Fairy forts (also known as lios or raths from the Irish, referring to an earthen mound) are the remains of stone circles, ringforts, hillforts, or other circular prehistoric dwellings in Ireland. [1] From possibly the late Iron Age to early Christian times, people built circular structures with earth banks or ditches. These were sometimes topped with wooden palisades and wooden framed buildings. As the dwellings were not durable, only vague circular marks often remained in the landscape. [2] The remains of these structures, in conjunction with the vegetation around them, [3] are associated with local traditions and folklore, perhaps involving fairies or other supposed supernatural entities, who would "defend" the structures from destruction by builders or farmers. [4]
As of 1991, there were between thirty and forty thousand identifiable fairy forts in Ireland's countryside, [5] the oldest of them possibly dating back as early as 600 BCE. [3]
Tradition claimed that ringforts were "fairy forts" imbued with druids' magic, and believers in the fairies did not alter them. The early pre-Celtic inhabitants of Ireland came to be seen as the mythical Tuatha Dé Danann and Fir Bolg. They were associated with stories of fairies – also known as the "Good People". Fairy forts and prehistoric tumuli were seen as entrances to their world. [6] Even cutting brush, especially the sceach or whitethorn, on fairy forts was reputed to be the death of those who performed the act. [7]
There are many folk tales about supernatural events happening at fairy forts. Actual accidents which occurred at ringforts could be given supernatural explanations. For example, a man who tried to blast a dolmen suffered a septic hand. The wrecked dolmen was subsequently left untouched. [8]
Other traditions hold that a leprechaun may allegedly know of hidden gold in a fairy fort. [9]
In literature, British author Rudyard Kipling made allusions to the process by which such legends grow in his 1906 novel, Puck of Pook's Hill . [10]
Folk tales associated with fairy forts typically relate a curse or retribution enacted upon those who would disturb or destroy the structures. For example, one story collected in 1907 tells that a man who had engaged workers to level an earthwork fairy fort at Dooneeva or Doonmeeve (near Lahinch in County Clare) fell dead; his wife, a wise woman, magically resurrected him unharmed. [11]
Other folk tales relate to the taking of farm animals or people (typically women or children) by the reputed occupants of fairy forts. [12] [13]
In 2011, the financial ruin of developer Seán Quinn was blamed on his moving a fairy fort. [14] In 2017, a Kerry politician reputedly suggested that an instance of road subsidence had been caused by the presence of fairy forts locally. [15]
Puck may refer to:
Aos sí is the Irish name for a supernatural race in Celtic mythology—daoine sìth in Scottish Gaelic—comparable to fairies or elves. They are said to descend from the Tuatha Dé Danann, meaning the 'People of Danu', according to pagan tradition.
In English folklore, The Puck, also known as Goodfellows, are demons or fairies which can be domestic sprites or nature sprites.
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures, a form of spirit, often with metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural qualities.
A leprechaun is a diminutive supernatural being in Irish folklore, classed by some as a type of solitary fairy. They are usually depicted as little bearded men, wearing a coat and hat, who partake in mischief. In later times, they have been depicted as shoe-makers who have a hidden pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
A trow is a malignant or mischievous fairy or spirit in the folkloric traditions of the Orkney and Shetland islands. Trows may be regarded as monstrous giants at times, or quite the opposite, short-statured fairies dressed in grey.
A pixie is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are speculated to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name. However, the word 'pixie' also appears in Dorset, Somerset and to a lesser extent in Sussex, Wiltshire and Hampshire.
Rathcroghan is a complex of archaeological sites near Tulsk in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is identified as the site of Cruachan, the traditional capital of the Connachta, the prehistoric and early historic rulers of the western territory. The Rathcroghan Complex is a unique archaeological landscape with many references found in early Irish medieval manuscripts.
The púca, pucapwca, pooka, phouka, puck is a creature of Celtic, English, and Channel Islands folklore. Considered to be bringers both of good and bad fortune, they could help or hinder rural and marine communities. Púcaí can have dark or white fur or hair. The creatures were said to be shape-changers that could take the appearance of horses, goats, cats, dogs, and hares. They may also take a human form, which includes various animal features, such as ears or a tail.
Fairies, particularly those of Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh folklore, have been classified in a variety of ways. Classifications – which most often come from scholarly analysis, and may not always accurately reflect local traditions – typically focus on behavior or physical characteristics.
Ringforts or ring forts are small circular fortified settlements built during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and early Middle Ages up to about the year 1000 AD. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wales and in Cornwall, where they are called rounds. Ringforts come in many sizes and may be made of stone or earth. Earthen ringforts would have been marked by a circular rampart, often with a stakewall. Both stone and earthen ringforts would generally have had at least one building inside.
Irish folklore refers to the folktales, balladry, music, dance and mythology of Ireland. It is the study and appreciation of how people lived.
Katharine Mary Briggs was a British folklorist and writer, who wrote The Anatomy of Puck, the four-volume A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language, and various other books on fairies and folklore. From 1969 to 1972, she was president of the Folklore Society, which established an award in her name to commemorate her life and work.
Caherconnell is an exceptionally well-preserved medieval stone ringfort in region known as the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. It lies about 1 km south of the Poulnabrone dolmen.
Thomas Johnson Westropp was an Irish antiquarian, folklorist and archaeologist.
Puck of Pook's Hill is a fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1906, containing a series of short stories set in different periods of English history. It can count both as historical fantasy – since some of the stories told of the past have clear magical elements, and as contemporary fantasy – since it depicts a magical being active and practising his magic in the England of the early 1900s when the book was written.
According to folklore a fairy path is a route taken by fairies usually in a straight line and between sites of traditional significance, such as fairy forts or raths, "airy" (eerie) mountains and hills, thorn bushes, springs, lakes, rock outcrops, and Stone Age monuments. Ley lines and spirit paths, such as with corpse roads, have some similarities with these fairy paths. A fairy ring is also a path used by fairies, but in a circle, for dancing, as described by poet W. B. Yeats, "...the fairies dance in a place apart, Shaking their milk-white feet in a ring,..." The concept is usually associated with Celtic folklore, especially that of Ireland.
Rewards and Fairies is a historical fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling published in 1910. The title comes from the poem "Farewell, Rewards and Fairies" by Richard Corbet, which was referred to by the children in the first story of Kipling's earlier book Puck of Pook's Hill. Rewards and Fairies, a followup to Puck, is set one year later, although it was published four years afterwards.
The Latoon fairy bush, or Latoon fairy tree, is a whitethorn tree situated beside the M18 motorway in Latoon, County Clare, Ireland that was the subject of a preservation campaign led by Irish folklorist Eddie Lenihan in 1999 to save it from being cut down when the motorway was being built. According to Lenihan, the tree is an "important meeting place for supernatural forces of the region".