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Ar an Bhaile Seo

Reilig Thulacha Beigile Image Name: Reilig Thulacha Beigile Description: Reilig Thulacha Beigile
Séamus Mac Géidigh Image Name: Séamus Mac Géidigh Description: Séamus Mac Géidigh
Séamus Mac Géidigh Image Name: Séamus Mac Géidigh Description: Séamus Mac Géidigh, Presenter Copyright: RTÉ

Clár inniu faoi Reilig Thulacha Beigile.

Ba é Naomh Beaglaoich a bhunaigh an chéad eaglais ar thalamh ard i mBaile an Teampaill a luíonn os cionn bhaile an Fhál Charraigh i nDún na nGall sa seisiú hAois.  Sa bhliain 1610, rinneadh teampall de chuid Eaglais na hÉireann di agus bhí seirbhísí inti go dtí gur thit an díon di i 1834.  Tosaíodh ag adhlacadh daoine sa reilig timpeall an teampaill i dtús na hochtú céide déag.  Meastar gurbh í Reilig Thulacha Beigile an reilig Chríostaí is sine in iarthuaisceart Dhún na nGall, agus tá tuama ó 1735 le feiceáil sa reilig go fóill.

Ní amháin go bhfuil bunadh Chloich Cheannfhaola curtha sa reilig, ach tá cuid de mhuintir Ghaoth Dobhair agus na Rosann curtha inti fosta agus bhí aistear fada le déanamh ag muintir na bparóistí sin thar Chnoc Thaobh a’ Leithid chun na reilige.  Dá dtitfeadh an oíche ar an tórramh, bhíodh sé de ghnás faire a dhéanamh an oíche sin i scáthlán cóngarach do Dhroichead Thulacha Beigile i bpáirc a dtugtar Lag na Faire air atá suite i bPáirc Alaic.  Le héirí gréine lá arna mhárach, leanfadh an tórramh ar aghaidh go Reilig Thulacha Beigile.  Sa chlár seo inniu, labhrann Séamus Mac Géidigh le staraithe agus muintir na háite faoi stair na reilige.

Today’s programme is about the Tulacha Beigile Graveyard.

St Beaglaoich established the first church here on high ground in Baile an Teampaill above the town of An Fál Cárrach, or Falcarragh, in Donegal in the sixth Century.  In 1610, the building became a Church of Ireland church and there were services there regularly until the roof fell off in 1834.  The first burials in the graveyard took place in the early 18th Century.  It’s believed that the cemetery at Tulacha Beigile is the oldest Christian cemetery in northwest Donegal, and there’s a tomb there that dates back to 1735.

A large part of the population of the parish of Cloich Cheannfhaola is buried there, but so too are many people from Gaoth Dobhair and Na Rosa.  Those communities had a long way to go to bury their dead – over the mountain at Taobh an Leithid.  Tradition was that if night fell as they made their way to the cemetery, the funeral party would stop and wake the dead person over night in a shelter near the Tulacha Beigile Bridge.  Then, when the sun would rise in the morning, the funeral would continue on to the cemetery at Tulacha Beigile.  Séamus Mac Géidigh speaks today to historians and to the local community about this graveyard in northwest Donegal.