An old painting of a Donegal cottage has created a huge stir on line after readers helped a woman to track down the history of the old building.
Emma Gilheany picked up the painting in a London charity shop and was curious to its background.
The painting by artist J Simpson was of an old cottage in Horn Head, Dunfanaghy entitled ‘Farmstead’.
Emma told Donegal Daily that the search for the history of the cottage and who lived there turned into an “Irish message in a bottle.”
She explained “I found this painting on the floor with a load of other pictures in a charity shop in London. I recognised the picture as an Irish cottage as my dad is Irish.
“I know how many of my dad’s generation living here in London, had a love of the home place, with many having the dream to return home some day. Many didn’t however. I therefore had a personal connection to it.
“I have had the painting for a while and always intended to do a bit of research around it, to find out exactly if it existed and who the artist was etc.
“This weekend I had lots of time on my hands, as was in bed with Covid. I decided to take a picture of it and put it on the Wild Atlantic Way Facebook page and see if anyone might have any further information to help me .
“The comments I received were phenomenal and I actually got to identify where it was and who lived there. As someone wrote… it is like ‘an Irish message in a bottle’.
Among many of the comments on line was one from local correspondent Moses Alcorn.
Moses revealed that the house in the picture belonged to the McHughs or was Shan’s old house before it was demolished.
He also revealed that the site of the old house now holds the stunning Horn Head Lodge which can be booked for holiday lets.
Emma said so many lovely comments posted about the search for the identity of the old cottage perked her up no end despite her covid!
And despite her roots being in County Louth, Emma hopes to one day visit Donegal and perhaps might even make it as far as the site of the old cottage in Horn Head.
