St Johnston

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St Johnston
Baile Suingean
Village

Village of St. Johnston

St Johnston
Location in Ireland






Population (2011)
Urban 583





An aerial view of St Johnston
St Johnston, officially Saint Johnstown (Irish: Baile Suingea), is a village,
townland, and electoral division in County Donegal in Ireland It is in the Lagan
district of East Donegal on the left bank of the River Foyle It is in the civil
parish of Taughboyne and Raphoe North, on the R236 (Lifford
Newtowncunningham) road where it overlaps the R265 (Carrigans Raphoe)
road. The village is about 12 km south of Derry.
Architecture
St. Baithin's Church, the Catholic parish church in the village, was designed by
E. W. Godwin, the mid-Victorian British architect. It is a neo-Gothic structure
that was built between 1857 and 1860
St. Johnston Presbyterian Church, located on the Derry Road, is the other main
structure within the village. Parts of this church may date back to around 1724.
This church, which is owned by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, was
severely damaged by a lightning strike in the mid-1980s. The tower of the
church was particularly damaged. The building, however, which serves the
large Ulster Scots Presbyterian community in this part of The Lagan, had been
fully restored by around 1990.
History
Mongavlin Castle
Mongavlin Castle also known as Mongevlin Castle, a ruined castle, approx
3 km south of the town. It was once a stronghold of the O'Donnell's, Lords of
Tyrconnell. In the sixteenth century Mongevlin was the chief residence of Ineen
Dubh, the daughter of MacDonnell, Lord of the Isles and mother of Red Hugh
O'Donnell. When Ineen Dubh came to Ireland to marry Aodh mac Maghnusa
Domhnaill, she brought a force of 100 of the biggest men she could find in
Scotland for protection. 80 of these were of the name Crawford. When
Mongavlin was eventually abandoned, the Crawford's settled and married in the
locality. Many of their descendants can still be found in the area to this day. On
23 July 1610 Mongevlin Castle and lands were granted to Ludovic Stewart, 2nd
Duke of Lennox. On the death of Ludovic on 16 February 1624 the title of Duke
of Lennox and the castle and lands at Mongavlin passed to his brother Esme
(3rd Duke of Lennox). Esm had married Katherine Clifton, 2nd Baroness
Clifton in 1609 and after his death in August 1624, Katherine then married
James Hamilton (2nd Earl of Abercorn) circa 1632.
A borough was established at the site in the reign of James I of England during
the Plantation of Ulster,St Johnstown Borough was a borough constituency in
the House of Commons of Ireland from about 1619 to the Acts of Union 1800
The borough was a rotten borough and the settlement never more than a village.
James II of England visited here on his way to the siege of Derry in 1690. From
here he sent a letter proposing surrender, as history shows it was rejected.