The Story of the Belcoo Name

The Irish name Béal Cú means “mouth of the hound.” Béal means “mouth,” “opening” or “entrance,” while cú means “hound.” The name is thought to describe the entrance to the waterways and landscape around the village.

Belcoo lies in the far west of County Fermanagh, close to the border with County Cavan and only a short distance from County Leitrim. It sits beside Belcoo River, which connects Lough MacNean with the waters of the Erne system.

The waterways have always been central to life here. The lakes and rivers provided transportation, fishing and natural boundaries, while the surrounding limestone landscape supported farming.

The region formed part of the traditional Gaelic territory of the Maguire family, hereditary rulers of Fermanagh. Their power was closely connected with the county's lakes and difficult terrain.

The name Béal Cú preserves an older Gaelic way of seeing the landscape. Béal is commonly used in Irish place-names to describe the mouth or entrance of a river, valley or passage. Here, it is paired with cú, the hound—a word deeply embedded in Irish mythology and tradition.

The surrounding area contains evidence of much older settlement, including ringforts, megalithic monuments and ancient field systems.

During the medieval period, the waterways made the region both valuable and defensible. The lakes formed natural routes through the countryside while also protecting Gaelic communities from outside forces.

The Plantation of Ulster brought major political and social changes in the seventeenth century. Gaelic landholding was disrupted, and English and Scottish settlers established themselves throughout Fermanagh.

Belcoo remained a small rural community, with farming and local trade forming the basis of life.

Its position near the border became increasingly significant following partition in 1921. The modern boundary between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland runs close to the village, adding another layer to its long history as a place of passage.

Today, Belcoo is known for its peaceful setting beside the lakes and rivers of western Fermanagh and for its proximity to the Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark.

But the name reaches back into the older Gaelic landscape:

Béal Cú — the mouth of the hound.

A curious and evocative name whose precise ancient story is difficult to recover, but whose words preserve the imaginative character of the Irish language.

Belcoo is a wonderful example of how Irish place-names can transform the landscape into something almost poetic—an entrance, a river and a hound captured in just two ancient words.