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| KILYBEGS, COUNTY DONEGAL.-This pretty little seaport is situated on a land-locked inlet of Donegal Bay, fourteen miles west of the town of Donegal. It has MacSwyne's Bay on the east and the Bay of Fintragh on the west, at this portion of the Donegal coast is one picturesque session of arms of the sea, under different designations - some romantic and fanciful, others matter-of-fact and commonplace in the extreme. Kilybegs-more properly Killybegs-derives its name, according to the annals of the Four Masters, from the Gaelic, cealla-beaga, signifying "little churches." Some monasic ruins within its precincts indicate that it was once a resort for the pious, who sought to avoid religious persecution in that quaint and remote retreat. The village has a fine mountain background, and is well sheltered from the rude blasts of the Ulster winter, which is often quite severe. The houses, as a rule, are old fashioned and of humble aspect, and, like all places of its kind in Ireland, Kilybegs has retrograded rather than advanced in prosperity and population during the last half century. Many foreign tourists frequent the hamlet during the summer season. |
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