The town grew up around a castle built there by Manghus Ó Domhnaill, ruler of Tír Chonaill (mostly modern County Donegal), in the 16th century.

It later became a British Army garrison town until most of Ireland won independence as a dominion called the Irish Free State in early December 1922.

It lies across the River Foyle from Strabane (in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland) and is linked to that town by Lifford Bridge.

Beloved are the two who keep that house without excess, without lack; the ward of the stout, even-surfaced tower are the supporting pillars of the province.

The daughter of noble Shane O'Neill, and the son of O'Donnell of Dún Iomgháin—they are in the ancient, comely dwelling as entertainers of guests.

Beloved the delightful, lofty building, its tables, its coverlets, its cupboards; its wondrous, handsome, firm walls, its smooth marble arches.

Or else it is Eamhain which used to vary in form, or Croghan of the children of Mágha, or Tara of the race of Cobhthach—this bright castle, rich in trees and horses.

Or it is Naas, the fortress of Leinster, as it was first fashioned; or the fertile, ancient abode of the children of Corc, green, conspicuous Cashel.

Or it is fair Lifford itself—hardly is any of these castles better—which hath of yore assumed those shapes ye are wont to hold dear".

Following the defeat of O'Doherty's Rebellion at the Battle of Kilmacrennan in 1608, a number of captured rebels were brought to Lifford where they were tried by Irish civilian courts and executed.

For second-level education students must travel elsewhere, with Raphoe or Stranorlar, or Strabane in Northern Ireland, being popular options.

The museum houses a permanent display of O'Donnell clan documents and artefacts, as well as minute books from various institutes in County Donegal.

[26] Cavanacor House is located just off the N14 on the outskirts of the town - which one ancestral home of the 11th President of the United States of America, James Knox Polk.

[27] The school was built in 1880 to cater for local Protestant children with monies bequeathed by Miss Eleanor Prior from nearby Ballindrait.

There is a monument to Sir Richard and his wife Dame Anne inside the church, with a plaque on the wall detailing his wishes and who the executors of his will were.

Although this is not the first location of the County Hospital, It was originally in the diamond area of the town in a place called the Barrack yard.

Physiotherapy and chiropody services are also provided in the hospital for the in-patients and out-patients from the greater East Donegal area.

While the headmaster and usher were being paid salaries according to the endowment, the teaching had been handed off to a third person on a wage of 6 pounds sterling a year.

The school continued in decline until 1840, when an inspection by the Commissioners precipitated the resignation of the master, who was accused of major neglect.

Sometime before 1856, the Earl Erne (whose family, the Creightons / Crichtons, had originally settled in Ulster at Lifford before moving south to County Fermanagh), on behalf of the Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, converted the school into an English-style school, and hired a master and mistress.

Two national primary routes, the N15 to Sligo via Stranorlar, Donegal Town and Ballyshannon and also the N14 to Letterkenny, take travellers to all parts in the county.

[46] This men's shed group initially met up in the local resource centre and community gardens in Croaghan Heights but subsequently moved to the closed Boyagh National School in Porthall.