cold and rainy, but we pitched our tend up at the school — just a couple of hundred meters from our house now. It was the time of the Ballyshannon Folk Festival, at the time one of the biggest Fleadhs on the West Coast, and it was a mad ride!

There was music everywhere, the pubs were busting, although there were a lot of them. Think of a town with less than 2500 inhabitants and 13 pubs! According to the BBC 10,000 people attended the festival.

Eleven of them are still going, but most are only open a couple of nights per week. As everywhere else Covid has taken a toll, and many businesses suffered. So the plentitude of pubs means that outside of festival-times there are just not enough guests to fill them.

Luckily, Ballyshannon still is a festival-town! There is a yearly Theater-Festival in February, the Folk-Festival in August and a Literature-Festival in November. But the best-known Festival still is the Rory Gallagher Tribute Festival that takes place every year on the first weekend in June.

Dicey Reillys: pub and micro-brewery

Gallagher is the most famous son of the town today, the other one being William Allingham, the 19th century poet. Since 2010 there is a Gallagher-statue by artist David Annand in the town-center, that quickly became a true “instagram spot” in Ballyshannon.

Ballyshannon calls itself the “oldest town in Ireland”, which is more of a legal thing than a historical truth: Ballyshannon was granted Town-rights in 1613, as one of the first settlements in Ireland. But the first inhabitants arrived significantly earlier: There were people living in and around Ballyshannon more than 5000 years ago, as archaeological finds from the neolithic period show.

Far more important than that: According to legend the mystic Partholon and his people landed on Inis Saimer, the little river-island at the pier, to repopulate Ireland 300 years after Noah’s flood. There you go now.

Rory Gallagher, 1948-1995: his father took part in the construction of the power-station

You won’t see much of that ancient past in town itself. The oldest houses today date back to the late 18th century. The town was always a workers and fishers place, so don’t look out for fancy mansions and royal palaces – I do not think that Ballyshannon ever was a particular rich place. For me the most interesting building is the old workhouse from victorian times, just round the corner from our house.

Those tragic places, once upon a time created to soften the impact of poverty, are deeply connected to the most bitter periods of history – and not only in Ireland. The Workhouse in Ballyshannon was left to rot far too long. Although the decay added to its eeriness, it is good news that there is a scheme on its way to renovate it.

Evening mood at the pier, early March 2024: according to legend the first place humans set foot on Irish soil after Noah’s flood.

That might have been the reason the town readily agreed to the proposal, to construct the first hydroelectric power-station at the top of town in the early 1950s. A dam was erected that created the reservoir that is known today as Lake Asseroe. At a time a remarkable technical achievement that not only brought electricity, but lots of employment to town. Today it is regretted by many: There was a picturesque waterfall where the dam is today. What a tourist attraction the famous Asseroe Falls could have become!

Since a couple of years the discussion is on, how the river can be renaturalized to make it more appealing again.

Going down to the little pier you get an impression how idyllic that could be: Inis Saimer in the sunset, the river going out to the sea and on the horizon the dunes of Tullan Strand are indeed a nice view. The park above it is a popular evening stroll – and in the morning you might see joggers and sportive people on the work-out-stations provided.

The town itself is easily walked, the road leading up the hill comes down again on the other side of the block. Shortly before you are back at Rory’s statue you’ll reach the Diamond, the little central square: It is not only the local “foot mile”, but the center of nightlife as well.

Coming down the hill: parking can be tricky, but most of the time you’ll find space at the Diamond