 It's called County Donegal Through the Ages and it's an overview of the history of the county from earliest times right through to the modern era. And the writer is John Judd Venne who joins me now on the line and also is streaming on Facebook. John, congratulations. It's a great book and I'm sure you're delighted with the way it's turned out. Thank you very much. Yeah, I'm delighted to be on your show to give a chance to publicise it. Yeah, I'm happy with the way it's turned out. Because you never know until you come back from the printers. No, you don't know until you open the book and get the smell and just say yeah and have the feel. Yeah. And it's a nice smell as well. Is that new? The smell is great. Yeah. Anyhow, just flicking through it, you've, there's plenty of books about Donegal, all about Donegal, but what you've done is something a wee bit different in that you take a lot of stories and characters and you sort of, you give a part of history off them. It's nothing too elaborate, nothing too long and once, you know, the stories, they give an insight, they get your attention, they give an insight, but they don't overstay their welcome. Yeah, I suppose it's a deliberate style, I used academic books are great, but they're not for me or for everybody, you know, to read one topic from beginning to end in long essay form and that I prefer maybe a little bit of a book that you can certainly read from beginning to end or one the sort of reader friendly where you can dip in and out and maybe pick a story pertaining to something that you like whether it's from crime or politics or history or sport, but it is going back to the beginning as you said and sort of trying to give an overview from earliest times to the modern era. Yeah, and it does go back to the earliest times because there's, there's different chapters, Gaelic chieftains and there's everything from the plantation to the rebellion and wars and then right through to modern history as well, some of our Olympic heroes and Donny Gull, Diaspora, but there's some fascinating details in there as well and, you know, it's easy to tell that you've got a graph or history. Yeah, I've always had an interest in history, I suppose, I don't know whether you called me an earter or whatever, but from early days I've always enjoyed history at school and right through, I suppose, my own education and I suppose I got some of that inspiration from home as opposed to my father was big into it and uncles big into it and, you know, I just, something I've always followed and enjoyed here. You're from Ranafast, you're a principal at Kimmerquenna National School and I'm guessing that the lockdown gave you a bit of time to put all this together because that's something that you do overnight and were you collecting stories along the way? I have been collecting stories for years really as opposed to this project is nearly 10 years in the making, but it was during the lockdown and the school closures that I decided well, I'll really try and tidy up some of it, cast aside lots of other bits and pieces and try to keep it to just an overview of the main events as I saw them throughout their history of, you know, the Donny Gull. Other people could give different versions and they're certainly entitled to that, but it's just the way, it's those things that impress me or those stories that I liked, but I do try to cover the whole, the whole era. Well, not only cover the whole era, but the whole of Donny Gull as well from top to bottom and east to west, which is important because sometimes when you're writing a book about your home county, you tend to sort of veer towards your own local area, but not the case. These are stories from right across Donny Gull. Yeah, I suppose somebody did have a look at the book there recently and they did comment that it was sort of a north, east, south and west approach that like I did, I suppose I am from Ranafast, as you said, and like West Donny Gull does get his own fair share of stories there. I'm living in Lettercanny this past 30 years in Ilistran, I suppose. And then I have tried my best and I have researched like all in a show on East Donny Gull, all the different parts. And I have tried to pick the main stories from there. Some, some well known and some lesser known stories. You know, so I have well, there's seven chapters in total. Fado Fado, that's way back. Gaelic chieftains, as I said, from plantation to United Irish men in the early 19th century, the Great Famines featured then there's rebellion and wars and towards modern times. And it's as I say, it's a collection of stories. And some of them sort of on earth, fascinating details and little known facts, I suppose about Donny Gull. And one of particular caught my eye and it's about the how Donny Gull came to exist in the first place and the county got its name. Yeah, like, suppose the county's name itself to give a little drop back is Dunangal, which is the fort of the foreigners. And we believe that that may refer to sort of Viking influence in the county. And I do touch on that. But I suppose the name Donny Gull itself was part of the constituting or shiring, maybe the word of Irish counties. That started back sort of with Norman times when you had Dublin, Corcoran, Waterford were sort of shired, maybe around the time of King Henry II. The sharing of Donny Gull didn't really take place until about 1585 when you had Sir John Parrott. He we had an era when after the Normans, their power went. We had the Gaelic chieftains era. And then as their power was waning to get the plantation of Monson, you had Leish and Offi with Queen Mary as well. And then also was planted and Donny Gull was planted around, not planted, sorry, was shired around 1585. It didn't actually come into effect really till after the flight of the earth and the demise of the Gaelic chieftains around 1607, but it was it was shired by order of the English crown in 1585 when Sir John Parrott sort of decreed that the ancient territories of Chiricon will be joined with the peninsula of Inishon to create a new county, as opposed to the essence there. And I suppose he described at the time in very colourful and flowery language. And, you know, the spelling from the