Before the Plantation of Ulster, the area from the present N56 to the sea, including modern day Salthill, was known as Tamhnach an tSalainn ('the Field of Salt'). This refers to the fields along the coast which flooded with seawater with the flow of the tide; as the water receded, salt remnants remained in the fields.
The Irish name for the village refers to this salt mine in the area which local people worked in, and at a growing rate, as the salt extraction rate was increased by the plantation founder, Charles Conyngham. The name was later anglicized as Tawnaghtallan and Tawnytallan.
Whereupon English became the only language permitted for placenames under the Penal laws in Ireland, the CistercianGrange in the area was known as the Grange of Tawnytallon, which led to the area being anglicised as Tawnaghtallan and Tawnytallan.
The English name for the village owes its origin to the Scottish plantation 'undertaker', Charles Conyngham, who arrived in County Donegal during the Plantation of Ulster and asserted a landlord control over the area, renaming the region Mount Charles after himself. By controlling the sale of salt from the region, Charles Conyngham then financed the building of the few surviving buildings in the village in the 17th century.
The Conyngham estate and its large estate house (Hall Demesne), close to the village is still extant and was originally constructed around 1752-53 in a then fashionable Georgian style around the same time as Francis Conyngham, 2nd Baron Conyngham was raised to the peerage.
Alternatively, the origin of the modern name, Mountcharles, is from the 1660s.[citation needed] Albert Conyngham, son of Rev. Alexander Conyngham (Dean of Raphoe), was knighted by Charles II in 1666, and, in honour of the king,[citation needed][dubious–discuss] the plantation founders, the Conynghams enforced the name change to Mountcharles.[citation needed]
History
In 1611, at the start of the Plantation of Ulster, Alexander Conyngham, first Church of Ireland Rector of Inver and Killymard, took ownership over the area, designating the area near the present Hall House as his own.
The village of Mountcharles was controlled by the Conyngham family thereafter. In 1676 Mountcharles was granted the sole right to hold markets and fairs: "Mountcharles, alias Tounytallon, a Friday market and four fairs on the 19th May, 11th September, 11th November and 17th March. Pursuant to patent signed and dated at Whitehall 9th December 1675 – granted to Sir Albert Conyngham, Kt. – July 27th 1676". The courtesy title of the heir apparent of The Marquess Conyngham is Earl of Mount Charles, and is named after the village. The descendants of Conyngham were later resident in Slane Castle, County Meath.
Arthur Young, noted agriculturist and social and political observer, mentioned visiting Mountcharles in his book A Tour of Ireland (1776–1779).
Pre-Famine Mountcharles
The early houses were built with stone, which was quarried near St Peter's Lough and at the quarries behind the town. The early houses were thatched. According to both the 1841 census and Samuel Lewis's 1837 Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Mountcharles was the only town in the parish pre-Famine times.
Hall Demesne
The former country house of the Conyngham family, The Hall, is near the village. From the beginning of the 18th century, the Conynghams no longer regarded Mountcharles as their principal seat, but Slane. It was sold by the 6th Marquess Conyngham (1890–1974) immediately in 1946, to pay for the installation of electricity in Slane Castle.
The village has one general shop on the Main Street. A fishmongers, a local butchers, a post office, a pharmacy and local tea rooms. The area also hosts a pilates and yoga centre as well as a massage therapist, a beautician, several hairdressers and a barber shop. There are two bars on the main street.[citation needed]
Sport
The village has a Gaelic games pitch that belongs to the local club St Naul's (Irish: Naomh Naile) and a nearby football club, Eany Celtic F.C. In 2013, the Mountcharles Rowing Club was established.
↑"Mountcharles". IreAtlas Townlands Database. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
↑Searc.ie. "Mountcharles / Tamhnach an tSalainn". Dun-na-ngall.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
↑County of Donegal Local Electoral Areas and Municipal Districts Order 2018 (S.I. No. 613 of 2018). Signed on 19 December 2018. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland.Archived from the original on 31 January 2019.Retrieved from Irish Statute Bookon 30 January 2019.
