Sacré Coeur, Ballingarry, Thurles, Bed & Breakfast.
The Guesthouse is situated on the Old Cashel to Kilkenny Coach Road approx 300yds from Ballingarry Village, it is blessed with a panoramic view of ancient Slievenamon [Irish, Sliabh na mBan] (2,368 feet high), sometimes called ‘Ireland's Parnassus’.
Legendary Slievenamon
'Slievenamon' lies on the plain of ‘Femen’ [Irish, femininity], and the magical ‘SÃdh ar Femen’ is near its peak. According to oral tradition, Sliabh na mBan is named for the women who raced each other up the slopes for the privilege of lying with legendary warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill in ancient times. Other Fenian stories recount that Fionn got his mystical thumb wisdom, on Slievenamon, when he catches it in the door-jamb of a cairn to the ‘Otherworld’ (This version of how Fionn gained his knowledge dates from the 8th century, the more well-known version, is the tale of the Salmon of Wisdom). It is also at Sliabh na mBan that Fionn chooses Gráinne for his own, and where The Fianna hunted boar. Earlier ‘Bodb Derg’ was thought to keep supernatural pigs here that reappeared alive after they had been eatenâ€.
Legend tells us too, that "on his return from Sliabh na mBan after the race with its attended activities, Fionn mac Cumhaill was exhausted and hungry. He rested in Slieveardagh beside the river ‘Guineagh’ (Kings River) where he feasted on the finest Salmon and the most sumptuous berries in all of Ireland . The women of Sliabh na mBan were enchanted beauties, who were contemporary with Finn Mac Cumhaill, the chief of the Irish militia in the third century AD".
Slievenamon is a place of exception beauty, offering great diversity to its visitors; breathtaking summit and mountain views, along with it's valley, river and woods.
