School: Gartan (roll number 13755)
- Location:
- Bellville or Gartan, Co. Donegal
- Teacher: Nóra Ní Dhuibhe
![The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1072, Page 316](https://doras.gaois.ie/cbes/CBES_1072%2FCBES_1072_316.jpg?width=1600&quality=85)
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1072, Page 316
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Gartan
- XML Page 316
- XML “Saint Columba's Stepping Stones”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- Across Gartan Lough there is a row of stones still to be seen. These are called Saint Columba's steps. One morning as Saint Columba was putting on his boots, his enemies came and he had to run away having only one boot on. It is said that he crossed here to the other side out of his enemies' reach.
He said that, after that a curse would rest on the man that laced one boot before he put on the other. Most people of this district try to avoid the curse by putting on both boots before lacing one.
I often heard my parents talk about this when I was quite young and I still remember it.- Collector
- David Bovaird
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Carrowtrasna, Co. Donegal
- Informant
- John Bovaird
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 73
- Address
- Carrowtrasna, Co. Donegal