Episode 210 - Mythic Places - Waterways - Gougane Barra & the River Lee

Welcome back to the Candlelit Tales podcast, and this series on Waterways.

In this episode, Aron tells us the origin of the River Lee. There are scant enough details about the event, but Saint Finnbarr is claimed to have settled a monastery on the island in the middle of the lake of Gougane Barra. The Rock of Barra. Was there already a standing stone there, a rock of limestone from the cliffs that surround the lake in the mountains there? Or did this saint settle his chappel on a rock he found and named? Either way, the place has his name to this day.

Legend has it, St. Finnbarr defeated the serpent Lua or Lú which lived in the dark depths of the lake. Upon being banished the serpent tore through the landscape, carving a trail for the water from the lake to flow all the way to the marsh mouth of the river Lee where it meets the sea.

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Big thank you to Fiaon for this wonderful article with images below, and to the poet James Harpur for his stunning poem ‘Finbarr and the Serpent of Gougane Barra’

https://roaringwaterjournal.com/2020/05/24/to-puncture-the-mysterious-finbarr-and-the-serpent/

https://roaringwaterjournal.com/tag/gougane-barra/

I also found Patrick Comerford’s writing below really helped me get into the visuals of the place:

http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2021/07/the-island-oratory-at-gougane-barra.html