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Archaeological sites dating as far back as the Neolithic period (4000 BC – 2500 BC) have been excavated in Ballyshannon and surrounding areas, representing settlement and ritual activity from early periods of human settlement. Finds have ranged from fulachta fiadh (burnt mounds) dating from the Bronze Age (2500–500 BC), to a possible brushwood trackway thought to date to an earlier Neolithic period, through an early find of a pair of gold sun-discs from c. 2500–2150 BCE to the recent discovery of a previously unknown medieval church and cemetery containing hundreds of skeletons thought to date from between 1100 and 1400. This site yielded numerous artefacts including silver long cross pennies and halfpennies dating from the reign of Henry III (1251–1276) and Edward I (c. 1280–1302). Other finds included bone beads, shroud pins, and pieces of quartz which were found placed in the hands of many of the skeletons.[citation needed]
Other nearby sites include a Neolithic tomb, and the grave of Aed Ruad, High King of Ireland, upon which St. Anne's church (Church of Ireland) was supposedly built, occupying the highest of the town's vantage points—Mullgoose. Nothing remains to mark either tomb, the last vestige of the mound on Mullaghnashee having been obliterated in 1798 when a fort was constructed on the hill-top. The 18th-century churchyard and the paupers' burial ground were both referred to as Sidh Aedh Ruaidh, the Fairy Mound of Red Hugh. The 'sheeman' (Anglicisation of the Irish sidh) in Mullgoose means 'fairies'. Popular belief assigned the interior of hills to fairies' dwelling places and local tradition has handed down accounts of the exploits of the fairy folk, including among the Finner sand-hills and in the Wardtown district of Ballyshannon. In 1906, the hill-top at Mullgoose was excavated and found to contain subterranean chambers.
The Vikings, according to the Annals of Ulster, attacked nearby Inishmurray Island in 795. Later they used the River Erne to attack inland, burning Devenish Island monastery in 822. The annals also record that in 836, all the churches of Loch Erne, together with Cluain Eois (Clones) and Daimhinis (Devenish Island) were destroyed by the "gentiles". In 923 and 916 respectively, "a fleet of foreigners on Loch Erne plundered the islands of the lake", as well as the surrounding territories.[citation needed]
In March 1613, Ballyshannon was incorporated as a borough by James I. In 1775, the salmon-leap of Assaroe at Ballyshannon was praised by the traveller Richard Twiss in A Tour in Ireland:
The Giants Causeway is an object which is scarcely worthy of going so far to see; however that is to be determined by the degree of curiosity of which the traveller is possessed. But the salmon-leap at Ballyshannon is a scene of such a singular nature, as is not to be found elsewhere, and is as peculiar to Ireland as the bullfights are to Spain...
It was in Ballyshannon, around 1793, that Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, who would later become Chief Secretary for Ireland and British Foreign Secretary, had a vision of "the radiant boy". Stewart, who would later become Lord Castlereagh, was serving as a young British Army officer and MP for County Down in the Irish Parliament at the time. Lodging in the old Military Barracks in the town, he retired for the night. Looking into the fire, he reportedly saw the form of a boy emerge from the flames, grow larger and larger and vanish. "The radiant boy" is a common figure in English and Irish folklore, and is often supposed to foretell death. William Allingham later wrote a poem about the incident.
The Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway (E&BR) opened in 1868 and had a station at Ballyshannon. The Great Northern Railway (GNR) operated the E&BR line from 1876 and absorbed the company in 1896. The partition of Ireland in 1922 turned the boundary with County Fermanagh into an international frontier. Henceforth Ballyshannon's only railway link with the rest of the Irish Free State was via Northern Ireland, and as such was subject to delays for customs inspections. The Government of Northern Ireland closed much of the GNR network on its side of the border in 1957, including the E&BR as far as the border. This gave the Republic of Ireland no practical alternative but to allow the closure of the line through Ballyshannon between the border and Bundoran. Thereafter, the nearest railheads for Ballyshannon were Sligo in the Republic of Ireland and Omagh in Northern Ireland, until in 1965 the Ulster Transport Authority closed the line through Omagh as well.
River Erne and Ballyshannon
A hydroelectric power station was built in the town in the 1950s. The project or "scheme" brought engineers, electricians, and specialists in hydroelectricity from many parts of the country and abroad to the town, which experienced a "boom" during the decade-long construction period. The scheme involved building a dam upriver from the town and digging out a deep channel or tailrace to lower the riverbed through the town to increase the head of water at the dam to drive the turbines. The new plant was named Cathaleen's Fall hydroelectric power station. Before the station was built, the river was wide, and the water level much higher than it is today. A long bridge spanned from the northern shore to the 'port' on the southern bank. The waters spilled over a number of waterfalls, among them Assaroe Falls, before meandering out to sea. Today, however, the river runs through a narrow channel, far below the level of either bank and a narrower single arch bridge has replaced the old one. The newly built Ballyshannon–Bundoran bypass has added a new, more modern bridge over the river. A pedestrian bridge was also constructed to mark the millennium.[citation needed]
During the Second World War, the British and Irish governments quietly reached an agreement to create an air corridor between nearby Belleek and Ballyshannon, the "Donegal Corridor", which was used by British Royal Air Force flights from Northern Ireland into the Atlantic Ocean. This was used by the aircraft which located the German battleship Bismarck.
