placenamesBelcoo
Béal Cú
Belcoo’s railway remains, lakeside gathering place and nearby holy well preserve different ways in which people have travelled through and met in the village.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Béal Cú · Irish · main form · validated name
- Belcoo · English · main form
Place & story
A railway station for two villages
Belcoo and Blacklion station served the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway, which opened here in 1879 and closed in 1957. Its location beside the border made it a place for customs examinations as well as passenger and goods traffic. The recorded remains include stone station buildings, platforms, a signal cabin and the base of a water tower, preserving several parts of the railway's operation together. [2]
Sports Day at the Cottage Lawn
The Cottage Lawn occupies a lakeside space in central Belcoo, beside the river connecting the two parts of Lough MacNean. The Geopark's account records a community Sports Day held there on 15 August since 1947. Mature trees, meadow and shoreline habitats surround this established gathering place, giving the village green both a social history and a setting shaped by the lake. [3]
The traditions of Saint Patrick’s Well
The nearby spring at Holywell was recorded in 1834 as Tobar na Dabhcha. The Geopark records two traditions explaining its sanctity: one associates it with a blessing by Saint Patrick, while another says it arose in answer to Saint Sinnell's prayers. Healing powers are also attributed to the water. These are recorded devotional beliefs attached to the spring, rather than established accounts of its physical origin. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Fermanagh
- Barony
- Clanawley
- Civil parish
- Cleenish and Islands
- Coordinates
- 54.29963, -7.87711 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 58998 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Belcoo. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Belcoo and Blacklion railway station · Ciarán Cooney,Eiretrains
- Belcoo Cottage Meadow/Lawn · Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark
- Saint Patrick's Holywell spring pool, near Belcoo illustration: based on a Holywell, Belcoo by Kenneth Allen. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2015-04-17. How this page was prepared.