School: Moyvoughley (roll number 7249)
- Location:
- Moyvoughly, Co. Westmeath
- Teacher: C. Ní Fhlannagáin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0743, Page 011
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- XML “Belief in Fairies”
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- Belief in fairies is still quite strong in this locality. A local resident actually claims to have seen a fairy in the Shaw locality. There is a fort on Buckley's lands in Ballycloughduff. One one occasion the Gaynor family of Ballycloughduff Bridge took sticks out of this fort for the fire. On the night of the day on which the sticks were taken, the Gaynors could not rest at night because of strange and persistent noises in their kitchen. Matthew Gaynor, on remembering that the sticks were taken from the fairy fort, got up and threw out coals, ashes, gríosaigh and all - out and back into the fort. The noises ceased forthwith.
Not far from Streamstown, on the road from Clare Hill Cross Roads to Streamstown, there lived about 60 years ago, a man named Rafferty. His daughter was stolen by fairies. She came back to her father and explained that she would be passing in a procession of riders, on a certain night through a certain gap. She explained her exact position as regards the distance from the first rider in the procession. The father was to be in the gap when she would be passing and was to pull her off her horse and she would thus be freed from the fairies' power.(continues on next page)
