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Onagh

Portal Tomb

Folklore

This is all very strange and interesting but the handwriting is so hard to read! Perhaps you can decipher it better.
Between this cromlech and the top of Knockree there is a 'Giant's Stone' which has not a flaw in it.

It is said that the druids used worship here and here two kings held council when forming up and making a [drove?] to the top of the hill and down the far side and then up the valley to a fort.

Those taking part went on foot and horseback and it is said they went that route up to 30 years ago. Old people said they heard them regularly. Two men told J- S- that they used see bright lights under this cromlech.

The horses made a great noise galloping over the rocky hill and down by Lacken.

The wood of Lacken situated on the hill was replanted with young trees 80 years ago but after two years the ghostly route was mysteriously burned from the top to the bottom of the hill. Not a tree grew till it was replanted again 5 years ago.

[?] (says Mr J- S-) that half of the trees on the old route are now dwarfed and the other half are dead.
From the 1930s Schools Collection of folklore, now being digitised at Duchas.ie. Perhaps the Giant's Rock is the impressive quartz outcrop depicted on Megalithomania. It's rather interesting that Fourwinds mentions possible alignments at the site when there's folklore about fairy/druids lines / ghosts heading across the landscape. 		Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
7th June 2018ce
Edited 10th July 2018ce

Comments (6)
"mysteriously burned" I think. thesweetcheat Posted by thesweetcheat
9th July 2018ce
Well done! I think you're right. It looks like the b in 'but' on the previous line. I must say I kind of prefer it when the handwriting's relatively spidery, you get more of a sense of character than when you're reading the neat hand of one of the schoolchildren. Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
10th July 2018ce
No credit to me, you deciphered the rest of it! This stuff is great, isn't it? thesweetcheat Posted by thesweetcheat
10th July 2018ce
It is great. I find it quite soothing to do the transcriptions sometimes. I think it's so cool that people took time out to write it all down in the 1930s and the notebooks sat there not being particularly accessible - but now those stories are going to be read by whoever is interested, all round the world. And so much fairy weirdness is buried in there somewhere. I do love it.
And another thing I find interesting is often things aren't spelt out, it seems assumed that you know the significance and the symbolism and basically what on earth they're talking about. It's going on in this story isn't it - the stone without a flaw, the lights under the cromlech, the replaying of the horses galloping. Nothing's particularly explained - is that because it doesn't need to be, or because it's not a good idea to explain it (like calling the Good People by their other name)? 		Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
11th July 2018ce
I live in Glaskenny now about 200 yards from the portal tomb. My husband and I are researching the area and would love to hear any stories about the cromlech or the local area, Posted by georginaf
23rd October 2018ce
Very hard to access that site these days. It’s fairly invisible from the pasture field to the south during summer. It was much easier before they built the house. ryaner Posted by ryaner
24th October 2018ce
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