with a poem by Paul JA Hadfield

County Leitrim is surely Ireland's most unsung county. Tucked away in the northwest, but with none of the grandeur of Fermanagh or Donegal, Leitrim is quiet, mellow and hushed. Low hills preside over valleys filled with drumlins which are draped with pastures that shade from jade to emerald. Peaty dells, soft loughs and ancient megaliths give texture to a landscape that is quintessential Ireland.

It was in Leitrim that Turlough O'Carolan, Ireland's celebrated composer, poet and harpist, found both patronage and inspiration. For a while he stayed at Letterfian on the shores of Lough Scur, and it was here that his host, George Reynolds, recounted to O'Carolan tales of the surrounding country. O'Carolan heard of the crumbled dolmen on the shores of the lake and of the battles that had been fought by the fairies who lived on Sidh Beag and Sidh Mór, the two hills on opposing sides of Lough Scur. These stories inspired some of O'Carolan's most acclaimed music. Something of the blind harpist still haunts the Leitrim landscape.