{"id":158,"date":"2012-01-09T00:54:22","date_gmt":"2012-01-09T00:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technogypsie.com\/faerie\/?p=158"},"modified":"2024-03-03T23:37:18","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T23:37:18","slug":"irish-fairy-forts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technotink.net\/lore\/irish-fairy-forts\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish Fairy Forts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Irish Faerie Forts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These intriguing fortresses of old have always fascinated me conceptually once I read about them in the many legends and folklore of the Irish Faeries<\/a>. However, it wasn\u2019t until the last two years that I\u2019ve had the chance to explore these raths<\/em> of myths and tales in-depth and personally wondering if they are truly gateways into the Land of the Young, Tir Na Nog or the Faerie Otherworld. \u201cFairy Forts\u201d are the names given especially by the Irish, Cornish, and other residents of the Isles around Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Britain who strongly believe in the faerie folk. This is a localized term for the \u201craths\u201d, \u201cringforts\u201d, \u201clios\u201d, \u201chillforts\u201d, \u201crounds\u201d, \u201cearthen mounds\u201d, or circular dwellings found in England, Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, and Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Fairy<\/a>
Fairy Forts \/ Ring Forts (People’s Park, Ireland)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Archaeologists will tell you these came to be around the late Iron Age and were used upwards to the domain of early Christianization of the land when the Island\u2019s residents dwelled in circular structures (perhaps \u201croundhouses\u201d) within earthen banks or ditches that were used for defense. These were believed to have been topped with wooden palisades, stone or wood buildings, roundhouses, or structures. Many archaeologists believe that these were primarily made of wooden structures that would have decayed, which is why none of the structures remained, leaving only vague circular marks in the landscape. These \u201cfairy forts\u201d or \u201craths\u201d are simply large mounds of earth, clay, grass, hedges, bushes, gorse, and thorn that are circular in shape like that believed to be a round banked enclosure. Archaeology tells us the circular bank was formerly the base for a high fence or wall of sharpened logs, sometimes with or without a water-filled moat. Inside the circular enclosure, more often than not, are round wooden thatched dwellings. Also within this enclosure was kept livestock during bad weather and to prevent raiding. There are believed to be over 40,000 ring forts in Ireland alone. In 2009, a team of four photographers supported by Wales Arts International took a road trip across Western Ireland to record and photograph fairy forts. These can be seen at www.fairyfortproject.com. Actual \u201cSidhe,\u201d or Hills, are most commonly interpreted as burial mounds, passage tombs, or tumuli. Human remains have been found in these to support archaeology. ~ Some claim the Tuatha de Danann were the \u201cDanes\u201d who were legendary \u201cfort builders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Passage<\/a>
Passage Tomb – Slieve Gullion Forest Park<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

However, this is disputed by many folklorists and archaeologists, as most of the forts took on Gaelic names. According to Archaeology, the forts are attributed to various times and races. Legend even attributes them to belong to the Firbolgs, Tuatha De Danann, the Celts, and the Vikings, as well as mythological individuals such as Aenghus, Eerish, Eir, Farvagh, Cuchuallain, Midir, Croaghan, ‘Lachtna (820-840 C.E.), Brian Boru (980-1014 C.E.), and King Conor (1242-1269 C.E.). Places throughout the Isles are named after faeries, banshees, and other beings or myths surrounding them. tells a different story opposing the archaeologists\u2019 perspective. The land’s myths, legends, and lore tell that these ring forts were \u201cfairy forts\u201d blessed and protected with Druidic prayers, spells, and magic to protect the \u201cfaeries\u201d that lived within or under them. Those who believe in Faeries do not alter or trespass on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legend states that the Tuatha De Danann and Fir Bolg had originally inhabited Ireland as a mythical race of magical folk who dominated Ireland. Around the time of the Iron Age (oddly enough corresponding to archaeology\u2019s dating of raths), when the Milesians came to Ireland and defeated the Tuatha De Danann, the Tuatha was forced to relocate to the Other World, A Faerie dimension, or down below the hills, to Middle Earth as an agreement that only the Milesians ~ the humans ~ could dwell above ground. The Faeries, the \u201cGood Neighbours\u201d had to move underground or to their \u201cFaerie Isles\u201d. They were to retreat into the hills or mounds called \u201csidhe<\/a>\u201d which became a word for the \u201cfaeries<\/a>\u201c. These were often described as circular barrows or ringforts. These \u201chollow hills\u201d have traditionally become known as the home of Faeries. \u201cSidhe\u201d in Gaelic means \u201cpeople of the hills.