Roscommon Folk Tales

About this book

Roscommon Folk Tales gathers traditional stories from across County Roscommon, tying local legend to the landscape in which each account is set. Pat Watson includes tales connected with Queen Maeve, the warrior queen associated with Roscommon, and the legend of the Giant Leabaigh’s Rock.

The collection also brings together accounts of witches, hags, ghosts and fairies, alongside stories rooted in older Irish mythology. One tale relates how the Tuatha Dé Danann came to Roscommon’s Curlew Mountains from Tír na nÓg. Told by a local storyteller, these narratives move between mythic figures, uncanny encounters and named places, presenting Roscommon as a county where folklore remains closely attached to its hills, rocks and other features.