"Fionn MacCumhaill's Fingers" Cavan.

"Fionn MacCumhaill's Fingers" Cavan.

While waiting for my daughter recently at drama rehearsals in Cavan town, I took the short drive out to Shantemon Hill to see "Fionn Mac Cumhaill's Fingers" ( Finn McCool) and took the opportunity to do another quick sketch.

You walk up through a wooded path to a clearing dominated by these large rocks, dating from an older time than the legendary Fionn. According to some stories he is said to have lost his hand in battle, other tales tell you he is buried beneath this place. 

I wasn't able to walk up to the Vitrified fort due to the thick brambles and I hadn't exactly dressed in appropriate clothes so would have been torn badly! Anyhow it's an interesting structure by all accounts as vitrified forts are rare enough, as far as I know only in Cavan and Derry but common in Scotland.  Seemingly the stone was subject to intense heat which almost melted the rocks together. Definitely a must visit sometime. 

The name of the actual hill and area is Shantemon which means nothing in English but apparently comes from the Irish, Sean teach na mban or the the old house of the woman. Now, since I've been up there, I have researched but still can't find any reference to the origins of this name which is intriguing and indeed only see a similar version to the Anglecized in old documents, so it's still a mystery!

Shantemon Hill was also the inaugural seat of the Ó Raghallaigh or O'Reilly family, a very prominent name in County Cavan, from the 12th to the 17th Centuries.

At present there is quite an amount of forestation so the views of the surrounding countryside are fairly limited and to be honest, it wasn't a great day weather wise at it was quite misty so I'll have to pop back another time and maybe get to the fort as well!  

Once more, I did my quick sketch as seen below. I have a wee story here too. There wasn't a soul about on the day, so quiet as I reflected on these ancient stones, and then I heard a sort of huffing sound, coming up the path. To my absolute horror and suddenly found myself staring in to the eyes of a Rottweiler! Now, when I was young I had a phobia of dogs, the real thing, I'd run from a Chihauhua!!  I have got over that fear but would still be wary and this was my absolute nightmare scenario. It was a young dog but still very big and took a real interest in me which only made my legs like jelly. Still I just continued to ignore him and then I heard voices. I called out was it their dog and their response was "Socks, Socks, come here!"  A man and woman out for their daily doggie walk appeared and  I soon realized that Socks was just a playful, extremely large pup. Still, it took a few moments for my heart to steady! Then I did my drawing!

Contact Details

Margaret McKenna
Carrick Eighter, Virginia, Co. Cavan, Ireland
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Art to me, is storytelling a means to visually capture the atmosphere and tell the tales behind our landscape or capture the essence of that person’s character.

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