Built and Architectural Heritage

County Donegal has a rich and varied built heritage and cultural landscape.  Our built heritage reinforces our sense of identity, contributes to regional landscape character and fosters our sense of place.  It includes vernacular buildings (including thatched cottages and stone-roofed structures), formal architecture (such as elegant country houses and estate buildings), industrial heritage (including old mills and historic bridges), ecclesiastical structures and defining elements of our cultural landscape such as dry-stone walls. 

The cultural landscape is like a palimpsest with each generation leaving its imprint on it.  Government policies and strategies have been established for the protection, conservation and promotion of our built heritage to encourage a sustainable approach to the management of our built environment and cultural landscape.