year is quite different. Like the order of the decree itself starts off with first it contain it, the whole country of O'Donnell and all that surname. Item it contain it, O'Dahorty's country, which is sort of year in its own area, meeting upon Liffer Finn, presuming Lifford and the Finn, Liffer Finn and Farmana towards the south. Item extended eastward and joined upon the country of Sligo towards the west. Finally, the town of Donny Gull, and it's quite different spelling there, is Donny Nagal, very close to the Irish. It's the only place for Her Majesty's Jail and Sheer Town for Her Highness's Sessions and Jail Delivery within the said county of Donny Gull. I suppose it's really back in 1585 that we were constituted as a county and it didn't really come into effect or recognised until after the flight of the hills. Something else you feature in the book is pirates. Now, it's not something that most people would associate with the history of Donny Gull, but they once did travel up and down our coastline and there's an infamous Dutch pirate that you feature in the book who arrived in Killebeaks in 1627 and arrived with a crew of four ships. But as it turned out, he decided not to ransack the town. How come? Yeah, I suppose maybe it was maybe it was their downtime. Our coastal areas were. They're taking that week off. They're taking that week off. Yeah, they took a week off. I suppose there was like to set the backdrop again that our coastal areas were busy, you know, from the Netherlands trading with the European countries or whatever with Brittany and those that. But like there was a great fear to along the Irish coast because there was a famous one in Baltimore in Cork in 1631 when a Barbary pirate sort of abducted over a hundred men, women and children in a daring nighttime raid there and they carried off the unfortunate captives to more or less certain slavery in Africa. So there was a fear there. But as you mentioned, Captain Kley's camp was a famous or an infamous Dutch pirate. He arrived in Killebeaks and he do read the ports that he was a swashbuckling pirate and he had the crews of four ships along with them. And the threat to Killebeaks appeared real. And there was a threat that they would ransack the town. But as you said, or we said that it proved unfounded because the pirates and quote some of the words there in May 1627, the crew of a Dutch pirate ship were apparently always drunk with the queens of Killebeaks. Sir Basilburg informed the Lord deputy that the pirates were very rich, full of Spanish silver dockets. And they sought of the local dignitaries, it says, joined in the festivities too. And they ran strange courses and the named a James and William Hamilton, who was a high constable and minister of Killebeaks. And that they fell in with the bad practices that were have been. So basically, they came out to turn the plenty of money and they threw it around. And as a result, they decided they had a good time and they decided not to ransack the place. Yeah, there's quite a similar story in the book as well. About Don Fannahy, where a pirate, a fellow that was Jack every. He went under several different aliases. He was known as the king of the pirates. He is last known sighting was six miles north of Don Fannahy. And it supposedly sparked the first world global manhunt. He was sort of there was a bounty placed on his head and he came into Don Fannahy and he sort of bribed the local official, it says, of Morris Cottle. And he last left his friends six miles north of Killebeaks. And he was never seen again. And he was estimated to be one of the wealthiest people in the world at the time. Wow. Wow. OK, well, again, you know, an insight into a little known part of Donegal history and just one more caught my attention. That is Father Hagerty's Rock in Bunkrana. And and this goes back to the the penal laws when when Catholics were being persecuted. But Father Seamus Hagerty had decided that he was going to carry on to continue to minister as congregation. But he did the most of it under dark and he lived in the cave. Is that right? Yeah, Father Seamus Hagerty, he would have been a Roman Catholic priest in Fawn around 1704. He decided to continue practicing, as you said, despite the penal laws. And in a war in a supposed to the right word, in order to evade capture, he carried out many of his church duties under the cover of darkness. And he did supposedly live in a cave along the banks of Los Suley, where his sister would come during the day and deliver food and supplies to him. And he had a horse as poorly around that area, too. His brother-in-law said to have betrayed him to the garrison at Bunkrana. And there are conflicting versions of the story where he said that Father Hagerty saw the approach of the soldiers and that he rode a horseback into the waters of Los Suley, planning to swim to the opposite side. The soldiers apparently coaxed him back to dry land, promising that no harm would befall him if he surrendered to them. But in truth, they probably did not want him to drive, giving them no evidence or proof of his death. You know, so Father Hagerty seemingly returned to shore, but he was nevertheless callously beheaded and his severed head reportedly rolled down the rocky promontory and he was carried out to sea. And legend, we believe that he's buried in a shallow grave there where he died. It's called Hagerty's Rock today and it can be seen there along the Bunkrana coastal path. Absolutely. Well, there's that story and many more like it in this book. And it's sort of an overview and in a way a part of history, but very easy to dip into, very accessible. And it's out now. And the official launch is this weekend, John. Yeah, we're having a book signing event in the Silver Tassie tomorrow, Saturday, the 4th, sorry, Saturday, the 4th on Saturday at seven o'clock in the Silver Tassie Hotel. OK, we'll listen the best to look with it and it'll be available in bookshops, local bookshops around the county and hopefully beyond. It's called County Donegal Through the Ages and John Jude Devaney. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you very much. Christmas is a time for coming together as a family, a community and a country.