2017 marks the 50th anniversary for Glencolmcille Folk Village. During the year we will be hosting a series of events to celebrate, check out our website and Facebook page for details.

We will be launching a book during the season as a special tribute to those whose dedication has kept the folk village alive all these years. This thatched-roof replica of a rural village in Ireland’s most north westerly county offers a glimpse into daily life as it was during past centuries. The Folk Village Museum is a cluster of several small cottages, called a ‘clachan’, perched on a hillside overlooking the sandy curve of Glen Bay Beach in the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) of South West Donegal. Designed, built and maintained by the local people, the Folk Village is one of Ireland's best living-history museums.


About Glencolmcille Folk Village
The Folk Village Museum was the initiative of a dynamic Donegal priest, Father James McDyer. It opened in 1967 with three cottages, built and furnished in just three months through local community effort.

The Folk Village Museum offers an excellent guided tour for the visitor. In the tour you will experience life as it was in the 1700’s, 1800's and 1900’s. Our thatched cottage are exact replicas of those belonging to that era and are furnished accordingly. Take a look at how our ancestors lived, cooked, the beds they lay on, the tools they used, their means of lighting and heat. For those of you who can trace your ancestors to Ireland, this is an ideal opportunity to see rural life at first hand. Cottages Glencolmcille Folk Village Museum, a replica of cottage village life, rural Donegal.

Craft Shop
Look no further than our Craft Shop for those special gifts to bring back home. We stock a large selection of locally-produced knitwear (hand knits and hand loomed wear), tapestries, hand-woven baskets , assorted handcrafted products, and also a range of books on Irish history, local history, culture and crafts. Our CD collection features many well-known Donegal exports such as Daniel O’Donnell, Enya, Clannad and Altan, plus local exponents of the vibrant Donegal fiddle tradition. Feel free to come in and browse around. There is always someone on hand to offer any assistance with your queries.

Other locally-made products include wines made from local plants, marmalades and jams, home-made chocolates and butterscotch, hand-made soaps, and small mementos of the area to remind our visitors of a past way of life.


Cottages

The Clachan - Living History Museum
A clachan is historically a group of small single-story cottages, usually belonging to farming or fishing people and sited on poor land. Each cottage in the Folk Village ‘clachan’ recreates a different era of Irish history. Cottages are neatly white-washed, with a traditional half-door design to keep the animals out and the people in. Rooves are thatched in the distinctive rounded Donegal style, tied down securely with rope and pegs to protect the thatching from the fierce westerly winds off the ocean

Fisherman's Cottage
The Fisherman’s cottage is an exhibition house opened in 2011 together with the Pub-Grocer. The Fisherman’s cottage depicts the local fishermen’s living conditions and is similar to the type of one-roomed cottage lived in by artist Rockwell Kent and poet Dylan Thomas when they visited the area in the early 20th century. Some artwork associated with their visit to Glencolmcille is on display in the School house and Tea Rooms.

Local people kindly donated their time, artifacts, fishing knowledge and photographs for the development of this cottage.

Dooey School House
The Dooey School House building is representative of a 19th century local school. In it you will find a display of old photographs and historical information plus a collection of old artifacts. Examples of Dylan Thomas's poetry and information on Rockwell Kent (artist) is on display in the School House.

Pub-Grocer & Shoemakers
Until the spread of modern supermarkets in Ireland, Irish pubs usually combined the sale of alcohol with the sales of tea, bread, sugar, salted bacon, sweets for children and other staples. A further side business might also be conducted from the premises. Pub-grocers are becoming rare but can still be found in Ireland today, and there is one such example here in the Folk Village.

Tearoom
Our Tearoom provides a variety of home-made foods which we believe are second to none. We pride ourselves in the fact that all our baked foods are made in our very own bakery on a daily basis to ensure freshness.