54°2′4″N 6°13′36″W / 54.03444°N 6.22667°W
The Cooley Peninsula (from Irish Cuaille, older Cúalṅge) is a hilly peninsula in the north of County Louth on the east coast of Ireland; the peninsula includes the small town of Carlingford, the port of Greenore and the village of Omeath.
Carlingford (from Old Norse Kerlingfjǫrðr 'narrow sea-inlet of the hag'; Irish: Cairlinn) is a coastal town and civil parish in northern County Louth, Ireland. For the purposes of local government, the town is part of the Dundalk Municipal District. It is situated on the southern shore of Carlingford Lough with Slieve Foy mountain as a backdrop, sometimes known as Carlingford Mountain. It is the main town on the Cooley Peninsula. Located on the R176/R173 roads between Greenore and Omeath village, Carlingford is approximately 27 km (17 mi) north east (by road) from Dundalk (15.6 km; 9¾ miles directly), 90 km (56 mi) north of Dublin and 11 km (7 mi) south of the border with Northern Ireland. Carlingford won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition in 1988.
Carlingford still retains its medieval layout noticeable by the narrow lanes and small streets. Tholsel Street is where the last of the medieval walled town's gates can still be seen, called "The Tholsel" which apparently was also used as a jail, on Tholsel Street itself there is still a 16th-century Town House known as the Carlingford Mint.
Táin Bó Cúailnge (Modern Irish pronunciation: [ˈt̪ˠaːnʲ bˠoː ˈkuəlʲɲə]; "the driving-off of the cows of Cooley"), commonly known as The Táin or less commonly as The Cattle Raid of Cooley, is an epic from Irish mythology. It is often called "the Irish Iliad", although like most other early Irish literature, the Táin is written in prosimetrum, i.e. prose with periodic additions of verse composed by the characters. The Táin tells of a war against Ulster by Queen Medb of Connacht and her husband King Ailill, who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge. Due to a curse upon the king and warriors of Ulster, the invaders are opposed only by the young demigod, Cú Chulainn.
The Táin is traditionally set in the 1st century in a pagan heroic age, and is the central text of a group of tales known as the Ulster Cycle. It survives in three written versions or "recensions" in manuscripts of the 12th century and later, the first a compilation largely written in Old Irish, the second a more consistent work in Middle Irish, and the third an Early Modern Irish version.
The Cooley Mountains (Irish: Sléibhte Cuaille) are on the Cooley Peninsula in northeast County Louth in Ireland. They consist of two ridges running northwest to southeast, separated by the valley of Glenmore with the Big River running through it.
Slieve Foy, at 589 metres (1,932 ft), is the highest peak of the range and the highest in County Louth. It is on the eastern ridge, which is about 6 km (3.7 mi) long and also includes the peaks of The Eagles Rock (528m), The Ravens Rock (457m), The Foxes Rock (404m), and Barnavave (350m). This latter name comes from Bearna Mhéabha (Maeve's Gap), and refers to the legendary Queen Medb (Maeve), whose army is said to have dug a pass through the mountain.