School: Oileán Ciarraí (roll number 10956)

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1. Fairy Forts

   

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   The only fort that I can relate about is called bawn in the parish of Currow and about two miles from Castleisland, Co Kerry. This to be seen at the present day surrounded by trees with a very deep hole in the centre, but as for any underground passages leading to same I'm not aware. People of the present generation do not like to enter those forts, as tis said if you do so you are found to meet with some misfortune. So the farmers in whose land they are, never care to knock them or to plough near them as tradition tells us if they did they were afterwards haunted by the fairies.
   There is a story told of a farmer who set potatoes near a fort and he dug the potatoes which grew there and he picked them. The next day he was surprised to see a dozen women with aprons picking potatoes where he had dug out the previous day. He did not know any of them and he came to the conclusion that they were the fairies or good people as they used to call them, and he ever after regretted having anything to do with the fort. At the time of the Danish invasion the Danes were supposed to have built a lot of those forts which were afterwards their hiding places. It was said

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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

   Michael Mc Gillicuddy

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Killegane, Co. Kerry

   Informant

   Mrs Mary Mc Gillicuddy

   Gender

   Female

   Age

   83

   Address

   Killegane, Co. Kerry