Latest Folklore

In the shire of Inverness and parish of Ennerallen ther is an old ston-monument called the chappell of Tilligorum, alias, Chappell maakmulach, which is full of graves, and was within the memorie of his (my informer’s) father (who is a man of nintie six or ninetie seaven years) an ordinary place of buriall at least for poor people, and continues to be at this day for children who die without baptisme & for strangers.

From a letter to John Aubrey from James Garden, dated March 1693. Quoted in ‘The occult laboratory: magic, science, and second sight in late seventeenth-century Scotland’, by Michael Hunter and Robert Kirk (2007).

I think this is probably the right place, because elsewhere a ‘female brownie’, with a name suspiciously like maakmullach, is mentioned – for example in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1803), Sir Walter Scott says

“... that of Tullochgorm, by May Moulach, a female figure, whose left hand and arm were covered with hair .. [was] a familiar attendant upon the clan Grant.”

and Thomas Crofton Croker, in ‘Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland’ (1828) says:

Formerly ever family of consequence had its Brownie, but now they have become more rare. The two last that were known in the Highlands belonged to the ancient family of Tullochgorm in Strathspey: they were a man and his wife. The man, of a droll and merry disposition, often made game of people; he was particularly fond of pelting those who passed by with lumps of earth, whence he received the name of Brownie-clod. However, with all his good humour, he was rather simple, and was tricked by those whom he himself intended to trick. The best instance is an agreement which he was foolish enough to make with the servants of Tullochgorm, and by which he engaged himself to thrash as much corn as two men could do in the whole winter; for this he was to receive an old coat and a Kilmarnock cap, to which he seemed to have taken a great fancy. While the servants lay down in the straw and idled away their time, poor Brownie thrashed without ceasing: in short, before the agreement was completed, the men, out of gratitude and compassion, put the coat and cap into a corn measure in the barn. He instantly left off work, and said contemptuously, that as they had been simple enought to give him the coat and cap before the end of his task, he would take good care, and not thrash a single sheaf more.

His wife, on the contrary, instead of being the sport of the maids with whom she worked, was a sort of mistress among them. She was seldom on good terms with them, on account of the fidelity with which she acquainted her master with every neglect of their duty. She had a profusion of hair on her head, whence she was called hairy Mag (Maug vuluchd). She was an honest and able housekeeper, and particularly clever in waiting at table. The care with which she invisibly set out the table was a most entertaining sight to strangers; the thing asked for came as if by magic, and placed itself on the table with the greatest speed and nicety: she had no equal in the whole country for cleanliness and attention.

I can’t find a story for the hill of Knockdolian itself, but I was here in the summer, and it’s the most stupendous landmark, looking just like the nearby giant limpet-shaped island of Ailsa Craig from some angles. I liked the hill a lot and I imagine the views from the top would be marvellous. It’s topped by a ‘grass covered cairn .. composed of large and small stones, with rock outcrop protruding in places.. 2m high.. a few large kerb stones are visible’, according to the info on Coflein. But here’s some local stoney folklore:

An old family once lived in a house called Knockdolion, which stood on the banks of the Water of Girvan in Ayrshire. There was a black stone at the end of the house, and a mermaid used to come and sit on it, combing her hair and singing for hours on end. The lady of the house could not get her baby to sleep because of the loud singing of the mermaid, so she told her men-servants to break up the stone. This they did, and when the mermaid came on the night that followed she found no stone to sit upon. She at once flew into a rage, and cried to the lady of the house:-

Ye may think on your cradle-
I think on my stane;
There will ne’er be an heir
To Knockdolian again.

Not long after this the baby died. He was the only child in the house and when his father and mother died the family became extinct.

A harsh punishment but you mustn’t go messing with stones.

From ‘Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth and Legend’ by Donald Alexander Mackenzie (1917).

