Ballyfin is a small village and parish in County Laois, Ireland. Located in the Slieve Bloom Mountains, the village is in the midlands of Ireland. It is around 8 km west of Portlaoise, on the R423 road between Mountrath and Mountmellick.
William Pole of Ballyfin (d. 1781)
John Hoppner, Sir Charles Henry Coote, 9th Baronet, c. 1803
Ballyfin House
Fionn mac Cumhaill, often anglicized Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is the leader of the Fianna bands of young roving hunter-warriors, as well as being a seer and poet. He is said to have a magic thumb that bestows him with great wisdom. He is often depicted hunting with his hounds Bran and Sceólang, and fighting with his spear and sword. The tales of Fionn and his fiann form the Fianna Cycle or Fenian Cycle, much of it narrated by Fionn's son, the poet Oisín.
Fionn fighting Aillen, illustration by Beatrice Elvery in Violet Russell's Heroes of the Dawn (1914)
Fionn by Beatrice Elvery
"Malvine, Dying in the Arms of Fingal", by Ary Scheffer. The characters are from James Macpherson's epic poem Ossian: "Fingal" is a character based upon Fionn mac Cumhaill, while "Malvina" is the lover of Fingal's grandson Oscar, and cares for Fingal in his old age after Oscar dies.
