The Warm Heart of Donegal
The Warm Heart of Donegal
Many people travel to Ireland in search of a place where the country feels most authentic — where the landscape remains much as it always has been, where local customs are still quietly lived, and where the Irish spirit is felt as much as it is seen. While several places across Ireland could meet this description, many lie so far off the beaten path that they escape the notice of most visitors. They receive little publicity, and their names are rarely spoken outside their own regions. Yet for those drawn to such hidden places, there is one we would wholeheartedly recommend for your next visit to Ireland. It is called Glencolmcille — and it is unforgettable.
Tucked into the southwestern edge of County Donegal, Glencolmcille (Gleann Cholm Cille — the valley of St. Columba) feels like a place gently untouched by time. Small and secluded, the village and its surrounding glen stitch together thousands of years of human life: Neolithic cairns and megaliths, early-medieval cross-slabs and holy wells, a living folk village on a hillside above a horseshoe bay, and a coastline that drops into the Atlantic with blunt, beautiful force. The effect is equal parts archaeology, pilgrimage and coastal escape — a place for quiet walking, for looking, and for being small beside great things.
One of Glencolmcille’s most spellbinding features is its concentration of carved pillars, cross-slabs and standing stones scattered through the valley and across the Turas Colmcille (the local pilgrimage route). Many of the pillars are deeply incised with interlace and cross motifs — marks made or reworked in Christian times on much older stones. Walk the Turas and you encounter around fifteen stations: each stone, cairn or shrine invites a short ritual pause and a sense of layered time — prehistoric ritual, early Christian devotion, and the slow folding of folklore onto landscape. For anyone who loves places where the past feels present, these carved stones are an absolute highlight.
The glen’s stones are more than markers: many are woven into local devotion and practice. There are holy wells, penitential cairns and the remains of drystone chapels connected in tradition with St. Columba (Colm Cille). Under the graveyard near the 19th-century church you can even find the entrance to ancient souterrains — underground refuges and storage spaces that hint at a lived landscape of both practical necessity and ritual attention. For visitors who enjoy the interplay of sacred and mundane, these small, secret places feel intimate and rich with story.
Perched above Glen Bay, the Glencolmcille Folk Village (Father McDyer’s Folk Village) recreates the small 'clachan' of thatched cottages and rural life from the 18th–20th centuries. It was started to preserve local crafts, language and memory, and today offers a vivid, humane counterpoint to the quiet monumental stones — a reminder of the ordinary rhythms that have always kept the valley alive. The town is also part of Ireland’s Gaeltacht: Irish is still spoken here, and cultural-language courses and traditional music keep the area lively in a gentle, local way.
A short, scenic drive from the village drops you to some of Donegal’s most secluded coastal pockets. Malin Beg’s Silver Strand — a horseshoe shoreline reached by a steep flight of steps — is famously dramatic: golden sand hugged by cliffs and framed by the sea, it’s the kind of quiet beach that makes you half-expect to find it on a postcard and half-expect to have it all to yourself. A little farther up the peninsula are the Slieve League (Sliabh Liag) cliffs — among Europe’s highest accessible sea cliffs — and rugged headlands that reward the patient walker with wide Atlantic views. If your idea of “scenery” is wind, wildness and the big horizon, Glencolmcille’s coast delivers in pure Donegal style.
Glencolmcille isn’t defined by big attractions, but by its atmosphere: misted mornings, sheep drifting across the hills, a standing stone in passing light, and a deep, settled quiet. It’s a place to do less and notice more — to follow worn tracks, circle a cairn, or sit on a rock and let the Atlantic’s voice reframe whatever you carried into the day. Pilgrims and quiet travelers both come away saying the same thing: the place invites inwardness.
If you go, bring a notebook. Glencolmcille gives back best to the kind of visit that takes time: slow walking, the patience to read stones and field walls, and the willingness to let the landscape shape your pace. Whether you’re drawn by the carved pillars and ancient cairns, by a secret beach or by the hush of a Gaelic valley, Glencolmcille is a place that holds a quiet, generous map of Ireland’s long human story.
Rossan Knitwear is one of Glencolmcille’s most treasured hidden gems — a family-run studio creating some of the finest traditional knitwear in Ireland. What makes Rossan so special is their commitment to hand-loomed craftsmanship. Each garment is produced on hand-operated looms and finished carefully by hand, giving every sweater and scarf a weight, texture, and unique character.
Their pieces are made with genuine Irish wool, much of it sourced from Donegal. This wool carries the rugged beauty of the region: soft yet sturdy, warm yet breathable, and naturally rich in the heathered tones Donegal is famous for. The result is knitwear that feels authentic — not just in style, but in origin.
Rossan brings this traditional craft into the present through thoughtful, modern design. Their sweaters and accessories are comfortable, quietly stylish, and made to endure — each piece carrying an unspoken story: the skill of the maker, the heritage of the valley, and the landscape that shapes its patterns and colors.
Carrick Mór is proud to offer Rossan sweaters both in store and online. Browse the collection here.