Browse Items · Digital Derg: A Deep Map

Leprechauns and Mermaids

"Very few stories are told of mermaids in this district as it is too far from the sea. The mermaid or 'maigdean mara' is very attractive. Once upon a time a glan man who made a station in Lough Derg returned home by Bundoran. He spent a few hours…

Tags: Bundoran, County Cavan, County Donegal, drowning, Folklore, Glen, mermaid, Oral History, pilgrimage, supernatural

The snake of Lough Patrick and Lough Peter

"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…

Tags: cattle, County Donegal, County Monaghan, cure, Drumlougher, Folklore, hills, Lough Patrick, Lough Peter, miracle, Oral History, pilgrimage, snake, St. Patrick

Water-Horses

"Long ago the people used to send their horses to the mountain for the summer months.

One day a man was going to the mountain for his horse as he required him to do some work at home.

When he went up to the mountain he saw all the horses…

Tags: Croaghbrack townland, fairies, Folklore, horse, lake, Lough Kilraway, mountains, Oral History, supernatural, water, water horse

"Suddenly the far-famed waters of Lough Derg appear close at hand"

"Suddenly the far-famed waters of Lough Derg appear close at hand..."

Tags: artificial land, Basilica, bedrock, building, costs, ferry, Margaret Gibbons, Station Island, vista, waiting rooms

Fair Lake, Lake of the Cave, Red Lake

"The original name of the lake was Finn-loch - the Fair Lake. Those who have visited Lough Derg in the summer and looked on its natural beauties may well approve of the name given by our Pagan ancestors..."

Tags: etymology, Fair Lake, Irish identity, Irish language, Lake of the Cave, Margaret Gibbons, monster, Red Lake, St. Patrick, stone carving

"High, bleak, purple mountains"

"But we have not yet reached the island. We are still on the landing-stage looking up the long reaches of the lake (it covers and area of twenty square miles), noting the high, bleak, purple mountains which surround it, and the number of pretty…

Tags: beauty, colour, emotion, isolation, lake, Margaret Gibbons, mountains, vista, water

From Magrath to Leslie

"The Monastery of Lough Derg, like most other Irish monasteries, was endowed with extensive lands at an early date by neighbouring chieftains..."

Tags: Clogher, confiscation, fifteenth century, Leslie family, Magrath family, Margaret Gibbons, monastery, ownership, patronage, seventeenth century, Termon Magrath

"The Church never relinquished her hold upon the one grey rock"

"Throughout all the perversions and confiscations [of the Reformation], however, the Church never relinquished her hold upon the one grey rock which then was Station Island..."

Tags: Catholic Church, Clogher, Diocese of Clogher, law, Leslie family, Margaret Gibbons, nineteenth century, ownership, pilgrim crossing, pilgrimage, pilgrims, Reformation, Sir John Leslie, Station Island, suppression

The lake returns to the Diocese

"In the year 1917 the final lawsuit took place, at the Quarter sessions in Donegal, before County Court Judge Cooke, K.C. ..."

Tags: Catholic Church, Clogher, compromise, control, court case, Diocese of Clogher, lake, law, Leslie family, Margaret Gibbons, ownership, Sir John Leslie, Station Island, twentieth century, water

"Oh Fare Thee Well, Lough Derg"

"Oh fare thee well, Lough Dearg,
Shall I ever see you more?
My heart is filled with sorrow
To leave thy sainted shore.
Until life's days have passed away
With pleasure shall I dwell
On the happy days I spent with you
Lough Dearg, fare…

Tags: farewell, Margaret Gibbons, pilgrim, pilgrimage, poem, song, Station Island, tradition

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