Mountcharles
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Mountcharles Tamhnach an tSalainn
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 Mountcharles
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| Coordinates: 54°39′N 8°12′W / 54.650°N 8.200°WCoordinates: 54°39′N 8°12′W / 54.650°N 8.200°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Ulster |
| County | County Donegal |
| Government | |
| • Dáil Éireann | Donegal South-West |
| Population | |
| • Total | 468 |
Mountcharles (Irish: Tamhnach an tSalainn, meaning "The salt mountain field") is a townland (of 650 acres) and a village in County Donegal, Ireland. It lies 6 km from Donegal town on the Killybegs road. It is situated in the civil parish of Inver and the historic barony of Banagh.
The area was originally known as Tamhnach an tSalainn (meaning "The salt mountain field"). This refers to a salt mine in the area which local people worked in, and at a growing rate, as the salt extraction rate was increased by the incoming family of Charles Conyngham. The name was later anglicized as Tawnaghtallan and Tawnytallan.
The English name for the village owes its origin to the Scottish plantation runner, Charles Conyngham, who arrived in Donegal during the Plantation of Ulster and asserted a landlord control over the area, renaming the region Mount Charles after himself. He is the ancestor of the current "Lord" Henry Conyngham (frequently, if inaccurately, known as 'Lord Henry Mountcharles') of Slane Castle, County Meath. By controlling the sale of salt from the region, Charles Conyngham then financed the building of the few surviving buildings in the village in the 17th century. The Conyngham estate and its large estate house (Hall Demesne), close to the village, are now unoccupied. The courtesy title of the heir apparent of The Marquess Conyngham is Earl of Mount Charles, being named after the village.
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