page_title: Raphoe
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Raphoe / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Raphoe Town Looking east. In the background is the Church of St Eunan Cathedral; it is the combined Diocese of Derry and Raphoe. It recently featured in a programme called "Lesser Spotted Ulster" presented by Joe Mahon, on Ulster Television
context_page_description: Raphoe is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is the main town in the fertile district of East Donegal known as the Laggan, as well as giving its name to both the Barony of Raphoe North and the Barony of Raphoe South, as well as to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raphoe and the Church of Ireland Diocese of Derry and Raphoe.
  The Burn Dale is a burn that flows a short distance to the south of Raphoe. The Burn Dale eventually flows, via the village of Ballindrait, into the River Foyle just north of Lifford.
context_section_description: The rich agricultural land around Raphoe has been inhabited and cultivated for thousands of years, and evidence of this can be seen through monuments such as the Beltany stone circle, just outside the town. The stone circle is one of the largest in Ireland with a diameter of 44 metres (165 feet) and made up of more than sixty stones in all. The site is believed to date to around 2000 BC, and that it was originally an enclosed cairn. Its name is believed to be linked to the Celtic festival of fertility known as 'Beltane'.
  Around 550 AD Columba (also known as Colmcille), one of the three patron saints of Ireland, founded a monastic settlement in the area. This site was further developed by his kinsman Eunan, who gives his name to the town's cathedral and is patron saint of the Diocese of Raphoe.
  In 1198, John de Courcy, a Norman knight who had invaded Ulster in 1177, returned to County Donegal to devastate Inishowen and on his way destroyed churches at Ardstraw, County Tyrone, and Raphoe.
  The design of the modern town is traced to the Ulster Plantation of the early 17th century when the town was granted to English and Scottish settlers. It was these settlers who laid out the town with the 'Diamond' at its centre, in a similar manner to other Plantation towns like Derry and Donegal.
caption: The Diamond, Raphoe.
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