Truagh Heritage encompasing  Sliabh Beagh and the Blackwater Valley"

Sliabh Beagh

Sliabh Beagh is Ireland’s Lost Mountain.  Tucked away between drumlin hills of north County Monaghan, the lakelands of Fermanagh and the valleys of Tyrone, it has remained in splendid isolation for the better part of a century.  No major routes forge their way through it, no tourism brochures lavish praise upon its beauty and no coach tours deem it an area worthy of visiting.  Even the local inhabitants have, in general, recognised only their own small part of this natural and historic wonder and like the man who stands too close to a great painters masterpiece, they see only the prettiness of their own particular view, whilst failing to appreciate the beauty of the whole.

 

Although the Vikings and the Normans came very close to Sliabh Beagh, in general the area was spared from the worst of their activities and it became a buffer zone between the advancing English power of the Pale and the ancient Gaelic Kingdoms of Ulster.  During the upheavals of the mid seventeenth century, Eoghain Roe O’ Neill camped on the slopes on his way to victory at Benburb.  Although it has never had the national prominence of Croagh Patrick or a Carrantouhill, Sliabh Beagh is no stranger to history.  According to legend, one of the first settlers in Ireland – Bith – who arrived 40 years before Noah’s Flood, was buried at Carnmore (Great Stone) near Roslea in County Fermanagh in 2598bc.  Alas, the burial cairn is no more, but the memory of Bith is preserved for ever in the mountain’s name, meaning Bith’s mountain.

 

With the overthrow of the old order, the mountain was divided between the large estates of the new landlords such as Lord Rossmore, Lord Brookborough and others.  They left their mark in places such as Favour Royal and Fardaross and Brackenridge Tower stands as a silent reminder of their past glory.  The Penal Laws also left a name. Leacantsagart (Lecantaggart) meaning the stone of the priest, where the strong local memory of a penal day shooting is commemorated with a cross erected in 1934.

 

Windswept Dubhcarn (Blackstone), the highest point of Sliabh Beagh, overlooks a small outcrop of rock known as Sean Bharnaid Stables.  Here, a local outlaw or raporee was said to have stabled his horses after various escapades, robbing the gentry of the area.  The story is told, that he often had the shoes on some of his horses put on the wrong way round to avoid capture and when he finally was caught and executed, a search for the gold and jewels, recovered nothing.  It is thought that the Raporee kept those he had not disposed off in shallow waters of a nearby lake and remain there.

 

The peasant life of this period of Irish history was captured by a local man, William Carleton, whose fame as a writer in touch with the lives of ordinary rural people has only been surpassed in recent times by the late Patrick Kavanagh.  Indeed, it has long been acknowledged that without Carleton’s work, we would have no accurate description of life in pre-famine Ireland.

 

The Great Hunger of 1845-1847 carried off a large number of the inhabitants to pitiful death or to a life in a foreign land.  The ghosts of past generations linger around Sliabh Beagh.  One, however, is said to have left for a more distant place of abode – the celebrated Cooneen Ghost was widely written about at the turn of the century.  This troublesome poltergeist wreaked havoc on life in a small cottage beside Cooneen in County Fermanagh, just beneath the Sliabh Beagh Mountains.

 

When the family living there were forced to flee to the USA. it is said the ghost went with them, causing mayhem on the ship and then disappeared into the Sea … never to be seen or heard again!!!  The Ledger Demesne Book was thrown overboard, as told by Gertrude Primrose, who recounted her memories of the time.

 

With the present century came a border, dividing the mountain, closing roads and isolating communities, but in the long history of Sliabh Beagh, this has lasted merely as in the twinkling of an eye and normality has again descended around the mountain, the roads are now open, and once again in history, Sliabh Beagh has been spared from the worst of the activities of conflict, although, not completely.

 

Many other places may have more awesome and spectacular contours in terms of height and shade, but no other mountain possesses such an unassuming atmosphere and mysterious beauty, or has had such a constant exposure to the legacy of change and upheaval that is the ongoing history of Ireland.

 

Blackwater Valley

The Neolithic people, the builders of Newgrange, the worlds oldest building, pre-dating the pyramids – left a permanent mark and the remains of their passage graves may be seen at Cullamore Hill and nearby Cornagat.  Although stripped bare of their covering material, they still pose mysterious questions for the modern mind to unravel, of the people, myth and magic that created them.  The standing stones at Coneen in County Fermanagh and the Druids Chair, Well and Altar at Altnagowan (Altadavin) … hint at the unknown and complex religion of the pre-Christian Celts. Altnagowan means … The Devil’s Glen.  

 

Patrick’s chair and well

 

St. Patrick understood the power of the old religion having spent time as a boy slave in Ireland and transformed the druidic site at Altnagowan into a place of Christian worship.  The annual pattern to St; Patrick’s Chair, Well and Altar commemorates his visit, yet, still retains many of the pagan associations he tried so hard to erase.  Irish legend tells us, that if you sit in the Chair and make a wish, if not revealed to anyone, it will come to true.

 

St. Patrick understood the power of the old religion having spent time as a boy slave in Ireland and transformed the druidic site at Altnagowan into a place of Christain worship. The annual pattern to St; Patrick’s Chair, Well and Altar commemorates his visit his visit, yet, still retains many of the pagan associations he tried so hard to erase. Irish legend tells us, that if you sit in the Chair and make a wish, if not revealed to anyone, it will come to true.