The Labby Rock

by Coolbock N.S.
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The Labby Rock is named after the Irish word for bed ‘leaba’ and features in both local folklore and Celtic Mythology.

According to folklore the Labby Rock is the place where Diarmiud and Grainne slept when fleeing the wrath of Fionn Mac Cumhail.

Grainne had been promised in marriage to the much older Fionn Mac Cumhail by her father, the High King.

Grainne fell in love with Diarmuid and so the couple eloped.

They were chased throughout the land but in time the quest for revenge was called off.

All was well for some time but Diarmuid was eventually killed in a hunting “accident” near Benbulbin in north Sligo.
Local tradition also claims that if an engaged couple should lie on top of The Labby Rock, before they are married, they they are sure to have many children.

The Labby Rock also features in Celtic Mythology, and many local sites feature in the stories surrounding the Second of Moytura.

These stories claim that the Labby Rock is a burial place of Nuada of the Silver Arm, king of Tuatha de Danann, who was killed at the battle of Moytura by Balor of the Evil Eye, the leader of the Formorians.