placenamesInch
Inis
Inch’s farming and fishing communities were connected across Lough Swilly by ferries, while military and religious buildings gave the island further roles.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Inis · Irish · main form
- Inch · English · main form
Place & story
Ferries across Lough Swilly
Lewis’s 1837 account describes ferries linking Inch with Burt, Fahan Point and Rathmullan. The island’s northern ground rose into the Gullions, while the south was flatter and cultivated. Higher ground provided grazing, and farming and fishing occupied the inhabitants. His account preserves the island’s older waterborne connections; it is a dated description of transport rather than a guide to ferry services operating today. [2]
A battery facing Rathmullan
Near Inch’s northern point, Lewis recorded a battery erected in 1813 opposite Rathmullan. He described the fortifications on the two shores as commanding the lough together, with artillery personnel and barracks accompanying the guns. This account places the island within the defence of Lough Swilly, where a position across the water could matter as much as one on the same shoreline. [2]
The ruined church at Moress
The former Church of Ireland building at Moress dates from 1776, with a vestry added in 1869. The National Inventory surveyed it as a roofless ruin, retaining rounded window openings and traces of timber tracery. A yew-lined path leads towards the church, while stone walls and iron gates enclose its burial ground. The survey records memorials dating from 1869 to 1934 around the former place of worship. [3]
A meeting house and Sunday school
Inch Presbyterian Church at Carnaghan is dated to about 1860, although an earlier meeting house appears on the first-edition Ordnance Survey map. Its attached two-storey block housed a vestry and Sunday school. Coloured glass margins, decorative ridge tiles and acorn finials enliven the restrained building. The gates and stone boundary wall form part of the same architectural setting, joining the church with its surrounding burial ground. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Donegal
- Barony
- Inishowen West
- Coordinates
- 55.06872, -7.49667
- Mapped area
- 12.77 km²
- Logainm ID
- 790 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Inch. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Inch, Donegal: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis
- Former Church of Ireland church, Moress: NIAH 40903802 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Inch Presbyterian Church, Carnaghan: NIAH 40903810 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-07-10. How this page was prepared.