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Book of Armagh, they are the Gods of the Earth known as the Tuatha de Danann. Sometimes seen as God\/desses, other times as Druids or sorcerers, and on an odd occasion as aliens, the Tuatha have rich mythology firmly embedded into Irish lore. Some Irish call them the \u201cSidheog\u201d. To many Christian groups, faeries are believed by some to be fallen angels who are too good ever to be allowed in Hell and too devilish to be accepted into Heaven. From these myths, these defensive forts were seen to be the domain of the Tuatha De Danann as entrances to their world. They are to be respected and avoided because of respect and fear of \u201cwar\u201d retaking place between faeries and humans. The actual mounds are also seen as potential burial or sacred resting places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Archaeology has found many burials within such mounds, such as at Newgrange<\/a> and Tara, hillforts and mounds are avoided out of superstition. A good farmer wouldn\u2019t even mess with the moat, the walls, cut brush from it, remove stones, or damage it. If they did, hard luck and even death could follow. Most respected on these \u201cfairy forts\u201d were the white thorns, the ash, the gorse, or the \u201csceach\u201d around its boundaries never to be cut for that would most likely lead to death. In MacCraith\u2019s \u201cTriumphs of Torlough\u201d the \u201cfairy forts\u201d are labelled as the lodgings of appalling apparitions. Many stories of the hills lit up by strange lights at night. Sometimes, this is described as the hill rising up on pillars, opening to the night sky, revealing brilliant lights of Faeries processing from one hill to another, especially during Lammas tide (August 2nd through 7th). November 11th, during Hollantide, is when the Manx fear their Hogmen or Hillmen the most as it is the time these particular Fae choose to move from one hill to another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Hill<\/a>
Hill of Tara<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Irish lore and ghost stories tell much about the supernatural stature of \u201cFairy forts.\u201d Many believe \u201cleprechauns\u201d live in them and hide their pots of gold within the mounds as expressed in Rudyard Kipling\u2019s 1906 novel \u201cPuck of Pook\u2019s Hill\u201d. In addition to the Ringforts, Dolmen were considered faerie homes or dwellings. A legend tells of a lady who lived in one and became deranged, thought her lover was a dragon, and jumped at him. Many unexplained phenomena take place in or around the fairy forts. Local lore tells tales of a man who tried to blast down a dolmen resulting in a septic hand while the dolmen remained unscathed; the local astronomer who tried to blast the Inchiquin Barony dolmen was severely injured with his hand as well; a Templenaraha oratory demolition (which was in a ringfort) collapsed a calf shed onto its occupants for building the unstable structure; the 1840 tale of workmen at Dooneeva who were trying to level earthworks in a fairy fort had apparently turned up dead (though his mystic wife ran to a \u201cfairy spot\u201d to work magic to bring him back to life); The Lissardcarney and Ballyhee fairy forts in Templemaley Parish were always known to be faerie strongholds with troops of faeries garrisoned within them (1839 stories); Songs were reputedly heard from the Cahernanoorane in Inchiquin and Liskeentha near Noughaval; tales of faeries haunting the Tobersheefra holy well; the 1892 tale of Nihill a farmer who wrecked and removed the out wall of a triple stone fort near Quin leading to his father stricken with acute pain and only recovering from it when the work was stopped; a landlord losing the use of an eye from the dust of an explosion when blasting a rock in an earth fort being removed in northeast Clare; and in 2011 developer Sean Quinn found financial ruin after he moved a fairy fort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another tale tells of a cow that grazed in a fairy fort and was found with broken legs whose owner then ate its meat only to find the cow in the fairy fort a year later. The farmer was told by the faeries they substituted an old stray horse to make him believe it was his cow as they needed his cow\u2019s milk, and they then let him take his cow home afterwhich he became very prosperous for the loan. Another tale tells of another farmer who couldn\u2019t understand why none of the cows would enter the fairy fort on their property, and upon investigation by his son, found an old fairy in the fort who asked the man to help him get a young human girl to become his wife. The farmer\u2019s son would not give a young girl to the old fairy but instead married the girl himself, leading to rage from the old fairie, who destroyed the farmer\u2019s property. Outraged, the farmer\u2019s