Lough Swilly

The Lough Swilly (Irish: Loch Súilí ) is a fjord -like estuary that lies between the Fanad peninsula in the west and in the east Inishowen in the north of Ireland in County Donegal. It is about 45 kilometers long and in the middle of three to five kilometers wide.

The northern end of Lough Swilly line Fanad Head and Dunaff Head. Places on the edge of the sea in the east and arm are Buncrana and Rathmullan Port Salon in the West. At the southern end of Lough Swilly, the town of Letterkenny is located.

After a failed uprising in September 1607 left Aodh Mór Ó Néill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone (2nd Earl of Tyrone ) and Rory O'Donnell ( 1st Earl of Tyrconnell ) of Rathmullan in Lough Swilly, Ireland; also known as the Flight of the Earls. In October 1798 during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 a French fleet, the troops should land under the leadership of Wolfe Tone, intercepted and destroyed at the entrance of Lough Swilly.

Lough Swilly was used by the Royal Navy in the First World War as an anchorage and the British built a series of forts along the edge of the lough to secure this. The remains of some of the forts can ( now a museum ) or be visited near Buncrana among others Lenan Head, Dunree. The Lough Swilly was also one of the Treaty Ports, which remained after the formation of the Irish Free State by the Anglo - Irish Treaty under the domination of the English.