School: Westland (roll number 8428)

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1. Forts

   

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   There are fairy-forts in my district.
   One of them is on Mullagh Hill.
   Another of them is opposite our house two of them are in the next townland of Killeter.
   They are all built that you can see one from they other.
   Some people have the opinion it was the Danes who inhabited Irelend some hundreds of years ago, who built these forts to protect their cattle and sheep from wild beasts such as Irish wolves and lions at that time.
   The reason why they were built in sight of each other was that if the men in them got into any difficulty they could signal to each other for help.
   Old people had a supersition that it was not right to interfere with them because they were enchanted and if they interfered with them there was the possibility that they would die or something bad would happen to them.
   There is a fort over near Kingscout.
   An old man named James Mac Gaughan was going past this fort when there came a multitude of little men riding horses and they were in four deep on the road. He had two carts and two horses with two loads of corn going to Drogheda to sell his corn. As each section of the little men passed they would say "Unfortunate James Mac Gaughan," and when the last four men were passing him one of the little fairy-men was walking. Just then one of Mac Gaughans horses dropped dead in the cart.
   There is another fairy fort near Mullagh belonging to Mr Clinton.

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. place-space-environment
      1. legendary and spiritual places (~158)
         1. fairy forts (~5,616)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Doris Ormiston

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Mullagh, Co. Cavan

   Informant

   Mr W. Ormiston

   Relation

   Parent

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Mullagh, Co. Cavan