Kinnea

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Kinnea, or Ceann Eich in Irish, is a small rural area called a townland in the Urris Valley at the north-west tip of the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland. It covers about 227.5 hectares (562 acres) and includes four sub-areas: Rockstown, Altnacullentra, Kindrohid, and Crocknagee. The name means “horse’s head”; the area is also locally known as Rockstown, a name given by English settlers in the 17th century.

Historically, Kinnea appears on maps from 1801 and in later land surveys and censuses. In the 19th century there was a coast-guard station at Kindrohid, and lands in the area were sold in 1810 from church and aristocratic ownership to Sir Robert Harvey. The Great Famine reduced the population from 241 in 1841 to 205 in 1851, though coastal access helped with food; Rockstown harbour is noted from the 1860s. The valley saw typical landlord-tenant tensions and occasional clashes, including an 1881 riot case that was dismissed. Poitín production was noted in the area, with a 1924 court case.

In more recent years, a crate containing a bomber plane washed ashore at Rockstown Bay in 1940, and three local men were fined after dismantling parts. In 1962 three fishermen from Rockstown drowned when their lobster boat hit submerged rocks near Binion Head. There was another drowning in Rockstown Bay in 2013.