Nature Trail

The nature trail is an attractive 800m (half-mile) walk through woodland, meadow and lakeshore.

Follow the attractive green number boards to find out about the fascinating local ecology and the Celtic folklore associated with the Ogham alphabet and Ireland’s native trees.

The Ogham Trees

Ogham (pronounced Ohm) is an ancient alphabet, probably dating from the 2nd- 4th century. The Ogham letters consisted of a series of notches carved on a stone or piece of wood, and many Ogham stones can still be seen in Ireland and Britain. In the best-known Ogham, each letter is associated with a tree, though Ogham also related to objects and places.

In early Ireland trees were of great symbolic and ritual significance as well as being economically important; so there is a rich folklore and mythology attached to different tree species. Ogham may have encoded much of the nature-based wisdom of the Druids. In the old tale of Midhir and Etáin, the mortal queen Etáin and her divine lover Midhir transform into swans and elope together. King Eochaid searches for the lovers in vain until he consults a Druid named Dulan. The Druid inscribed Ogham on wands of yew and used these to reveal their hiding place. Each board on the Nature Trail introduces you to one of the Ogham trees.