son and the girl rode to her parent\u2019s house to tell her three brothers. Her brothers then went to the fort to dig for the old fairy\u2019s house, upon finding his sizeable flat stone, he begged them to save him his home, which they did in exchange for restoring for what he had taken. Some ringforts are more dangerous than others, such as in the case of the Croaghateeaun stone ring wall near Lisdoonvarna. One of the most modern cases of faerie wraith damaging faerie forts was believed to be the invocation of an ancient curse of the Hill of Tara when the government destroyed sites by the construction of the M3 Motorway. In 2007 the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche supposed befell against bad financial luck after signing a order to destroy the Lismullion Henge. By Faerie wraith, he lost his job, was demoted, and held up by an armed gang in the Druids Glen Hotel. The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, afterward nearly got sucked out of a helicopter when the door fell off. A falling tree at Rath Lugh seriously injured the Chief Health and Safety officer. A worker was killed while being trapped at Fairyhouse, where there have been many accidents on that particular stretch of road. There is much concern about being taken by the fairies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fears from stories like these may be responsible for the incredible preservation of these forts, hills, raiths, and mounds across the countryside. In many areas, the raiths and fairy forts are protected by Irish law for heritage preservation, preventing construction or building within 30 meters of them. However, the Irish government and more giant corporations somehow skirt these laws often when they find the need to destroy them for construction projects or building motorways.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Drumdowney<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Drumdowney Fairy Fort in Ireland<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Littering the landscape are also pathways that some call \u201cfairy paths.\u201d Some align these with what they believe to be mystical geo-magnetic gridlines called \u201cleylines\u201d. Many believe these connect together using faerie sites or faerie forts. Many old buildings in Ireland are missing parts of the structure out of the belief that part obstructs a faerie path. Other faerie sites include mounds, isles, wells, and faerie trees or bushes. These sites are often dressed and adorned with \u201crags\u201d or \u201cwishing trees\u201d with offerings to faeries for blessings.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Today, many believe that milk, butter, and\/or honey offerings would appease the Good Neighbours at these places. However, not much histories or archaeological record make that proved to be true. This seems to come more from Swedish folklore in \u201celf mills,\u201d which is found in the covers of more than one of these structures and large bullauns or basins at others. Modern belief is to leave out food and drink for the faeries, often on plates and cups at the faerie forts. Evidence of this is found at Inchiquin and Moyarta Baronies and on the Shannon bank where the slopes were thrown out and clean plates, water, chairs, and a well swept hearth was left for the faerie guests. Fairy forts, isles, and mounds are not the only doorways to the land of Tir Na n\u2019Og believed to exist. Cave entrances in Ireland are also believed to be passages as well. Two of the most famous are Lough Gur in County Limerick and Rathcrogan in County Roscommon. One of Ireland\u2019s famous fairy forts is at the Knocknashee<\/a> mountain. Here it is believed, that if you make a wish, turn around three times with your eyes closed, and if you wind up facing Knocknashee when you open your eyes, the wish will come true. A \u201cfairy\u201d amusement park for kids is also at the base of this mountain dedicated to the \u201cfaeries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some say the entrance to the Otherworld will appear if you walk nine times clockwise around the fairy fort, mound, or isle during the full moon. Invitations into the faerie domain can be prosperous or fateful. Such invitations, especially food and drink offers, should be taken carefully by humans. Some legends warn that partaking of food and drink will lead to perpetual enslavement and a loss of time, space, or continuum.