Ballintra


Ballintra is a village in the parish of Drumholm in the south of County Donegal, Ireland, just off the N15 between Donegal town and Ballyshannon. Ballintra lies on the northern bank of the Blackwater river.. The river rises in the hills that lie inland from the town, and flows through a number of small lakes before spilling over a small waterfall in a gorge behind the village.
The Irish meaning of Ballintra Baile an tSratha, means town by the low-lying land along a river, the village is situated close to Rossnowlagh and Murvagh beaches.
The village is situated in a limestone area, and there are a number of quarries in the area.

Amenities

Ballintra has one public house, a grocery store, a takeaway, a hairdresser, two primary schools, and three churches.

Sport

The Ballintra Races is an annual horse race run on a field close to the nearby Murvagh beach. Proceeds from the event go to support amenities in the area.
The local G.A.A. club is called Naomh Bríd. And the local Soccer club is called Copany Rovers.

Transport

opened on 21 September 1905, but finally closed on 1 January 1960. The station was on the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee network.

History

Decline of the Irish language

The 1911 census records only a handful of people in Ballintra who were Irish speakers. In his paper "Irish Speaking in the Pre-famine Period", Dr. Garret Fitzgerald remarks that "near Ballintra the language seems to have disappeared by the time of the Famine. Around Ballyshannon it also seems to have been almost extinct". As late as 1960 up to a few dozen native Irish speakers remained in Tamhnach a' Mhullaigh. The Irish scholar and campaigner Máirtín Ó Cadhain visited the area in 1957 to record folklore stores in Irish from a family in the area.

Developments

In the 1970s Donegal County Council built a small number of social housing units just off the Main Street on the Forge Road. A number of phases followed in which an additional twenty houses were added. A further change was the bypass of the village in the early 1980s.

People