Canmore describes how there was a fort covering the summit of this hill – only the south side is easily approached because the other sides are so steep. It’s just over 200m NNE of the parish church, where there was once a stone:

A large stone, popularly called the “Witches’ Stone,” stood upright, near the church, in a field on Lodge-house farm.* The tradition is that a witch flying with it, to demolish Craigie Kirk, her apron strings gave way, and it fell down on the spot which it afterwards occupied. It was in all probability a druidical remain; probably a rocking-stone. It stood upon three stones, so high that a man could crawl under. It was destroyed in 1819, to build houses. The farmer’s wife, it is said, took some antipathy to it, and would not give her husband rest until he consented to have it removed. A person of the name of Jamieson, and an assistant, were employed to blast it, which was accordingly done. When broken up, it filled twenty-four carts. Such was the feeling of sacrilege occasiioned by the removal of the stone, that it was observed the farmer’s wife became blind, and continued so for eight years, when she died. Jamieson, who blasted it, never did well afterwards. He drank and went to ruin.

Further warning not to Mess With Stones.

*Now called Lodgebush, according to the Canmore record.

Also, the source of this (’History of the County of Ayr’ by James Paterson, 1847) next says:During the era of smuggling, Craigie hills are known to have been the depository of a large share of the contraband goods landed at Troon and other parts of the coast. The broken nature of the crags afforded many secure places of secrecy. The old worthies who took part in this exciting trade have scarcely yet all died out.

On both sides of the Shannon in this neighbourhood Christian tradition is busy with almost every stone, boher, and tougher, and close to this boulder, on the old boher which led to the Seven Churches of Clonmacnoise before the present road was formed, is a carn called Leacht-na-Marra, or the Monument of the Dead, where, to the present day, when a funeral approaches that famed burial ground, the coffin is laid down, and stones thrown on the carn. The tradition is that in the old times some of the “holy men” from the Seven Churches always attended here, and carried the corpse to its last resting place, about two miles distant, the laity not being allowed to enter the sacred precincts. The carn-raising, however, is the remnant of a Pagan tradition.

But I was distinctly informed that no Christian rite was ever performed at the Clonfinlough stone: on the contrary, the name by which it is known – “The Fairy’s Stone” – points to a Pagan origin. Two remarkable earthworks, no mean feats in their way, consisting each of a deep fosse and rampart drawn across the esker, not very far from this stone, are termed “The Witch’s Hollows.”

Another legend terms it “The Horseman’s Stone,” and tells that a horseman gallops round it at certain times. Mr T L Cooke, of Parsonstown – who is intimately acquainted with all the antiquities of the locality, and [..] some time ago kindly communicated to me a drawing of this stone [..]

He goes on to describe the boulder and its neighbours and their cup-like hollows and the carvings, comparing them to a sun with planets and the constellation of the Plough. He also mentions crosses, daggers, the resemblence of a human foot and representations of Irish ring-brooches etc. From ‘On a Boulder with Presumed Pagan Carvings at Clonfinlough, King’s County’ by James Graves. In The Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society,
New Series, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1865), pp. 354-362.

A page at the Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society summarises some of the local 1930s Folklore Commission reports:

This survey gives us a glimpse of how the people of Offaly treasured their monuments and how they perceived them and what social role they played in the minds of the local people. According to the folklore survey, the Clonfinlough stone had images in the form of cross-men and loop-men carved onto the surface of the rock. This image puzzled many antiquarians for years until one Abbe Breuil deciphered the image and concluded that it represented a fight to a finish between the Old Irish and the Milesians in pre-Christian times, 1300BC. The cross-men were charging at the loop-men who in return were retreating from the attack.

He told the locals that there were many such stones in Spain. The story went on to say that they believed it was the oldest stone in Ireland and described it as “A stone that before Our Lord founded his apostolic church lay there enjoying the glorious sunshine in Summer and the rain leaving it as pure and white as the lily, in winter”. Meanwhile, another story from the Clonmacnoise area records that there were two big rocks in a field which a local boy named Michael was continually playing around in the summer time. One summer day he was out playing as usual and he did not come in until dark. When he came in he began to tell his mother about a strange little boy he was playing with at the rocks.

