Moville (; ) is a coastal town located on the
Inishowen Peninsula of
County Donegal,
Ireland, close to the northern tip of the
island of Ireland. It is the first coastal town of the
Wild Atlantic Way when starting on the northern end.
Location
The town is located on the western shore of
Lough Foyle
Lough Foyle, sometimes Loch Foyle ( or "loch of the lip"), is the estuary of the River Foyle, on the north coast of Ireland. It lies between County Londonderry in Northern Ireland and County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Sovereignty over ...
, approximately from
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
, which lies across the border in
Northern Ireland. Features include Moville Green, a pier, a large seaside park in the Victorian style which features bandstands, walking trails, playgrounds, a coastal footpath and views east across the waters of the lough to Northern Ireland. Moville is close to several beaches, and receives visitors and daytrippers in the summer months.
Moville Community College is located to the south of the town centre, in the
townland of Carrownaff.
History
In the second half of the 19th century, Moville was a point of embarkation for travellers, especially emigrants, to
Canada and the
United States of America. In the late 19th century, steamships of the Glasgow-based
Anchor Line and
Allan Line made port at Moville while en route to and from New York, while just after the turn of the 20th century, the
Canadian Pacific Line
CP Ships was a large Canadian shipping company established in the 19th century. From the late 1880s until after World War II, the company was Canada's largest operator of Atlantic and Pacific steamships. Many immigrants travelled on CP ships fr ...
also established a terminal at the port as part of their service connecting Liverpool and
Montreal for Canadian-bound Irish immigrants. Today, the town receives little maritime traffic but retains a small fishing harbour. The commercial fishing port at
Greencastle lies a few miles away.
The ancestors of Field-Marshal
Bernard Montgomery
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and t ...
, the Montgomerys of New Park, were a
landed family of the town. When flying over the town in 1947 he commented: "It looks just the same. My dear old Irish home". His grandfather
Robert Montgomery had built Montgomery Terrace in 1884.
Festivals
An annual
regatta
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...
is held at Moville every year in August, and has done so since early in the 19th century.
Several music festivals take place in the area annually, including a festival of
Bob Dylan music (DylanFest) which has taken place since 2007, and a festival of
Beatles' music (BeatlesFest) which takes place in the town square in August.
Notable people
*
Robert Montgomery (1809-1887) - British colonial administrator;
Lieutenant Governor of Punjab
*
Sheila McClean (1932-2016) - painter
*
Art Parkinson (born 2001) - actor
Gallery
File:Moville, Co. Donegal - geograph.org.uk - 51148.jpg, Maguire's Pub, established 1871.
File:Moville Malin Road 2019 08 28.jpg, Malin Road, Moville
File:CarrickaroryPier 2004 SeanMcClean.jpg, Carrickarory Pier at night - Lights of Magilligan prison on left.
File:MovilleGreen.jpg, View of Moville's Green and Lough Foyle coast
File:Moville Church of Saint Pius X 2014 09 10.jpg, Roman Catholic Parish Church of St. Pius X with a dodecagonal lantern, built in the 1950s
References
{{Authority control
Towns and villages in County Donegal
Populated coastal places in the Republic of Ireland