placenamesLetterbarra
Leitir Beara
The Church of the Holy Redeemer at Drimarone anchors Letterbarra's rural landscape, while a meeting in a local pub helped establish the Bluestack Ramblers in 1995.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Leitir Beara · Irish · main form · validated name
- Letterbarra · English · main form
Place & story
The church at Drimarone
The Church of the Holy Redeemer at Drimarone, beside Letterbarra, was built around 1869. Its simple hall form is given a Gothic character by pointed windows and carved stone crosses above the gables. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records a nave of five bays and a shallow chancel. A freestanding iron belfry stands in the grounds; the inventory associates its bell with a memorial gift from Revd Daniel S. Sheerin in 1934. [2]
An altered interior with older details
The church's interior combines later changes with surviving nineteenth-century craftsmanship. A western gallery rests on iron Doric columns, beneath an open timber roof with cross-bracing and a boarded ceiling. The inventory also notes a timber confessional with turned finials. The interior was reordered around 1980, while a porch window depicting St Colmcille dates from 2000. An older traceried chancel window survived alterations that left it no longer visible from inside the church. [2]
A walk that led to a club
John McGroary's account of the Bluestack Ramblers' beginnings places a decisive meeting at O'Neill's pub in Letterbarrow in summer 1995. A walk from the pub around Drimboarty and back over Altidoo was followed by agreement to establish the club. McGroary became chairperson and Michael Devaney secretary; Pauline McGroary supplied its name. The Donegal Town-based club thus traces part of its foundation to an outing and discussion in this rural community. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Letterbarra. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Church of the Holy Redeemer, Drumrone, registration 40909311 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- History: Beginning · John McGroary, Bluestack Ramblers
- The Church of the Holy Redeemer at Drimarone near Letterbarra, as photographed in 2010 illustration: based on a RC Church at Drumone by Kenneth Allen. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.