The Bakery, Knitting factory and Cope Hall Traditional Cache

This geocache has been placed along the “Paddy The Cope Heritage Trail” in Dungloe, Co. Donegal, Ireland.

The newly developed 5km trail has been designed to bring the walker to various sites of interest around the town of Dungloe which are in some way linked to the history of both Paddy and the development of the town of Dungloe. 

This cache has been hidden at the 8th point of interest along Paddy The Cope Heritage Trail. 

So, who was Paddy the Cope?

Paddy The Cope Gallagher (Pádraig Ó Gallchóir; 1873-1966) was the founder of The Cope (officially called the Templecrone Agricultural Co-operative Society). A businessman and campaigner for West Donegal, he was born in Cleendra, Templecrone, part of The Rosses, in the west of County Donegal, Ireland.

At an early age he began work as a hired boy working as a farm labourer first in County Donegal and then as a potato picker (or potato gatherer) in Scotland. It was this hard work, with its long hours and poor pay, he was later to say, that inspired him to found a co-operative movement back home in County Donegal. His co-op was opposed by local vested interests and he had to buy his own boats to do his importing. He also helped to co-ordinate the local fishing and textile co-operatives, allowing such workers to swap their produce for goods in his local co-operative shops. He wrote an autobiography, published in 1939, called Patrick Gallagher: My Story.

Gallagher was the grandfather of the politician Pat The Cope Gallagher. An image of Gallagher was featured on an Irish postage stamp issued in 2006.

Location of this geocache:

This location was selected because at this spot in Paddys era this spot was a hive of activity. Where the cache is hidden there used to be many Cope buildings which created a hive of activity where hundreds of people once worked.

The Cope Hall which would have been on your right, was opened in 1910 to give the town a centre for education, entertainment and a social meeting place . It was basically an early community centre. It was later used as a knitting factory during the First World War.

Behind it was built, in 1919, a purpose-built Knitting Factory which operated until the 1980s, employing hundreds of women.

Opposite here there was a large Bakery which opened in 1945 after the one on the Main Street burned down, almost burning half the town. The Bakery served many communities across Donegal until it closed in the 1980s. 

The builders providers - which has been located at Seaskinarone since April 2007 was also located here for many years. 

The cache is located close to the foothpath. There is no need to access fields.