Fairy rings

DJ98 · 12-05-2019 3:25pm #1

What are peoples thoughts on these, have a fairly overgrown piece of land thst has neve been touched or grazed due to it being occupied by fairies, I would like to clean up this area and use it for grazing but am told that it would be very unlucky to do so, any thoughts?

tabby aspreme · 12-05-2019 3:34pm

Is it a protected structure

TooOldBoots · 12-05-2019 4:55pm

Don't do it, it's not worth it. Why upset the fairy folk

ganmo · 12-05-2019 5:12pm

Ah on the plus side you can blame anything that goes wrong on the fairies

Cavanjack · 12-05-2019 6:04pm

I’d Leave it the way it is. Hardly that much land in it? The fairy’s have to live too.

DJ98 · 12-05-2019 6:11pm

Cavanjack wrote: »

I’d Leave it the way it is. Hardly that much land in it? The fairy’s have to live too.

2 to 2.5 acres

12-05-2019 6:12pm

There are only fairy forts if you think they are. They are however ring forts of some description and protected.

mikeymouse · 12-05-2019 6:17pm

DJ98 wrote: »

What are peoples thoughts on these, have a fairly overgrown piece of land thst has neve been touched or grazed due to it being occupied by fairies, I would like to clean up this area and use it for grazing but am told that it would be very unlucky to do so, any thoughts?

If it's marked on this map i'd leave it alone

Rows Grower · 12-05-2019 6:21pm

DJ98 wrote: »

2 to 2.5 acres

That's a lot of fairies, they're only like daffodils.

Dinzee Conlee · 12-05-2019 6:50pm

In reality, 2 acres is feck all nowadays...

50 or 100 years ago, 2 acres was a lot of land. But even then - they left these places alone...

I’d be if the opinion to leave it alone, not cos of the fairies, but more cos of the history. I wouldn’t like to be the one in a line of people that tore the place up...

patsy_mccabe · 12-05-2019 6:55pm

We've one on our land and my Grandmother warned us as kids to not go near it. My father wasn't as superstitious but would still say 'it's better not to touch it'.

kk.man · 12-05-2019 7:04pm

Sean Quinn moved on for a quarry. I wouldn't go near it.

flossy1 · 12-05-2019 7:04pm

I would leave it alone , small things will start to go wrong. For your own peace of mind

BarryD2 · 12-05-2019 7:08pm

DJ98 wrote: »

2 to 2.5 acres

What do you mean by 'fairy ring'? There are raths or ringforts and these are normally national monuments and protected but they would normally be about 30-50 yards or so in diameter so nowhere near 2+ acres. The only enclosures that size are the large hilltop forts and the like and these are most defitinely protected monuments. But sometimes people refer to fairy rings as places where you get patterns of fungi and sometimes they are places associated with burials. Most townlands had cillíns in them, places where you could bury infants that died during childbirth or very young before baptism etc.

In general as regards raths and cillíns, they are associated with human habitation and burial respectively and I think that is why the tradition of not disturbing them exists. Just out of respect for those that have gone before us.

Bonzo Delaney · 12-05-2019 7:12pm

mikeymouse wrote: »

If it's marked on this map i'd leave it alone

Just checked that map and I've one on my own land
Looked at it on Google maps taken during the dry spell last year and yep perfect dark green ciircle about 200 ft across never knew of it before and the father never knew of it as his father never mentioned it either .
At least now I can put any of the family's unfortunate happenings down to tilling that the last 70 years .

DJ98 · 12-05-2019 7:15pm

BarryD2 wrote: »

What do you mean by 'fairy ring'? There are raths or ringforts and these are normally national monuments and protected but they would normally be about 30-50 yards or so in diameter so nowhere near 2+ acres. The only enclosures that size are the large hilltop forts and the like and these are most defitinely protected monuments. But sometimes people refer to fairy rings as places where you get patterns of fungi and sometimes they are places associated with burials. Most townlands had cillíns in them, places where you could bury infants that died during childbirth or very young before baptism etc.

In general as regards raths and cillíns, they are associated with human habitation and burial respectively and I think that is why the tradition of not disturbing them exists. Just out of respect for those that have gone before us.

It is said that in this piece of ground that there was a fariy ring, and that it would be unlucky to touch anything with in it or around it, i think it's just a wise old tale

Atlantic Dawn · 12-05-2019 7:17pm

I know a family who interfered with one and got unexplained ultra incredible bad luck, no way to explain it in normal stats where members of their family died in crazy circumstances. Normally I think away with the fairies but I'd not touch one now.

