Ionad Cois Locha or the Dunlewey Lakeside Centre is situated on the shores of Dunlewey Lough in the shadow of the haunting and mysterious Poison Glen and at the foot of Mount Errigal, the highest mountain in the county.
The centre tells the story of the renowned weaver, Manus Ferry, and his home has been reconstructed to give the visitor the full flavour of life in Donegal in the middle of the last century. It offers something for all the family and facilities include weaving displays, a lake with paddle boats and canoes, an indoor play area, lakeside walks and pony trekking.
There are demonstrations in carding, spinning and weaving wool as well as guided tours of the restored house and farm, storytelling and boat trips on Dunlewey lake. There is an adventure play area, pet animals, tea room, restaurant and craft shop.
There are also traditional music sessions every Tuesday during July and August.
Tory Island derives its name from the high pinnacle cliffs eroded by the battering swells of the Atlantic. Tory Island has been populated since the age of Neolithic farmers four thousand years ago.
Tory Island lies some 11 km off the North Donegal coast and measures just 3 miles by 1 mile long.
It is served by a purpose built ferryboat, 'Tor Mor' running daily from Magheraroarty (40 minutes) and from Bunbeg (75 minutes). Tel. 075-31991 for further information.
The sea journey is not an easy one and, befoe the advent of the helicopter, Tory was frequently cut off from the mainland for weeks on end. Life on the island is not easy but valiant attempts have been made to improve the economy of the island. A successful school of painting is one of the recent visible signs of this.
The main archaeological feature of the island is the round tower which is near the shore in the village of West Town. This is a squat, partially ruined, tower but is intact on one side with some of the conical cap still surviving, built of a pinkish-hued granite cemented with a lime made, it is believed, from sea-shells. At ground level, the circumference is 15.7m, the height to the ruined cap is about 13m. However it was cemented, it is a credit to the builders that this tower survived over 1,000 years of Atlantic buffetings.
The foundation plan of an early church, known as the Church of the Morsheisear, (of the Seven People) is all that remains of what literature suggests were at least five churches. There is also at the pier in West Town a T-shaped cross, carved from a single block of stone alllmost 2m high. However, there is no known trace of "St. Columkille's Church" as shown in early ordnance survey maps.
The island has apparently been inhabited since pre-historic times.
