Donal Hickey: Fear of the fairies no longer preventing destruction of Ireland's ringforts

Structures that stood for thousands of years in some cases have been bulldozed away

About half of the estimated 60,000 forts have disappeared. File Picture

There was a time when if you’d a spark of sense you’d keep on the right side of the fairies. Alas, fear of these mysterious people from the otherworld’ is no longer preventing the destruction of ringforts dotted around the country, it seems.

So-called fairy forts were places of the unexplained and the supernatural. They were treated almost with reverence. The folk tradition of every parish has tales of people thought to have suffered misfortune because they interfered with them. Most farmers wouldn’t disturb such structures.

Structures that stood there — for thousands of years in some cases — have been bulldozed away

As well-known folklorist Eddie Lenihan can testify, there are still many people who believe in the fairies. They tell him stories about misfortune that can befall those who damage or interfere with the dwelling places of these unseen beings, including forts.

However, forts are being obliterated at an 'incredible rate’, according to a new book with an arresting title Men Who Eat Ringforts.

About half of the estimated 60,000 forts have disappeared. The last survey, carried out by the Heritage Council in 2001, showed the trend accelerated in the final decades of the last century, especially since Ireland joined the now EU in the early 1970s.

Donal Hickey: 'So-called fairy forts were places of the unexplained and the supernatural. They were treated almost with reverence'.

The advent of EU-backed intensive farming has changed the face of the landscape and structures which stood there — for thousands of years in some cases — have been bulldozed away. The building of motorways has also meant the loss of forts and other archaeological remains. In the book, Sinead Mercier says there is really zero protection for our archaeological sites. Following opposition to roadway building in the early 2000s, she says legislation was amended to allow virtually unlimited discretion to destroy monuments under the National Monuments Amendment Act 2004.

Teacher and storyteller Eddie Lenihan pictured in 2012 in a fairy fort which was cut down to make way for the new Shannon Ennis bypass. Picture: Liam Burke

Michael Holly recalls how as a child in Co Kerry, in the 1980s, he played in a fort, knowing the place must not to be disturbed in any way. 

I was told I should never take anything from there, not so much as a blade of grass. It would bring back luck.

From his base in Crusheen, Co Clare, the aforementioned Eddie Lenihan has travelled through the west and south collecting fairy lore. He has also battled to save forts and fairy trees along the paths of major roadworks.

In 1999, he started a successful campaign to reroute the Ennis bypass around a lone, whitethorn bush, near Newmarket-on-Fergus. And he was known to remind people cutting trees in a ringfort that there could be dire consequences for them. Eddie is also a compelling storyteller, with fairy tales from strange places and supernatural encounters of elderly people providing him with rich material. The book is published by Askeaton Contemporary Arts, Co Limerick.