Say my name · 12-05-2019 7:35pm

BarryD2 wrote: »

What do you mean by 'fairy ring'? There are raths or ringforts and these are normally national monuments and protected but they would normally be about 30-50 yards or so in diameter so nowhere near 2+ acres. The only enclosures that size are the large hilltop forts and the like and these are most defitinely protected monuments. But sometimes people refer to fairy rings as places where you get patterns of fungi and sometimes they are places associated with burials. Most townlands had cillíns in them, places where you could bury infants that died during childbirth or very young before baptism etc.

In general as regards raths and cillíns, they are associated with human habitation and burial respectively and I think that is why the tradition of not disturbing them exists. Just out of respect for those that have gone before us.

I was passing by a Rath today that was 6 acres in area enclosed by a double ditch. In the Norman times a house was built inside with a circular high wall then built around the perimeter of the Rath. They also had the highest flagpole in the country till recent times to communicate with ships.

In that same area there looks to be a Neolithic circler monument with numerous rings. According to Google maps there seems to have been an archaeological dig on a part of it.
I wouldn't have had a clue about the monument only I was looking at Google maps to see where I was after travelling when I got home. It only seems to have survived because it was in a remote area not really suited much to farming up till nowadays.

Even in my own locality Raths could go and went to nearly 2 acres. But there's been huge destruction of these down through the years.

Edit: on that 6 acre Rath. The link provided on this thread. States that it could be a fort built by Danes or an important Roman era/ Celtic Druidic place of worship. I suppose it's no harm to say the location is Ballytrent house.

148multi · 12-05-2019 7:55pm

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I know a family who interfered with one and got unexplained ultra incredible bad luck, no way to explain it in normal stats where members of their family died in crazy circumstances. Normally I think away with the fairies but I'd not touch one now.

Think they're protected within 70 meters, wasn't there a farmer in meath that got fined 23,000 for leveling one.
a man down here tidyed up around a monument, a square of 6 x 4 of stone walls, roof gone years ago and was leveled. But it was marked as part of the monument. Hefty Court fine in the circuit court, 3 years 100 % farm payment, he was getting over 70,000. Its believed it cost him over 300,000 altogether. They are a signature of previous generations,

jfh · 12-05-2019 8:06pm

mikeymouse wrote: »

If it's marked on this map i'd leave it alone

Jesus, there's some amount of forts on that. I see some marked in our land that I've never known existed.

NIMAN · 12-05-2019 8:14pm

Are people saying 'leave well alone' doing it tongue in cheek?

Surely adults aren't putting any store in such nonsense.

ganmo · 12-05-2019 8:19pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Are people saying 'leave well alone' doing it tongue in cheek?

Surely adults aren't putting any store in such nonsense.

No, superstition is very much alive

893bet · 12-05-2019 8:23pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Are people saying 'leave well alone' doing it tongue in cheek?

Surely adults aren't putting any store in such nonsense.

X 2

And surely a happy medium can be reached between leaving it as it stands and destroying it entirely.

Say my name · 12-05-2019 8:24pm

ganmo wrote: »

No, superstition is very much alive

A fella told me the fairies turned him into a frog!!! :eek:

NIMAN · 12-05-2019 8:26pm

Unbelievable.
In the 21st century too!

gozunda · 12-05-2019 8:30pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Unbelievable.
In the 21st century too!

There are also fines and penalties for impacting listed archaeological features and they are very much part of the 21st century ...

o1s1n · 12-05-2019 8:31pm

I'm actually glad people believe in this superstitious nonsense, it's acted as a protection on national monuments.

NIMAN · 12-05-2019 8:32pm

gozunda wrote: »

There are also fines and penalties for impacting listed archaeological features and they are very much part of the 21st century ...

I'm not talking about archaeological sites, if that's what they are.

But 'fairy rings'.

If the former, of course leave well alone.

If the latter, catch yourself on

Dinzee Conlee · 12-05-2019 8:34pm

NIMAN wrote: »

I'm not talking about archaeological sites, if that's what they are.

But 'fairy rings'.

If the former, of course leave well alone.

If the latter, catch yourself on

What’s the difference, like, how could I tell between the former and latter?

Say my name · 12-05-2019 8:34pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Unbelievable.
In the 21st century too!

Your thinking is not a new phenomenon.

The early Christian missionaries in this country set up churches and monasteries in places formally occupied by the druids in a bid to wipe out any trace of their existence and bring the country into the 5th century.

ganmo · 12-05-2019 8:35pm

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

What’s the difference, like, how could I tell between the former and latter?

By checking the map in one of the posts above

Fairy rings

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