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Address :
Bunbeg Tory (Toraigh) Co. Donegal
Surrounding Area :
None Given
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Description :
Tory Island derives its name from the high pinnacle cliffs eroded by the battering swells of the Atlantic. Tory Island has been populated since the age of Neolithic farmers four thousand years ago.
Tory Island lies some 11 km off the North Donegal coast and measures just 3 miles by 1 mile long.
It is served by a purpose built ferryboat, 'Tor Mor' running daily from Magheraroarty (40 minutes) and from Bunbeg (75 minutes). Tel. 075-31991 for further information.
The sea journey is not an easy one and, befoe the advent of the helicopter, Tory was frequently cut off from the mainland for weeks on end. Life on the island is not easy but valiant attempts have been made to improve the economy of the island. A successful school of painting is one of the recent visible signs of this.
The main archaeological feature of the island is the round tower which is near the shore in the village of West Town. This is a squat, partially ruined, tower but is intact on one side with some of the conical cap still surviving, built of a pinkish-hued granite cemented with a lime made, it is believed, from sea-shells. At ground level, the circumference is 15.7m, the height to the ruined cap is about 13m. However it was cemented, it is a credit to the builders that this tower survived over 1,000 years of Atlantic buffetings.
The foundation plan of an early church, known as the Church of the Morsheisear, (of the Seven People) is all that remains of what literature suggests were at least five churches. There is also at the pier in West Town a T-shaped cross, carved from a single block of stone alllmost 2m high. However, there is no known trace of "St. Columkille's Church" as shown in early ordnance survey maps.
The island has apparently been inhabited since pre-historic times and there was as elaborate four-walled fort at the east end known locally as "Dun Bhaloir" or Balor's fort. Balor is a legendary figure reputed to have only one baleful eye in the middle of his forehead. He was the Veltic God of Darkness. The story may have some origin in a real pirate who used Tory as a bolt-hole, but historians have very little evidence one way or another.
The islanders are a sturdy lot who live mainly by fishing. There is very limited agriculture on the island and the inhabitants are a very friendly people.
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Contact Details :
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