Bessy Bell and Mary Gray
Bessy Bell and Mary Gray are a pair of hills behind Newtownstewart and north-west of Omagh in Tyrone, named after a legend made famous in poetry. The name was given by settlers from Scotland: it is understood that an earlier, Gaelic name was Sliabh Troim ('mountain of elder') or Sliab Toad for Bessy Bell.
In the legend recounted in the Child Ballads, based on a true story, Bessy Bell and Mary Gray are "twa bonnie lassies" who sought refuge from the plague in 1645 in a remote spot away from habitation and there built a tower as a bower. The story has been much embellished in a poem and ballad that were written many years later. The site of bower and grave is in Perthshire, on the banks of the River Almond and east of Burn Brae (56°26’37"N, 3°34’44"W). The hills in Tyrone may reflect the familiar shape of the hills of legend, or the shape of the bonnie lasses themselves.
Location
- Location map: 54°40’36"N, 7°22’59"W