Folklorist and author, Jo Kerrigan, has urged farmers to steer clear of fairy forts where possible, to avoid evoking the notorious wrath of their other-worldly occupants.
Kerrigan has become an expert on the mystical fairy fort after researching the subject and its corresponding myths and customs for her new book, Irish Fairy Forts: Portals to the Past, which is now available in all good book stores.
Alongside her husband and photographer, Richard Mills, Kerrigan spent the last couple of months tracking down as many fairy forts as possible to include in the book, which serves as an ode to the some 45,000-60,000 of these iconic structures found dotted across the landscape.
While varying in size and formation, Kerrigan said that fairy forts are always circular, and often flanked with indigenous flora, such as the hawthorn tree, which Kerrigan said has mythical properties in Irish folklore.
As a long-time believer in fairy forts, Kerrigan has advised people to treat fairies – or the “good people” as she likes to call them, and who she views as the true custodians of the countryside – with the reverence they deserve.
Calling out to farmers, Kerrigan said: “Please leave them alone. You don’t need that small circle of land all that much. You don’t need to build your calf shed or your son’s house immediately on that spot. Try to avoid damaging them.
“If interfering with a fairy fort on your land is truly unavoidable, go to the fort, explain to the good people what you have to do and try to make amends. Seek their forgiveness.
“We need to realize that they’ve been here a lot longer than we have. They are the nature, they’re the whole power of the landscape world around us, and we need to respect them and treat the countryside they’re looking after with respect.”
Fairy forts
Kerrigan has heard of countless tales of misfortune and adversity from individuals and farmers alike who have made the mistake of damaging a fairy fort, branding the implications of doing so as “frightening”.
“The stories of those who dare to touch a fairy fort are frightening,” she added.
In her book, she recounts the story of Richard Lundy, a wealthy man who lived in Ardanagh, Co. Monaghan, who allegedly experienced considerable personal and professional woes after knocking down a large fairy fort on his land.
Kerrigan explained that, while deconstructing the fort, two horses of Lundy’s died, his workmen became ill or injured, his daughter lost her sight and, within a year, all of his livestock died. Subsequently, the surname Lundy became obsolete in the area.
This was just one of the stories commemorated in the School’s Collection, a compilation of folklore compiled by Irish schoolchildren in the 1930s and assembled by the Irish Folklore Commission to preserve Ireland’s oral tradition and material culture.
According to Kerrigan, the collection contains many references to fairy forts and served as an important primary source for her research.
The husband and wife duo allegedly experienced their own series of unfortunate events while attempting to photograph a fairy fort in west Cork last summer.
Kerrigan told Agriland that on arriving at the site of the fairy fort, Mills discovered that both his camera battery and spare battery were dead, despite the fact that both were charged beforehand.
Dumbstruck, the two returned to the car to make the trip back home empty-handed, but found the car would not start.
“We tried everything but the car wouldn’t start. So we rang the AA and they said it could be at least two hours before they got to us,” she said.
“In the meantime. while we were waiting, several farmers passing by in their tractors stopped to ask us if we needed any help,
“When we explained what had happened, they all said the same thing – ‘What do you expect when you’re interfering with themselves?’”
The folklorist explained the earliest records of fairy forts in Ireland date back to pre-Christian Ireland, when they were perceived as portals to “the other world”.
According to legend, fairies derive from the ‘Tuatha Dé Danann’, meaning the folk of the goddess Danu, a supernatural race featured in Irish mythology who were allegedly driven underground after they were tricked by the Celts upon their arrival on Irish shores.
Ironically, Kerrigan believes we have the British to thank for the preservation of fairy forts across the Irish countryside and that our lack of industrialisation can account for their abundance.
“The English colonists wanted to make sure that we [the Irish] didn’t get in the way of their development and so they squashed any signs of industrialisation in the south, which helped preserve the fairy forts.” Kerrigan claimed.
She explained that the prohibition of Irish language and culture also made the Irish more protective of their customs and heritage.
When the Free State emerged, Kerrigan said the fledgling Irish government undertook several initiatives to salvage its cultural heritage, including the Schools Collection, as a means of distinguishing Ireland from our former rulers.
In a world increasingly dominated by science and logic, Kerrigan fears we are losing touch with the natural world and has called on the youth to put down their phones and embrace the beauty and intrique that lies in abundance in the Irish countryside.
Her new book serves as a rallying cry to this effect.