He showed his mother a beautiful silver knife which he said he got from the little boy. When the mother saw the knife she was afraid to let him keep the knife and she made him go back to the rocks with her in order to return it. Michael left the knife on the rock and the next morning when he went out to play again, the knife was gone and he never saw the little boy again. It is said that the strange little boy was a fairy and he was trying to coax young Michael away. It is also said that another Michael will find the knife, and when he does he will find two big pots of gold under the rocks.

offalyhistory.com/articles/61/1/A-History-of-Offaly-Through-its-Monuments/Page1.html

This page in ‘Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland’ by W G Wood-Martin (1902) seems to show the same cross and base as Tiompan’s picture from Boho churchyard (about 500yds from the rock carvings). The book says: Men are reported to resort to this stone in cases where they have no children after marriage.

“The Witches’ stone,” near Antrim Round Tower, from its name evidently originally a cursing site, is a rock bullan. The tower, according to current tradition, was erected by a “hag” who, when it was finished, as the readiest way of descending, took a flying leap and alighted on this stone, situated about 120 yards from the base of the structure. She stumbled – little wonder – on landing, and struck the rock with one elbow and one knee, which accounts for the cup-like depressions seen in the illustration. These, as is usual, are stated never to be without water. The largest cavity is 15 inches long, 12 inches wide and 9 inches deep; the smaller depression is 6 inches wide by 3 inches in depth. The rock itself is 6 feet long by about 4 1/2 feet broad. It lay originally by the side of a brook, but many years ago the stream was diverted, a wall was built between it and the stream, and the enclosed area converted into a garden.

From ‘Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland’ by W G Wood-Martin (1902).

Perhaps after the two inscribed bullans just noticed, the ten holed example of which I furnish a faithful drawing, is the most remarkable in Ireland. It stands on the shore of Upper Lough Macnean, and close to the ancient ruined parish church of Killinagh. The basins, which average about ten inches in diameter, are of various depths, and each is nearly filled with a somewhat circular or oval stone. There is a holy well close at hand, dedicated, like the church, to St. Brigid. The bullan is populary known as “St. Brigid’s stone,” or altar. A lady, who from infancy has resided in the immediate neighbourhood, was good enough to inform me that she had been told when a child by her old nurse, who was a native of the district, that many years before this curious monument was known amongst the people as the “cursing stone.“*

I heard the same story from a very old man who had lived all his life almost in sight of the time-stained gables of the neglected and mouldering cill. It was the custom, he said, when any of the neighbours bad a grudge against a real or supposed enemy, and wished him harm, to proceed to the “altar” and anathematize him, at the same time turning the stones deposited in the basins. This practise, however, was not carelessly or lightly to be indulged in, as the curses, when undeserved, were sure to descend in full force on the person or property of their utterer.

‘On the Bullàn, or Rock-Basin, as Found in Ireland; With Special Reference to Two Inscribed Examples’ by W. F. Wakeman, in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy vol. 1 (1889-91).

* when a child she was not unfrequently brought to the spot by an aged nurse, who there performed devotions of some kind. – same author, ‘On Certain Markings on Rocks, Pillar-Stones, and Other Monuments, Observed Chiefly in the County Fermanagh’, from the Journal fo the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland (Jul 1875).

HAILY.-- This place is supposed to have had its name from Helle, a pit or burial place; as here a vast tumulus had been erected over the bodies of the slain, as thought, at the Battle of Largs. It was only discovered, however, about 40 years ago, by Mr. Wilson, when searching for stones to enclose his lands. It was till then known by the name of Margaret’s-Law, and was supposed to be natural. It had long been overgrown with rank herbage and brushwood. In the centre of it were found five stone-coffins, or square apartments formed with flat stones set on edge; two of them containing five sculls each, with other human bones, and several earthen urns. The earth and small stones at the bottom were calcined. It is supposed that the sculls and other bones within these coffins were those of the chiefs; whilst the bodies of the common warriors had been thrown promiscuously over them, and then stones, in vast quantity, heaped over all. These amounted to upwards of 5,000 cart loads -- whilst the quantity of bones, which on exposure, soon crumbled into dust, was immense.

A Topographical description of Ayrshire, more particularly of Cunninghame, by George Robertson (1820).

