Malin Well Old Church, Co. Donegal

Spectacularly located along the coast of the Inishowen peninsula in the northernmost tip of Co. Donegal, Malin Well Old Church is surrounded by a wealth of built and natural heritage including a hermit’s cave known as the ‘Wee House of Malin’, a holy well and a promontory fort.

This ruined church is cherished by the local community but its precarious setting is a threat to the structure. Malin Well Old Church Conservation Group has adopted this monument and aim to conserve it and throughly research its history. With funding from the Heritage Council through the Creative Ireland programme 2019, the group engaged experts to produce both a Conservation Plan for the repair and conservation of the church along with an Impact Assessment to assess the potential archaeological impact of the conservation works on the site. Duncan McLaren of Dedalus Architecture undertook the Conservation Plan and Richard Crumlish undertook the Impact Assessment.

The Malin Well Old Church Conservation Group was formed in 2012 and is a sub-committee of the Malin Head Heritage Group, its Chairperson is Teresa Doherty. John Grant is the project manager; Denis Doherty is the local resource person and Des Doherty is secretary. All has extensive experience of community work and local history in Inishowen. John Grant is volunteer manager of the successful Malin Head ‘Census Project’. Des Doherty has managed Rural Electrification (RE) Programmes in Ireland and Tanzania and has written papers on RE and on local history and heritage.

Two archaeologists and a conservation architect in Inishowen who were involved in the successful Carrickabraghey Castle Conservation Project also advise the group. The group has developed a detailed index of information sources and references to Malin Well in historical and archaeological publications as well as in unpublished sources and local song and folklore.