Places of Interest / Aiteacha Suimiúla
After Colm Cille first set foot on Tory Oilill's venomous dog leaped into the sea to escape him and a rock it split with its tail may still be seen above Scoilt an Ghlasáin.
2.An Chros Tau / The Tau Cross
This Tau Cross is a reminder of St. Colm Cille's monastic period on the island. Carved from a single slab ofmica slate it is 1.9m in height and 1.lm in breadth. It is of great importance to the fishermen many of whom pray here before going fishing.
3. An tSean-Reilig / The Old Graveyard
This graveyard is believed to be on the site of an Teampall Buí which was the main church in St. Colm Cille's Monastery. People from the mainland are also believed to be buried here.
4. Ulaí Eoin Baiste / St John's Alter
In addition to the main church of the monastery, there were at least seven small oratories in Tory. The ruins of three of these oratories are still extant. Mass was celebrated here in the period between the destruction of the monastery and the erection of the chapel in 1857.
5. An Cloigtheach / Round Tower
The belfry in An Baile Thiar is the most impressive structure to have survived the destruction of the monastery. Built of granite, in the sixth century the tower is 15.7m in circumference and 12.8m in height. St. Colm Cille's Bell hung in the tower until the late eighteenth century when the cornice was badly damaged by a bolt of lightening.
6. Ulaí Bhríde / Oratory of St. Brigid
A small stone altar on which there are some Holy Water fonts is all that remains of Ulaí Bhríde. A stone chalice believed to have been used by Colm Cille, was kept here. The water which collected in it was reputed to relieve the pains of childbirth. The Chalice is now in the National Museum
7. Moirsheisear/Grave of the Seven
This oratory commemorates seven people, men and a women who were found dead in a curragh which was washed ashore in Tory. The clay from this grave is believed to be sacred, and is used to protect seafarers and is widely sought after to keep rats away. There have never been any rats on Tory.
8. An Ceol / Music. The people of Tory delight in expressing themselves in music, song, and dance. Young and old alike take the floor at the regular céilís to dance not only the great Irish sets and reels but also dances which are not very well known outside Donegal.
9. Teach an tSolais / Lighthouse
Designed by George Halpin, Tory Lighthouse was built between 1828 and 1832. It is 30m in height and at its base the walls are 2.3m thick. It was manned until 1990 when it became automatic.
10. An Turas Mór / Pilgrimage
A distinctive rock south-west of the Lighthouse, was one of the sites visited as part of An Turas Mór, a pilgrimage which mainland sinners were obliged to make as a form of public penance.
11. An Reilig Ghallda / Foreigner's Graveyard
This is the graveyard where eight crewmen from the HMS Wasp, which ploughed into the rocks west of Tory Lighthouse on 23 September 1884, are buried.
12. Derek Hill's Hut
Derek Hill, the English Landscape and portrait painter, first visited Tory in 1956. He was to return repeatedly to paint the island and its people.
13. Mac Gorra
According to local tradition, a man named Mac Gorra met Colm Cille one Sunday after he had been fishing, Colm Cille asked him if he had any fish and Mac Gorra lied and said he had none. Colm immediately turned him into stone and there he remains forever climbing Mearnaid with his bag of fish on his back.
14. An Ché / The Pier
The pier was built in 1903 by the Congested Districts Board, a government body established to develop the west of Ireland.
15. Teach an Phobail / St. Colm Cille's Chapel.
St. Colm Cille's Chapel was built in 1857, it was designed by E.W. Goodwin, and English architect. The stained glass windows by Patrick Pollen were presented by Derek Hill to thank the islanders for their generosity and kindness.
16. An Scoil / The School
The first school in Tory was established by An Máistir Dubh ó Domhnaill in An Baile Thoir in the early nineteenth century. The present day school was built in An Baile Thiar in 1847.
17. Gailearaí Dixon
Please refer Gailearaí Dixon Page.
18. An Torpedo A torpedo which was washed ashore during World War n was defused and years later, for devilment, some boys erected it midway between An Baile Thiar and an Baile Thoir , where it remains to this day.
19. An Portach / Tory's Bogs
Illicit distillation of póitin-making was an important source of income in many isolated parts of Ireland in the nineteenth century. Tory, the most remote of the Irish islands, was an ideal location for this home industry. One consequence of illicit distillation was the exhaustion of most of Tory's bogs by the early twentieth century. Large tracts of barren rocky land are all that remain of these bogs.
20. Dún Bhaloir / Balor's Fort
Dating from the early Iron Age, this promontory fort built on a headland is a natural fortress. Dún Bhaloir, traditionally held to have been Balor's stronghold, is a spectacular example of such a fort.
21. Leac na Leannán / Wishing Stone
Leac na Leannán sits at the top of the Dún, jutting out over the edge of the cliff. It is over l00m above the Atlantic which pounds the rocks below. A wish is granted to a person who succeeds in throwing three stones, one after the other,on to it.
Leac an Leannán is extremely dangerous and visitors are advised against standing on it.