The Lammas Fair, or as Mr. John McAuley wrote in his famous song ‘ the Oul' Lammas Fair’, takes place on the last Monday and Tuesday in August. The Lammas Fair is famed for having an 'unbroken history', having taken place annually for the past 300 years but it origins go back to the legends and myths of Ireland.

The name of Lammas originated from the 'Feast of Lughnasadh' or Lugh (Lu) and comes from one of the legends of Ireland - one interpretation and there are as many as there are ways of spelling the name, is as follows:- Lugh was in legend a Sun God who had a mortal foster mother called Tailtiu, who in turn was a queen or princess in the firbolgs.

The firbolgs (Meaning of the word is ‘Men of Bags’) were early inhabitants of Ireland and are said to have come from Greece or Spain - after settling in that country they were put into servitude and forced to carry soil from the fertile plains to the higher ground.

To do this they devised leather bags and became known as the ‘men of bags’ (firbolgs), eventually they became tired of this servitude and made coracles or boats from their leather bags and set sail -arriving in Ireland.They lived here until invaded and ruled by the people of Dana (Tuatha de Danna).

The Dana forced Tailtiu to clear a large area of woodland for the planting of grain and she died of exhaustion in the process. She was buried under a great mound which was called the ‘Hill of Tailtiu’ and Lugh instructed that each year a festival be held to commemorate his foster mother’s death, where there should be games and the feasting on the first fruits of the harvest.

We find references in Ireland to the ‘Tailthiu Games’ and the ‘Games of Lugh’.