19th-century reclamation
Land out of the lough
For a long time the ground between Burnfoot, Burt and Bridgend was not ground at all - it was a shallow, tidal arm of Lough Swilly. In the 19th century it was embanked and drained, turning sea into some of the flattest, richest farmland in Donegal. That reclaimed land now carries Grianan Farm, one of the largest farms in Ireland. There had also been a scheme to cut a canal from the sea near Derry to Burnfoot, so the village could reach Londonderry port; the engineer Sir John Rennie the Younger costed it and the plan was dropped. The fields you drive past on the flat are the result of the part that did get built.
A royal fort on the hill
Grianan of Aileach
Above Burt, a couple of kilometres from Burnfoot, the stone ringfort of Grianan of Aileach stands at around 250m. It was a seat of the Northern Ui Neill and is one of the most complete ring-forts in the country, heavily restored in the 1870s. From the wall-walk you look down on Lough Swilly to the west and Lough Foyle to the east at the same time, with Inishowen spread out north. There is free roadside parking near the top. It is the single best reason to turn off the main road here.
St Aengus', 1967 - building of the century
Burt Church
At the foot of the Aileach hill stands one of the most admired modern buildings in Ireland. St Aengus' Church, the "Burt Chapel", was designed by the Derry architect Liam McCormick and built between 1964 and 1967, its circular plan a deliberate echo of the ancient fort on the hill above. It won the RIAI Triennial Gold Medal in 1971 and, in a national poll at the turn of the century, was voted Ireland's building of the century. It carries work by the sculptor Oisin Kelly. You can see it from the road; it rewards stopping for.
16 county titles in a row
Burt and the hurling
Burnfoot sits in the parish that feeds Burt GAA, and Burt are not a normal small-village club. In a county where Gaelic football is everything, Burt are the hurling stronghold of Inishowen - winners of sixteen Donegal Senior Hurling Championships in a row from 1991 to 2006, a run honoured years later with a civic reception. They have gone on winning Ulster honours since. If you wonder why a village this size has the playing fields it does, this is the answer: it is a hurling place in a football county.