St. Johnston, Co. Donegal, Ireland. Note new website below.

All files are JPEG.

• Main Street from the west end -- Hillhead (27k).
• Main Street from the east end -- Railway Road (14k).
• Another view of Lower Main Street with Tolands bar on left (38k).
• Panorama from south-west (41k). Shows River Foyle in the background, and hills of Co. Derry to right; Sherriff's Mountain, Co. Derry to left. St. Johnston is about eight miles upstream (south) from Derry City. St. Baithan's Church is in the foreground, and St. Johnston Presbyterian Church further back. The village main street is to the left, but hidden.
• A similar panorama, this time in the winter (36k).
• Ard Baithan (25k).
• Work on widening the bridge, winter 1998 (67k).
• Boathole (71k). This was formerly used as a small quay. In the background there is a bridge formerly used by the Great Northern Railway line (Belfast-Portadown-Omagh-St. Johnston-Derry (Foyle Road). The GNR line closed in 1965.
• Railway Road (47k).
• St. Johnston Cricket Club (34k).
• St. Baithan's Church
Front View, east, from road (47k).
Front View closer (67k).
Side view from south, with bell (63k).
• Presbyterian Church (12k).
• St. Johnston's three bars
  Fisherman's Inn (35k).
  Joe Peoples' (formerly McCann's) (44k).
  Tolands (43k).

Now we move into the surrounding countryside.

• Binion Hill seen from Castletown (39k).
• A thatched house at Castletown
More on thatching.
• A former scutch-mill at the Green (McGlinchey's)
• Taughboyne Creamery at Moness(41k)
• Ardagh and Kinnycally seen from Castletown (9k). The wood in the mid-distance is called the "The Glen" -- "The Quiet Glen" (Tommy Peoples). Through the Glen runs a stream which used to provide the water-power for three flax scutch-mills: Moody's, in the Glen itself by the waterfall mentioned in Tommy's liner notes, Buchanan's/Cassidy's, McGlinchey's at the Green, and a grain mill (Miller's) at the Milltown.
  Ardagh and Kinnycally in winter(44k)
• Standing stone at Rockfield, with Kinnycally Hill in background (44k).
• Slate quarry at Glentown (79k); shows quarry hole; Dooish Hill and "The Green Fields of Glentown" (Tommy Peoples) in the background. The quarry operated until about 1950. To quote from Tommy's web-site, "I wrote [both of these tunes] in the late sixties.The first reel I named after the next townland to mine in Donegal.It is a beautifully hilly area where one can look across the river Foyle to counties Tyrone and Derry.It's main claim to fame was a slate quarry that operated in the early half of this century. The quarry holes are still there, hundreds of feet deep with very deep water.They are easily accessible and not recommended to anyone afraid of heights".
• Slate quarry (66k); Ardagh Hill in the background.
• Castletown National School (60k).
• Craigadooish Church of Ireland Church (48k).
• Ballylennon Presbyterian Church (45k).
• Lynch's Bar at Carrickmore (34k). In previous times, during the summer salmon-fishing season, the bar licence used to transfer to a premises on the River Foyle. In addition, during that fishing season, in recognition of the professional fishermen's unsocial hours, the bar-licence was for 23 hours per day -- the publican had to close for just one hour per day.

  "The Congo". At one time, the riverside premises had the reputation for occasional brawls, sometimes of such ferocity that the guards had to be called with the protagonists ending up in the courts. In 1960, Irish troops were involved in U.N. peacekeeping duties in the Congo civil war (former Belgian Congo); and the war was infamous for its atrocities. It was at that time that a district justice, expressing his frustration with the frequent appearances of Lynch's customers, was caused to remark "that place is as bad as the Congo". And the nickname, "the Congo" has stuck.

• Montgavlin Castle (17k); on the west bank of the River Foyle about three miles south of St. Johnston.
• The village of Carrigans about three miles north of St. Johnston (59k)

Famous People.

• Tommy Peoples

  The Official Tommy Peoples Website

  Tommy Peoples' Entry in the Celtic Music Archive Site