Cahir Linn - City of the Pool

From local folklore we are told that there once was a city where Carlingford Lough is now – the beautiful Cahir Linn. The sunken city was supposedly located near Carlingford in Co. Louth overlooked by Slieve Foy, the mountain which was once an active volcano.

Living in the shadow of the great volcano Slieve Foy, the people who lived in Cahir Linn worshipped a fire god. At their temple they burned a sacred fire which was lit with the flames of Slieve Foy’s crater.

Aete was the only daughter of King Carolan, King of Cahir Linn city.  Aete was raised to become the chief priestess in service of the fire-god.  A prince called Colla, who came to worship at the shrine, fell in love with Aete. Often they met together by the pool of Cahir Linn and soon they made plans to run away together. Aete decided she would give up her priestess duties and would marry Colla in secret. However, as they were running away they were spotted by a guard.

Aete had broken a sacred law by abandoning her duties as a priestess and the people of Cahir Linn were outraged. They imprisoned both her and Prince Colla in a vault, cut deep into Slieve Foy mountain and as they lay there, they could feel the heat of the volcano burning into them. The couple were sentenced to a gruesome death. The Cahir Linn people carried the pair to the crater of the volcano and when the signal was given, they flung them into the fiery depths below. As Aete and Colla burned beneath them, the people of Cahir Linn cried out to the fire god to accept them as a sacrifice.

The fire god was not pleased with their gift.  What fire god would want a fiery passion extinguished on his behalf? As the people of Cahir Linn waited, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble and made strange sounds. Suddenly, the lava in the crater rose up and boiled over the top.  Flames and smoke came pouring out.  As the people rushed down the mountain, thunder and lightning filled the sky and showers of ash poured down on their beautiful city. Buildings fell, statues rocked and lava bubbled under the surface of the earth.  A channel opened under the Irish Sea causing a great tidal wave to swallow up the ruined city and form a lake, known today as Carlingford Lough..

If you look closely, the locals say, you can see the old buildings of Cahir Linn, lying far below the waters, gone and forgotten, never to rise to the surface again.

Come and see for yourself, explore the area and see if you can find the lost city.

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