The snake of Lough Patrick and Lough Peter

The snake of Lough Patrick and Lough Peter

Lough Derg--Pilgrimage--St. Patrick--Lakes

"There are no holy wells in this district but there are two holy lakes called Lough Patrick and Lough Peter. These lakes are in the townland of Drumlougher and form the boundary between County Monaghan and County Armagh. St Patrick's stone is in a field joining Lough Patrick. On this stone there is the track of the ribs of St Patrick. It is said that once he jumped from a hill near by to catch a dragon that was out of the lake and which did a great deal of harm to the people. He slipped and fell on his side and left the track of his ribs in the stone. Many pilgrims go to this stone and also to the lake every year on the twenty ninth of June to perform 'rounds'. Cattle have been driven to the stone for it is supposed to have the power of curing certain diseases of both human beings and animals. One day St Patrick saw the snake out on the land and he froze the lake so that it could not get back into the water. Then he followed it to Lough Derg where he killed it. On the way all the houses they passed had their doors and windows closed, and the people were too afraid to look out. The people who visit this stone get nine little stones and throw each stone in turn across their right shoulder."

Jane Wilson

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0943, Page 080

National Folklore Collection, UCD

1937-39

duchas.ie, hosting and crowd-sourced transcription

CC BY-NC 4.0 International License

Transcribed text and digitised resource

English

Oral history, folklore

DD_0102

54.116161,-6.656322

https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4723848/4718491/4814643

Jane Wilson

Mrs Mc Cully

Dromore, Co. Monaghan