Glencolumbkille 4.84

Gleann Cholm Cille is a coastal district in the southwest Gaeltacht of County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland. It is also a civil parish in the historic barony of Banagh.While Gleann Cholm Cille is still an Irish-speaking community, English has been steadily replacing Irish as the main language, with only 34% of the people speaking Irish on a daily basis in 2002. Cashel is the main village in the district.The name translates into English as "valley of Colm Cille". Saint Colm Cille, or Columba, is one of Ireland's three patron saints . Colm Cille and his followers lived in the valley for a time and the ruins of several of their churches can still be seen there.HistoryBetween 4000 and 3000 B.C., farming people settled in the area.The district was once famous as being the parish of The V. Rev. James Canon McDyer (1910–1987), who championed the rights of rural people and helped establish community-based industries in the area. A parish council (Comhairle Paróiste Ghleann Cholm Cille) has been functioning in Glencolumbkille since the 1930s, to look after the interests and needs of the residents of Glencolumbkille. Members are elected to this body by the residents of the Glencolumbkille church area; elections are held every three years.