Shane Bernagh’s Chair

Shane Bernagh’s Chair

Shane Bernagh's Chair is a small rocky area, shaped like a chair, on the outskirts of Cappagh and Altmore in the midst of Tyrone, named after the infamous 17th century highwayman or 'rapparee', Shane Bernagh Donnelly, who has become a local Robin Hood figure.

Donnelly used this rugged mountain area to hide out and launch his next attack on his unsuspecting victims. The nearby Bernish Glen is also named after him, as local oral legend recalls that he once jumped across the glen on horseback as he sought to evade the oncoming soldiers.

The heathery gap where the Rapparee, Shane Bernagh, saw his brother die. On a summer's day the dying sun stained its colours to crimson. So breaks the heart, Brish mó Cree.

Donnelly was a local man. The hills provided a vantage point to launch daring hold ups on carriages passing through the area on the main Dublin to Londonderry road nearby.

Local legend portrays the highwayman as a character like Robin Hood in legend, who stole from the wealthy Ascendency landlords and gave to the poor. A barracks was built in the Altmore area in an attempt to curb his activities. He was eventually captured and executed and his body was cast into a lough at the summit of Slieve Beagh, which straddles the counties of Tyrone, Fermanagh and Monaghan. He was immortalised further by the local scholar Dr. George Sigerson in his popular ballad "The Mountains of Pomeroy" and by local poet John Montague in his poem "A Lost Tradition".