The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0966

Fairy Forts

Page 259
There is a fairy fort in this district and it is called by the name '' fort ''. It is situated in the townland of Arderry. There is another fort in view of it called Darraugh Fort. It is round in shape, and there is a fence round it.
No one has ever seen lights at it, or there was never any music heard in it. One night about 12 o' clock there was a band heard coming to it. They were heard laughing and singing and when they came to the fort all of a sudden all stopped.
Mr. Thomas McGovern, Teeboy, Bawnboy, Co. Cavan used to tell a story that his father told him. One day he was sitting by the fire when a little man came in, dressed in red. He had a cake under his arm and two books,

P 260
He asked for a mug of water and he got it. He then sat down at the table and began eating the cake while he was doing so, he was reading. When he was finished he told the man if anyman came in after him to tell them there was no one in.
He then left, and the man watched him and when he was going up at the fort all of a sudden he disappeared. Long ago children used to be taken away by the fairies, especially a red haired child. They used to be taken away and another child
left in its place. This child was very cross and always sick, and it was not long till it died. To protect the children people used to put tongs over the cradle.
Please see '' Hidden Treasures '' regarding Arderry fort. In the townland of Killyduggan there is a fort called

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'' Nannies fort ''. There were often lights seen in the fort and music was often heard in it.
The old people in that locality would tell that they often heard their parents say that they often heard loud laughter and music and the cracking of whips and galloping of horses after sunset in the fort.
One evening a man was out hunting. It was very late in the evening after sunset, and he got into the fort. He went round and round the fort several times and he could not get an opening to get out.
At last he thought of turning his coat, and when he did, he at once found an opening. One day a man was gathering rods in this fort.
He heard a voice saying '' leave them there ''. The man paid no attention to it but kept gathering on. It was not long until one of the rods

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struck him in the eye and from that until he died he had a sore eye. Not far from this fort is another fort in the townland of Curren. There was music often heard in it at night and laughing and talking. There is a field beside it,
and once a man was ploughing in it and when he came near the fort he fainted in the furrow; he was so bad that he had to be carried home.

Collector: Alice Kate Devine
Address: Arderry, Co. Cavan
Informant: Mr Pat Devine
Address: Arderry, Co. Cavan
Informant: Mrs P. Devine
AGE 58
Address: Arderry, Co. Cavan

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Thanks to Bernadette McGovern who transcribed this and a great many other pages of the The Schools' Collection, from the National Folklore Collection Archives.

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