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Some myths state that after the Tuatha de Danann lost the battle with the Milesians, in addition to being forced underground, they were shrunk in size and stature. They are often described as \u201chuman-like\u201d in appearance, sometimes with animal features, paler skin tone, and green eyes. Throughout the history of Ireland, faeries, especially as personified as belonging to the Tuatha, litter the landscape. Some families claim that their ancestors crossed the fae, and thereby invoked neverending hauntings by Banshees. The banshee is often depicted as a Irish female faerie that comes out at night drawing a comb through her long silvery hair screaming and wailing, mainly when predicting the death of one of their family members. Some lore suggests that the Banshee haunts families with surnames preceded by an O\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The earliest writer of describing faeries was in 1014 C.E. while describing the terrors of the battles between the Norse and Irish speaking of a \u201cbird of valor and championship fluttering over Merchad\u2019s head and flying on his breath\u201d as well as flying dark and merciless bodbh screamingly fluttering over the combatants while the bannanaig or styrs, idiots, maniacs of the glens, witches, goblins, ancient birds, and destroying demons of the air and skies arose to accompany the warriors in combat. A 1350 C.E. writer wrote about the 1286 C.E. King Torlough returning from a successful raid ravaging the English lands around the mountains of eastern County Limerick and northern Tipperary where he was greeted by a lovely maiden in\u201d modest, strange in aspect, glorious in form, rosy-lipped, soft-taper-handed, pliant-wavy-haired, white-bosomed\u201d appearance as the \u201cSovereignty of Erin\u201d to rebuke the chief for letting de Burgh dissuade him from attempting the reconquest of all Ireland thereby vanishing in a lustrous cloud within an area graced with fairy forts, dolmen, and tumuli. It is also here that it was written that the soldiers of Donchad were also disturbed by phantoms and delusive dreams of lights shining on the fairy forts. Poetry took over describing these battles and the soldiers witnessing the \u201cwaves of Erin\u201d groaning \u201cthe deep plaint resounded from the woods and streams\u201d as shades were seen and hollow groans heard while gazing at the hills and forts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can speak from first hand while sleeping in homes near such forts, that the winds making noises through the shutters and windows, along the rocks and bushes, whisper and cry like a siren in angst. These are the same described in faerie tales of the forts and beings coming up from the underground caverns, streams, hills, and forts. Sightings of Faeries have dwindled significantly from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Though many Irish today still have stories of their parents and grandparents telling them of faerie abductions, sightings, or wrath. Some say the movement of Faeries causes the dusty whirlwinds along the roadside or in the fields. Some places are still reputed to be \u201cfairy hotspots\u201d to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Drumdowney<\/a>
Drumdowney Faerie Isle<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u00a0One such is the low earth mound at Newmarket-on-Fergus, where one apparition has reliably manifested for the last ten years. This one appears as a little old man dressed in green walking on Ennis road, thought to be a leprechaun perhaps. Much of modern legend has mutated into actual individuals today who claim to have faerie blood, kindred, or to be faeries living amongst humans. This has led to many novels, books, and movies in the 20th century addressing this new lore. This however is not completely new, as many through history have claimed to be of Faerie lineage. A Faerie monarch in Clare was the \u201cDonn of the Sandhills\u201d near the Doogh castle near Lehinch, is listed as a fairy prince named Donn within a list of the divine race of the Tuatha De Danann and family of the Dagda, lineal descendant of the ancient Ana, Mother of the Gods. He was addressed with a political petition in 1730 by Andrew MacCurtin, a well known Irish scholar and antiquarian for neglecting the gentry and praying for any menial post at his court. He was never answered, lived under the hospitality of the Kilkee MacDonnells and the Ennistymon O\u2019Briens. Donn\u2019s heartless conduct supposedly met poetic justice as he lacked a sacred bard and became forgotten through history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changelings are another case and another type of faerie within the \u201cFae\u201d races that are commonly found in folklore and mythology. History worldwide refers to them or some derivative of the belief. Most of the folklore make faeries out to be extremely malevolient towards humans. Much of legend suggests that faeries are envious of humans, often wanting to steal the secrets of their magic, even to the point of changing out human infants with faerie children called \u201cchangelings.\u201d The changeling would look \u201cidentical\u201d to the stolen child. The only way to tell if it wasn\u2019t your child is if the personality suddenly changed inexplicably. This led to many folk customs, beliefs, spells, and practices to protect children from faeries. Sometimes, these were as simple as dressing up boys to look like girls, placing iron in the child\u2019s bed, dropping a small drop of human urine on a child, keeping dirty water in the house, protective charms, and various woods, herbs, or stones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bibliography \/ References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n