The Legend of the Long Woman (Cauthleen i Lorcan)
This story dates back to the time when the lands around Omeath were ruled by a local chieftain (Chieftain) from the O’Hanlon family. He had two sons, and before his death, he ordered his lands to be divided equally between them. However, the elder brother, Conn Óg, decided to deceive the younger, Lorcan.
Conn led his brother deep into the rugged Cooley Mountains, to the bottom of a deep, narrow valley (called The Lug, or hollow), and said, “I will give you all the land you can see from here.” Because the valley was hemmed in on all sides by steep hills, almost nothing could be seen from the bottom. Lorcan, though deceived, accepted this fate, left Ireland, and engaged in maritime trade aboard his own ship.
Spanish Love
During one of his overseas journeys—to Cadiz, Spain—Lorcan performed a heroic feat: he rescued a Spanish nobleman and his beautiful daughter, Cauthleen, from a sinking yacht.
The young couple fell head over heels in love. Cauthleen was exceptionally beautiful, but she also had an unusual trait—she was gigantic. Standing at a staggering 7 feet (approximately 213 cm), she was only 3 inches shorter than the mighty Lorcan. Although the girl had already been promised to another nobleman in Spain, influenced by Lorcan’s ardent confessions and tales of wealth and vast estates in Ireland, she decided to elope with him.
Lorcan's Promise
To impress his beloved and persuade her to leave her wealthy home in Spain, Lorcan lied. He told her that he was a powerful lord in his homeland and that she would be queen of all she saw.
Cooley Mountain Tragedy
When they reached the shores of Carlingford Lough, the locals were captivated by the stately, imposingly tall Spanish woman adorned in precious jewels. The lovers set off up a narrow path into the Cooley Mountains, heading for Lorcan’s estate.
He led his new wife to the aforementioned deep valley of The Lug. He ordered her to stand in the center, close her eyes, and then proudly proclaimed, “This is your kingdom. Open your eyes and look upon the land of which you are mistress!”
Cauthleen opened her eyes and looked around:
Instead of the vast, fertile, and rich lands he had promised her, she saw only four bleak, bare walls of a muddy, rocky depression in the mountains.
In an instant, she understood how deceived she had been and how much she had sacrificed, abandoning her homeland and her luxurious life in Spain for this lie.
Distraught, her heart broken with grief, she fell dead to the ground in the same place.
The end of the story
Lorcan, seeing what she had done, his greed and pride, went mad with despair. He fled the valley and threw himself into a nearby, marshy and treacherous bog at a crossroads (Annagh Bog). His body was never found.
Local people found the body of an unusually tall Spanish woman lying in the valley. Out of respect, they dug a huge grave for her where she had fallen. Because of her height, the place was named Lug Bhán Fada (Long Woman’s Hollow).
According to an old Celtic tradition, every person passing by placed a stone on her grave to create a cairn and honor her memory. It is these stones, surrounded by a symbolic barrier, that you will see in the Cooley Mountains. To this day, she is believed to rest there “in the valley of her disappointment and broken promises.”