Shrove, County Donegal

Shrove is known in the English language by several different names. This has not been popular locally, where locals insist that their hamlet is called Shrove. In addition, in recent years, there has been a growing tendency by some tourism bodies and some private companies to try and change the Irish language name for Inishowen Head itself, trying to rebrand it in Irish as , when both the historic and official Irish language name for that headland is . Shrove is usually written as Stroove on official documents and publications, such as maps, issued by the authorities in either Dublin or Belfast. However, this version of the place-name is never used locally. Locals consider 'Stroove' to be a completely incorrect version of the place-name. ==Inishowen Head==

Inishowen Head is a prominent headland in the townland of Shrove that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. The headland is the most easterly place on the County Donegal mainland, and is located just to the north of Big White Bay. The original name for the headland was , which remains the official Irish language name for Inishowen Head. It is from that the hamlet and townland of Shrove derive their English language names. ==Shrove lighthouses==

The two lighthouses at Shrove, both located at Dunagree Point, were designed by George Halpin and were built in the 1830s. The lighthouses were built at the suggestion of the Derry Ballast Office. The light in the East Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1961, while the West Lighthouse remains in use. The structures are sometimes referred to as the Inishowen Head Lighthouses, and both are owned and operated by the Commissioners of Irish Lights (C.I.L.). ==History==

Saint Columba and Portkill Portkill (; probably a shortened version of , meaning 'Colum Cille's port' or 'Colum Cille's landing place') is a small bay just north of Shrove; the bay is located just north-west of Inishowen Head. According to local tradition, Portkill is the point from which Saint Columba (also known as Colum Cille) left Ireland when he sailed into exile in Scotland in the mid-sixth-century. Local tradition says that Columba and his followers, having sailed up Lough Foyle from Derry, landed on the small beach at Portkill in order to take on some drinking water from a spring there. A rock with an ancient inscribed cross upon it is still located beside the small beach at Portkill. Local tradition says that Columba himself cut this cross into the rock using his finger. 'As the crow flies', this is a distance of around 11 miles (slightly over 17.7 kilometres), Portstewart being to the south-east of Shrove. As far as is known, she was only the third woman in history to swim across the English Channel. Gleitze initially attempted to swim from Portstewart across to Inishowen, making this attempt on 15 August 1929. However, she had to abandon this attempt half-way through, being brought the rest of the way by a motor boat to Moville on the Inishowen side. Unperturbed by this upset, she decided to try again, this time swimming from Inishowen across to Portstewart. At 3am on the morning of Saturday, 17 August 1929, Gleitze left her lodgings at McConnell's Hotel (now The Foyle Hotel) on The Square in Moville. She was conveyed by motor car to the Pilot's Station at Inishowen Head in Shrove, where, at exactly 4:05am, she entered the water. From Shrove, she swam directly across to Portstewart. This swim took just over eight hours, which she successfully completed, becoming the first known person to complete this feat. She emerged from the sea at Bearnville Port in Portstewart at 12 noon later the same day. Gleitze made the 'return swim' a few days later, on 20 August 1929. On this occasion, she swam from Portstewart to Black Rock Bay, between Moville and Greencastle. ==References==