Beasts & cryptids

Lig na Paiste, the Last Serpent of Banagher Glen

Owenrigh river, Banagher Glen, near Dungiven

Tradition; undated

Wikipedia's entry for Banagher Glen, an ancient oak and ash woodland south of Dungiven, records a legend that the last serpent in Ireland, called Lig na Paiste, lived in the Owenrigh river there. St Patrick had missed it when he drove the snakes out of Ireland some years earlier, and it began to terrorise the local people. In some versions it could breathe fire. St Murrough O'Heney, who had a church in the valley, tricked the creature and caged it forever under Lough Foyle.

The tale belongs with other Irish stories of a monster dealt with by a local saint, and it connects to the saint of Banagher Old Church. No older printed collector is named in the source.

Evidence
Long-standing local tradition
Access
Open ground
Location
54.881, -6.916 (Parish-level only, treat as an area)

Sources: Wikipedia, "Banagher Glen" [other]

View on the map →

Comments

Loading…