Travelstone: Letterkenny

Letterkenny Ireland

Letterkenny, often called “the Cathedral Town”, is the biggest and most populated town in County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. It’s on the River Swilly in East Donegal, in the western part of the historic province of Ulster, and has about 19,274 people living there. By population, it’s the 36th largest town in Ireland – bigger than places like Sligo, Larne, Banbridge, Armagh and Killarney – and the 15th largest in Ulster, most of which is now in Northern Ireland. Together with nearby Derry city, Letterkenny is seen as a key economic gateway for the north-west of the country. The town is also an important access point to the Ulster Gaeltacht, in much the same way that Galway is a gateway to the Connemara Gaeltacht. Letterkenny started out in the early 1600s as a market town during the Plantation of Ulster. A castle once stood near where the Cathedral of St Eunan and St Columba – Donegal’s only Catholic cathedral – stands today. Letterkenny Castle, built in 1625, was just south of Mt Southwell on Castle Street. The town is home to Donegal’s largest third-level institution, the Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT), as well as St Eunan’s College, Highland Radio and a Hindu temple. Letterkenny was also where the Oatfield Sweet Factory, a well-known confectionery maker, was originally based before the factory closed and was demolished in 2014. In 1798, the Irish revolutionary Theobald Wolfe Tone was arrested at Laird’s Hotel in the town. More recently, in 2015, Letterkenny was named Ireland’s tidiest town.

Recommended airport

City of Derry (LDY)

Nearby destinations

Letterkenny, Ireland

Letterkenny Ireland