School: Cill Chonaill (Cailíní)

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1. Fairy Forts

   

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   There is a fairy fort in Ballyglass in James Kelly's land. It covers about half an acre. One half of the circle is surrounded by a high ditch with a wall on the top and the other half is entirely different. It is surrounded by a ditch 35 feet high and there is a deep dyke around this half. Where the ditch and wall meet there is a passage like a car way as if it were dividing the forts into two.
   There is a passage from the main ones underground to other forts in the district.
   The fort is open from a distance of 50 feet and then there is a wall to prevent animals from going astray in it. In the second half there is a lock that an old man who lived in this district about a century and a half ago is supposed to have dug for a pot of gold. The man got the gold and died shortly after.
   About twenty years ago a man was going to a fair and heard a [gracie] in it. He searched for him and could not find him but could hear him continually. This man is now old and his name is Peter Lynskey. The last two Danes that lived in that fort were a father and son. They had a method of making wine from heath tops. The Irish tried to get the secret from them but could not. They threatened to kill them if they did not give it to them. The father after much threatening said he could not tell it while there would be two of them alive and said if they killed the son he would tell them. When the son was

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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

   Lena Kenny

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Hillswood, Co. Galway