Hot times in the Wee County

From Cuchulainn to the Bubble Car in Ireland’s smallest county

WHAT Irish county is named after the Celtic god of the sun, and shares its name with the capital of England and an important French city? The names of London and Lyon derive from Lugdunum, or the Fortress of Lugh, and so does that of Louth.

Known as the Wee County, because it’s the smallest in Ireland, Condae Lú proves that great goods come in small parcels, at least when it comes to myth, legend and history.

Lugh was worshipped by Celtic people all over Europe, and in Irish mythology his father, Cian, a member of the Tuatha de Danann, was murdered by rivals at Killin Hill, a few miles from Dundalk.

Lugh was the divine father of Cuchulainn, of whom more later.

Legendary figures abound in Louth, but it has a significant place too in our written history. Mention Oliver Cromwell and the massacre at Drogheda in 1649 springs immediately to mind...

For more, check out this week’s Tuam Herald or log onto our digital edition HERE