‘McConnochie states that the natural boulder called the Wolf Stone, in Scare Wood, was thrown by Mr Satan at Mrs Satan, but it fell short. The alternative legend, that a wolf had littered there and was killed by a woman throwing a girdle at it, is found in several places in Scotland. the stone may have been the site of land-courts in the Middle Ages. In MacPherson’s Primitive Beliefs gives the case of James Smith, reported to the Aberdeen Synod for ‘casting knots at marriages for unlawful ends’. This would have been magical ill-will, intended to foment disharmony in the newly married couple, or prevent them from having children.‘

Mysterious Aberdeenshire – Geoff Holder.

‘A very large cairn west of Luther Water was called Katie’s Cairn because it supposedly marked the spot where Katie the witch was burnt. This is probably the same cairn described as the Witch Knap in Watt’s Highways ans Byways, in which it was placed just east of the burn. Every schoolboy knew to contribute a stone to the when passing-or else the witch would get them. The cairn evaporated during the stone-hungry years of the mid-nineteenth century.‘

Mysterious Aberdeenshire – Geoff Holder

... when the waste or common lands were enclosed by act of parliament about [thirty years ago], most of the stones of which this remarkable monumental curiosity was composed were blown into fragments by the power of gunpowder, and employed by the inhabitants in erecting rude stone fences [...]

The quality of these stones is a species of granite, reddish, and full of large white shining specks of spar-like appearance. When polished, some of them are veined, and have an ornamental appearance. There is no regularity in their shape, and few of them present sharp angles; indeed for the most part they seem from their rounded forms to have been long subjected to the action of water.

This species of stone is called by the country-people thunder-stone, but upon what authority seems a matter of much doubt. I have heard the inhabitants assign two reasons – one, that the stones have fallen from the clouds during thunder-storms; and the other, in consequence of their giving out sparks of fire when struck against each other, at the same time emitting a faint smell of sulphur. But in fact the great majority of the people would not be able to assign any reason for so singular a name, not trougling themselves to inquire into the origin of names.

From ‘The Druid Stones near Shap, in Westmoreland’ – from a Correspondent in vol 9 of The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (1840).

Outside the burial ground is a perfect curiosity; – a natural rock of a tabular form with five basin-like hollows on the surface, of four or five inches in depth, and about a foot in diameter. These are severally filled with water, and in each is a stone of a long oval form fitting the space fully. The whole forms a petrified dairy – the basins being the “keelers,” the ovals the rolls of butter.

The history of this strange monument is, that, in ancient times, a woman lived here, who, not respecting the commandment against thieving, at night milked the cows of her neighbours, and transferred the milk as well as the butter to her own dairy. Suspected at length, the hue and cry was raised against her; and Saint Fiachna, who led a holy life at the church we have referred to, resolved to punish the culprit. He mounted his horse to visit her, but she flet. The Saint as he passed turned her dairy to stone, and then descended the hill towards the river in pursuit of her. In crossing the stream his horse left his hoof-marks on a stone in the centre of it; this we did not choose to wet ourselves to look at, but we were assured by several that it was there.

He then drove up the opposite hill-side, where, about midway, he overtook the criminal of whom he was in chase, and instantly turned her into stone; and there she still stands, the Irish “Lot’s Wife,” – not, however, a pillar of salt, but a goodly dallan of six feet in height; yet still holding a resemblance to the original lady. The tree beside it grew out of the “kippin” of the spancel which she carried in her hand, and with which she was accustomed to tie the cows’ legs at milking. And see what a goodly picture it now makes as a blooming hawthorn! It is a singular and striking object, standing, as it does, in the midst of a mountain of solitude.

From ‘A Week at Killarney’ by Mr and Mrs S C Hall (1850). The drawing in the book doesn’t have the pointy stone in its doughnutty stone and it’s not mentioned either.

The Irish Megaliths website
irishmegaliths.org.uk/kerry.htm
mentions how the ‘butterlumps’ are (were?) turned as part of Easter rituals at the nearby church.

Upon the West Side of this Isle, there is a Valley with a Declination towards the Sea, having a Rivulet running through the Middle of it, on each Side of which is an Ascent of half a Mile; all which Piece of Ground is call’d by the Inhabitants, the female Warrior’s Glen.

