Behind the Roe Valley Resort is Mullagh Hill, reputed location of the Convention of Drumceat which was held in 575AD. This is famous because St Columbkille is recorded as having returned from exile in Scotland for the occasion and that his intervention saved the bardic tradition from being banished. Some accounts talk of him having strapped scottish turf to his feet as he had vowed never again to step on Ireland. The meeting was mainly about the political and military relationship between the king of the Dál Riata Áedán mac Gabráin who had land in the north of Ireland and the west of Scotland and the powerful overking Áed mac Ainmirech from Donegal. Colmcille was a close kinsman of Áed but he was also the leading religious figure among the Dál Riata where his island of Iona was located. The hill itself is thought to be largely natural though altered in parts to provide a flat rounded area at the top.
