The Children of Lir: Derravaragh to Inishglora

On the shore of Loch Dairbhreach, the stepmother Aoife makes Lir's four children bathe, then casts a spell that turns them into four white swans. Fionnghuala, the eldest, asks her to set a limit, and Aoife sets three hundred years on this lake. The children keep human speech: when Lir arrives he finds the swans "singing with human voices". Today Lough Derravaragh in County Westmeath is still best known for this legend.

The second sentence is three hundred more years on Sruth na Maoilé, the Sea of Moyle. A cruel storm separates the four swans, and though they find each other again, their time there is wretched, with extremes of cold and weather. The strait between County Antrim and the Mull of Kintyre is only 19 kilometres wide at its narrowest, and it remains famed through its link to the legend. The pin sits on Torr Head, where the strait is narrowest.

Location precision: The legend names the whole strait, not one spot; the pin marks Torr Head, its narrowest point on the Antrim side.

During the Moyle years, a search party led by Aodh and Fergus, sons of Bodb, find the swans near the mouth of the Banna. The swans ask for news and hear good tidings of the De Danann, Lir and Bodb. Afterwards they leave for the west. The Lower Bann reaches the Atlantic at Barmouth, between Portstewart and Castlerock, but the tale does not fix the exact spot.

Location precision: The tale says only 'near the mouth of the Banna'; the pin marks the River Bann, not a scene.

The third sentence is three hundred years at Iorrus Domnann and Inis Gluairé. One night the cold becomes so intense that the waters freeze and the swans' feet freeze to the ice. In their suffering they plead to the King of Heaven, and from then on they are protected from storms and bad weather. Lough Derravaragh's article places these last years on the Atlantic by Erris, in County Mayo.

Location precision: Iorrus Domnann is matched with Erris by a secondary source; the pin marks the Erris area, not a lake or shore.

On Inis Gluairé the holy man Mochaomhóg rings a bell calling matins. The swans take fright, but Fionnghuala says the sound will free them from the spell. When Lairgnen, King of Connacht, tries to seize them, their feathers fall off, revealing three very old men and an old woman. They ask to be baptised, then die and are buried. Tradition says they lie on the island of Inisglora, off the Mayo coast.

Location precision: The burial is by tradition only; the pin is a map search for the island, not a marked grave.