This Amazon is famous in their Traditions; her House or Dairy of Stone is yet extant, some of the Inhabitants dwell in it all Summer, though it be some hundred Years old; the whole is built of Stone, without any Wood, Lime, Earth or Mortar to cement it, and is built in the Form of a Circle, Pyramid-wise towards the Top, having a vent in it, the Fire being always in the Centre of the Floor; the Stones are long and thin, which supplies the Defect of Wood. The Body of this House contains not above nine Persons sitting; there are three Beds or low Vaults that go off the Side of the Wall, a Pillar betwixt each Bed, which contains five Men apiece;

at the Entry to one of these low Vaults is a Stone standing upon one End fix’d, upon this they say she ordinarily laid her Helmet; there are two Stones on the other Side, upon which she is reported to have laid her Sword: She is said to have been much addicted to Hunting, and that in her Time all the Space betwixt this Isle and that of Harries, was one continued Tract of dry Land.

There was some Years ago a Pair of large Deers-Horns found in the Top of Oterveaul Hill, almost a Foot under Ground; and there was likewise a wooden Dish full of Deer’s Grease found in the same Hill under Ground. ‘Tis also said of this Warrior, that she let loose her Grey-hounds after the Deer in St. Kilda, making their Course towards the opposite Isles.

There are several Traditions of this famous Amazon. But I shall trouble my reader with no more of them.

In this isle are plenty of excellent fountains or springs; that near the female warrior’s house is reputed the best: it is called Tou-bir-nim-beuy, importing no less than the well of qualities or virtues; it runs from east to west, being sixty paces ascent above the sea: I drank of it twice, an English quart each time; it was very clear, exceeding cold, light and diuretic; I was not able to hold my hand in it above a few minutes for its coldness; the inhabitants of Harries find it effectual against windy cholics, gravel, and head-aches; this well hath a cover of stone.

p13 of ‘A Voyage to St. Kilda’ by Martin Martin (1749). I wonder where he means by ‘Oterveaul Hill’. The RCAHMS record hints that this strange place could be iron age... or at least, its construction has much in common with ‘wheel houses’ of that period.
canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/3959/details/st+kilda+hirta+gleann+mor/

Many of the country do say, that in the larger round [of stones] the sun, and in the lesser the moon, was worshipped by the old pagan inhabitants of these isles.

From Brand’s ‘A Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland, Pightland-Firth and Caithness’ (from I think 1701 originally, but I found it in ‘A general collection of the best and most interesting voyages and travels in all parts of the world’, which was put together by John Pinkerton in 1809 – you can read it on Google Books.)

Elsewhere there are the following legends:

In the way between Tingwall and Scalloway, there is an high stone standing in form of an obelisk as some ancient monument, concerning which the people have various traditions, some saying that in the Strath of Tingwall, where this stone is erected, there was a bloody fight between the Danes and the old inhabitants or natives of this country, and that the Norwegian or Danish general was killed in this place, where the stone is set up.

Others report that one of the Earls of Orkney had a profligate and prodigal son, who for this cause being animadverted upon by his father, fled to Zetland, and there built a castle or a strong house for himself within a loch at Stroma, within two miles of Tingwall to the west, the ruins whereof are yet to be seen: his father not being satisfied with his escape, and the way he took for his defence, sent from Orkney four or five men to pursue him, to whom he gave orders that they should bring his son to him either dead or alive: the son thereupon not finding himself safe enough in his castle, made his escape from the castle, where the pursuers lay in ambush, but was overtaken by them in the Straith of Tingwall and killed there, whereupon this monument was erected. The pursuers took off his head, and carried it with them to his father, but in so doing they were so far from gratifying of him, that he caused them all to be put to death, notwithstanding of the orders given by him.

From Brand’s ‘A Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland, Pightland-Firth and Caithness’ (from I think 1701 originally, but I found it in ‘A general collection of the best and most interesting voyages and travels in all parts of the world’, which was put together by John Pinkerton in 1809 – you can read it on Google Books.)

