Book Tickets Online
About
This walking tour of Dervock explores the history of the village through its 19th and early 20th century buildings and the lives of its famous sons, who include Lord George Macartney, Britain’s first ambassador to China, Captain Charles Adair of the Royal Marines, Olympian K.K. McArthur, and the ancestral home of William McKinley (25th President of America).
Dervock and district has a history dating back to earliest times. There is evidence of Stone Age people living here up to 10,000 years ago, with finds of flints at Lisconnan and Urbal from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. A large, carved stone discovered at Derrykeighan, dating from the Iron Age shows how important our district was before the arrival of Christianity; an early church was founded there over 1500 years ago by St Colman. Dervock is believed to have grown around a mill on the River Bush which runs through the middle of the village. Farmers have worked the fertile fields for thousands of years, shaping the local landscape and harvesting peat from the once expansive Garry Bog to heat their homes and cook.
