Folklore & legend

The Dogs: Finn McCool's Hounds Turned to Stone

Big Dog Forest and the Dogs hills, near Derrygonnelly

Tradition; undated

In Fermanagh, to say someone has gone to the Dogs is simply to say they have gone up into the hills known as the Dogs, named for the legendary hounds of Finn McCool, Bran and Sceolan. The Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark and Fermanagh Lakelands give the story. An old witch cast a spell during a chase and turned the two dogs into stone, and the hills of Big Dog and Little Dog mark the places where they stand.

The Lough Erne Pilgrim Way has a short piece titled The Dogs saying much the same about the name. The hounds are among the most widely known figures in Irish legend, and the hill names appear on the map in the Derrygonnelly area, where the Big Dog Forest walk is a modern trail.

No further detail of the witch is given in the sources I could reach.

Evidence
Long-standing local tradition
Access
Open ground
Location
54.395, -7.944 (Parish-level only, treat as an area)

Sources: Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark, "History and Folklore" [other]; Lough Erne Pilgrim Way, "The Dogs" [other]; Fermanagh Lakelands, "Spooky Stories and Folklore: Unearthing Fermanagh's Haunting Legends" [other]

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