School: Balla (C.)
- Location:
- Balla, Co. Mayo
- Teacher: Katie M. Walker
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0096, Page 26
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Balla (C.)
- XML Page 26
- XML “Fairy Forts”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- (continued from previous page)small opening into each one.
There is a legend saying that "a Dane who rode a white horse is supposed to have hidden there, but, he was caught and killed. After his death he was supposed to ride around the fort every night.
Music is supposed to be heard in it on Danish feasts. Lights are supposed to be seen there but it was afterwards proved that it was the glow-worm.
The grounds around the Rathduff fort are about thirty feet high and the floor is very wide. It is fixed with grass sods and it is circular in shape. There are big trees growing around it. There is an entrance in the middle with three steps on the brink.
The fairy people are supposed to have lived in them. A great many people have seen lights in them and wild cats also. The owners of the land never touched the forts when ploughing or sowing crops.
After the de Dannans were beaten at the battle of Moytura, they went into the caves and the forts and the mountains. These people are supposed to be the fairies who lived under the grounds.
The Loona fort is similar to the Brownhall fort.
- Collector
- Katie M. Walker
- Gender
- Female
