Bruckless Bay
GPS: 54.635698, -8.387696
Bruckless Bay Disaster
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While Bruckless Bay can be a site of tranquil beauty, it also has a dark history.
One night in February 1813, an unexpected storm claimed the lives of a large number of fishermen in Bruckless Bay.
The date of the disaster varies with the accounts. Some say it happened of night of 12-13th February, while the grave slabs of some victims indicate they died on the 11th.
It is thought that somewhere between 79 and 130 fishermen from this parish, Inver, Killybegs, Fintra, Teelin and Mullaghmore were lost, and some bodies were never recovered. This event left a profound mark on the fishing community in South West Donegal, and is commemorated in story, recitation and on a monument at McSwyne's Castle.​​
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A local story goes that the fishermen of the area had grown tired of an increasingly demanding beggar woman who lived in Darney and refused her demands for fish one morning. Unfortunately she was a ‘witch’, and in retaliation, she conjured up the storm. To this day, local fishermen will not refuse a request to donate fish.
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Paradise Pier
The pier refers to the title of Dermot Bolger’s wonderful book about the Goold-Verschoyle family – ‘The Family at Paradise Pier’. At the turn of the last century, this extraordinary family lived in the Manor House, Dunkineely.
One of their favourite places to picnic and relax was this pier, on the shore of Bruckless Bay.
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Bruckless House
This fine Georgian house was reputedly built by the Nesbitt family circa 1760.
In 1795 if pass to the Cassidy, a family of merchants and tanner; circa 1830 who made substantial alterations to the house. It was sold to Thomas Kelly Grene in 1902; a keen gardener. It passed to his nephew, the famous musician and music archivist, Arthur Warren Darley. In 1922 he sold it to Thomas Roderick Fford, a retired Royal Navy Commander and became an ardent believer in Marxism.
It is currently owned by the Evans family since 1974.
(Please note this is private property and not accessible)
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Fforde’s Grave
Both Thomas and Joan Fforde, of Bruckless House are buried on the grounds of Bruckless House.
Joan was possibly the first member of the Bahá’í Faith in Ireland. A simple gravestone marks their unconsecrated grave. The inscription of the stone reads, “The immortality of the dead exists only in the minds of the living”.
The grave is cared for and celebrated by Donegal members of the Bahá’í Faith.
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