Island More & Corkan Island, Porthall, Co. Donegal - 19 May 2019 v1

The townlands of Island More & Corkan Island together form an island located in the middle of the River Foyle in the Parish of Clonleigh, Co. Donegal. Island More is 177 acres and Corkan Island is 109 acres. The Great Northern Railway (GNR) ran from Omagh to L/Derry and crossed the island via two metal railway bridges. The 'Red Bridge' to the North at Glenfad near Porthall which is still accessible and predominately used by the farming community and the gravel extraction company while the bridge onto Island More to the South was demolished by the British Army during the Northern Ireland 'Troubles' as where many small cross-border roads (unapproved roads). The intention was to make these roads impassable and prevent paramilitary movements across the border thus forcing vehicles to use the main roads which were subject to security checks.
Known locally as 'McKinney's Bridge' it crossed the River Foyle which forms the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, hence the reason why this was demolished is now unusable while the Red Bridge located in the republic of Ireland is still usable.
When growing up, I knew the Island as 'Marreco's Island', named after Anthony Freire Marreco who was a British barrister and maintained homes at Porthall, a Georgian house near Lifford, on the banks of the river adjacent the Island.
The Attorney-General, Sir Hartley Shawcross, was a friend of Marreco's father and he invited Marreco to become Junior Counsel of the British Delegation at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal where he witnessed the trials of Rudolf Hess and Hermann Goering, whom Marreco considered "totally compelling". Marreco was present in November 1946 when the sentences were passed down on Hess and Goering. He strenuously opposed salmon poaching, then running at £1 million worth of fish a year. He became chairman of the Foyle Fisheries Commission and immersed himself in every aspect of Ireland's cultural and political life.

Видео Island More & Corkan Island, Porthall, Co. Donegal - 19 May 2019 v1 канала Aidan Devlin