Moville

For the small city in the United States, see Moville, Iowa.

Moville Bun an Phobail
—  Town  —
Moville.
Moville Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 55°12′00″N 6°59′00″W / 55.2°N 6.9833°W / 55.2; -6.9833Coordinates: 55°12′00″N 6°59′00″W / 55.2°N 6.9833°W / 55.2; -6.9833
Country	Ireland
Province	Ulster
County	County Donegal
Elevation	30 m (98 ft)
Population (2006)[1]
- Urban	1,427
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
- Summer (DST)	IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference	C648397

Moville (Magh Bhile or Bun an Phobail in Irish, having the same etymology as Movilla Abbey) is a town and coastal resort on the Inishowen Peninsula of County Donegal, close to the northern tip of Ireland.

Location

The town enjoys a scenic location on the eastern shore of Lough Foyle, some 30 km from Derry, which lies across the border in Northern Ireland. Its most attractive feature is its handsome Green, a large seaside park in the Victorian style which features bandstands, walking trails, playgrounds, a coastal footpath and sweeping views east across the waters of the lough to Northern Ireland. As a result of this pleasant location and the proximity of several marvellous beaches, Moville receives many visitors and daytrippers in the summer months.

History

In the second half of the 19th century, Moville was a significant point of embarkation for many travellers, especially emigrants, to Canada and the United States of America. Steamships of the Anchor Line, of Glasgow, and others en-route from Glasgow to New York City regularly called at Moville to pick up additional passengers. Today, the town receives little maritime traffic; it retains its small fishing harbour, but the important commercial fishing port at Greencastle lies only a few miles away.

The Montgomerys of New Park were a landed family of the town, the ancestors of Field-Marshal Montgomery. When flying over the town in 1947 he commented: "It looks just the same. My dear old Irish home".^[2] His grandfather Robert had built Montgomery Terrace in 1884.^[3]

An annual regatta is held at Moville every year in August, and has done so since early in the 19th century. In older times the one-man punt was popular, whereas nowadays the race of the home-made rafts brings competitors from many counties and large spectator crowds.

See also

• Moville Community College

Image gallery

• 

  Maguire's Pub, a typical Irish pub, est. 1871.

• 

  Carrickarory Pier at night - Lights of Magilligan prison on left.

• 

  View of Moville's Green and Lough Foyle coast.

References

1. ^ http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/census2006_Table_7_and_12.pdf
2. ^ Notes on the 1947 visit
3. ^ http://www.movilleinishowen.com/gallery/postcards_old_and_new/black_white_postcards.htm

External links

• Moville Records - Moville genealogy and history
• CraicOn.com - Moville based website covering the news and craic in Moville
• Moville Harbour - Directions for visiting yachtsmen