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June 30, 2025

Pant-y-Saer

Visited June ‘25.

Made my way from the road, through the tunnel of branches, through the 3 kissing gates – staying straight/right (but not towards the farm equipment), until Pant-y-Saer appeared. Just. It was trying to hide in the undergrowth, which swamps half of the stones. Although there’s been many skeletal remains, and pottery, arrowheads, etc found here, it looks like the chamber is trying to hide its secrets in the bushes.
Although no real views to be had today, the site still was impressive, with remnants of the edge of a mound and possible forecourt on the visible western side.
Nice big, gnarly capstone too. Yeah, really liked this one.

Ardvannie

After hunting about for various cairns on the south of the A836 it was time to drive along the road to park near Ardvannie’s Chamber Cairn, slightly to the north. At almost 26 meters wide and 1.6m tall, it would take a large tree to protect it. A beech provides the large tree which seems to be trying to protect the chamber, situated on the cairn’s south west.

As usual the cairn has been damaged, the access road has removed a chunk on the east side, field clearance has been dumped on top (also around the edges) along with the usual stone removal.

A bit of a ‘what if’ but also enough to let an imagination conjure up an image of what it once looked like.

We would see this site again later in the day, completely accidentally, of course.

Visited 31/03/2025.

Ardvannie 1

Ardvannie Kerb Cairn still survives despite the occasional visit from cows. Several kerbs remain in place and surprisingly not noted by Trove (Canmore) are the remnants of a cist situated in the middle of 6.5m wide cairn.

A superb view of Dun Creich to west and lovely views over Dornoch Firth add to site. The nearby pond much more recent.

From the chamber cairn at Ardvannie we headed west and pulled in at the first gate on the south side of the A836. Over the fence, head west following the pond until it’s end, head south then back east on the pond’s south side. This will lead straight to the site.

Be warned, if wet weather this will be a mud bath, however, for us it was dry and more of an ankle breaker.

Visited 31/03/2025.

June 29, 2025

Folklore

Carrigagulla
Stone Circle

There is a stone circle in Mrs Connor’s field Carrigagulla. Lights and people are supposed to be seen round this fort at night. Sometimes crying was heard there formerly.

There is another stone convenient to it in Denis Kelliher’s Reidh.

There are two stone circles in Sexton’s farm near Sheedy’s house.

There is another stone circle in Peter Ring’s farm Dunneen’s. One day when Bill Ring was digging stones out of this circle a hound came out of it and attacked him. When he went home his skin was black and he died the day after. It has been left untouched since.

There is a ring in the field at Padeenen’s Cross and every time a sow went into this stone circle she became lame and unable to walk.

I suppose the first stone circle mentioned might be this one? But even if not, this gives a taste of the caution you should probably exercise in this district.
From The Schools’ Collection, volume 341, p133, collected at Carrigagulla in the 1930s, and now online at Duchas.ie.

Folklore

Blessington Demesne 1
Round Barrow(s)

From the Schools’ Collection of folklore from the 1930s, which you can view at duchas.ie.

Belief in Fairies.
There is a fairy ring in the demesne of Blessington. It is a great big round circle of earth.

I don’t know if it’s the right place for the following story, but it seems like it could be:

Blessington.
Reports of the presence of fairies have caused a stir in Blessington. Two men working on night shift in a sandpit adjoining a “fairy moat” were disturbed by noises which were described as resembling the thunder of horses’ hoofs and it is claimed that several of the “little people” were seen. The men were genuinely affected by their experience.
Some accounts said that lights were seen and strange unearthly music was heard.

Sceptics hold that the collapse of a sand bank caused ground vibration and gave rise to unfounded fears. The men were working a “scraper,” which draws out sand in preparation for the following day’s loading, when they had their unusual experience. It is commonly believed that those who violate a “fairy ring” will meet with ill-fortune at the hands of the “good people.”

A minority of Blessington residents still hold to the old beliefs but most of those who spoke with our representative scoffed at the idea of fairies.

A story that the fairies were playing hurling with the “new” ball may, our representative learns on the very best authority, be discounted.

From the Leinster Leader, 8th October 1949. (I’m not sure what the ball refers to yet). Terrible pun alert for the next article:

The fairies have put Blessington in the headlines, but such notoriety has had a very mixed reception. One rational explanation is that the fairy (or multiples of them) was an oil barrel which thundered to the base of the pit in a fall of gravel and gave the two night workers wrong ideas. The barrel was found among the gravel next morning and it was not empty. It contained – no, not a fairy – oil.

In any case the fairy rath still stands undamaged, the wind-blasted bush which crowns it outlined against a daily darkening sky. Winter comes on and as the forces of modern mechanical progress draw nearer the sacred hill the fairies may be preparing to show their hand one more.

“Fairy rath” became fiery wrath when an irate pit owner was asked for his opinion on the matter. Our representative just escaped with his skin.

Leinster Leader, 15th October 1949.

June 28, 2025