Gleann na bhFuath/Glennawoo
"the glen of the monsters"
See logainm #45661
Date: 03/11/2025
Our understanding of Samhain/Halloween has probably changed quite a lot over the years, and it is probably now much more concerned with features and monsters that have little to do with native Irish culture. However, monsters did indeed also feature in native tradition, and no townland name reflects this better than Glennawoo/Gleann na bhFuath "the glen of the monsters" near Lough Talt in the Ox Mountains of Sligo (see logainm.ie: #45661). One tradition about this placename is recounted in W. G. Wood-Martin's History of Sligo: Town and County iii:
The tradition is, that the valley in which the well is situated was the haunt of a monster in the shape of a great serpent that devoured or destroyed every human being or animal within reach, and hence the name of the Glenn. But a delivery arrived in the person of St. Athy or Araght [Athracht] ... bringing a blessed staff given to her by St. Patrick, with which she pursued and killed the monster on the spot where the well sprang up (p. 357; see here).
(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)