The narrator has just visited the kirk of Tingwall when something catches his eye:

The novelty, however, engaged our attention most particularly, and we were at a loss to conjecture for what purpose it stood in its place. It was a large, erect, quadrangular stone, which, if cleared from a heap of rubbish that surrounded its base, might have measured in height six feet and upwards; but its irregularly fractured summit seemed to say, that formerly it had reared a prouder crest beside the waters of the Tingwell.

An oblique vein, of a different kind of stone, traversed its centre, and an old man, approaching from some cottages that were situated at the feet of the hills, informed us, with a look of doubt, that he had heard that a “sealgh” or sea-horse, having been fastened with a rope to the “Standing Stane,” the efforts of the animal to get loose had impressed that mark around it.

He likewise told us, that there had been a large flat stone lying near the upright pillar, which was said to have covered the bones of the “overseer” of Scalloway Castle, who was interred here; but he assured us, that after breaking the slab to pieces, to form the contiguous mull, he had sought in vain for remnants of mortality.

There was a look of peculiar originality in the face and person of our ancient informant, as well as a singular tone in his voice, and while he conversed with William, I included his portrait in a sketch I took of the Standing Stane, which being completed, we again set forward, with the unwelcome intelligence that the town we sought was “twa moils mair ahead.”

From ‘Tales of a voyager to the Arctic ocean’ by Robert Pierce Gillies (1826).

There is a photo on the RCAHMS site here – perhaps you can see the traces of the sea-horse’s struggle.

Folklorist George Paterson recalls....
The King’s Ring was a grand place once, but they took stones to build the lock on Newry Canal.There was a time when there was music in the ring. It was quare music, one minute it would coax the heart out of you, and the next it would scare the living daylights out of you. Maybe it is laments for the oul’ kings that are played.

Further to Schlager Man’s folklore post.....Finn McCool is reputed to be buried here.

Local Tradition holds that if you successfully land one stone in three on top of the capstone you will be married before the year is out. It also claims that the giant, Parra Bui MacShane, lies here after his fatal encounter with Finn McCool.

From The Gap of the North by Noreen Cunningham & Pat Mcginn.

George Paterson recorded the following story about the tomb.
Sur’ he saw no hurt in the breakin of it. But he never lived till finish it. For hundreds of years it has been there – maybe indeed since the beginning of time. I always remember it. Sure, it was there that I saw the first wee people.

From the Gap of the North by Noreen Cunningham & Pat Mcginn....

Near the boundary line, between this parish and Monmouthshire, is a small tumulus, like those over graves in country church-yards, with a stone at each end, without any inscription, called Bedd y gwr hir, the giant or tall man’s grave, but who the hero here interred was, or at what period his death happened is not known; the legends and tradition of the country inform us that a person of very extraordinary stature, above ten feet high, a chieftain of Blaenau Gwent, having been slain in the valley, was brought thus far by his friends, who were desirous of burying him honourably on his own demesne, but that a sudden fall of snow in the night, prevented their further progress, and compelled them to desposit the corpse here.

Part of the old road from Abergavenny to Llandilo Crescenny, about half a mile from the town, is called Cefn beddagor, corruptly from Cefn y bedd y gwr, or gwr hir, or the ridge of the giant’s grave, and from this corruption probably sprung the giant Agros, the supposed founder of a castle at Abergavenny, long prior to that of Drogo de Baladun; the tradition also in the neighbourhood of Llanelly may have formerly buried this same giant among their mountains, if so we must reverse the tale and suppose he was an inhabitant of the valley, and that he fell not far from this spot, in an attack upon the Gwentians: to hazard a conjecture as to his name or the time he lived would be idle, all we can fairly infer from the former being lost, is that he was of very remote antiquity.

From ‘A history of the county of Brecknock’ by Theophilus Jones (1809), who got unnecessarily tangled up in the second part of that quote.

At Slieve-na-Glaise, in Clare, is a dolmen, to which an old woman gave the name of Carrig-na-Glaise, that is, the Rock of the Sea-Green (Cow) – the word bo, “a cow,” being understood, as it is in the name of the ancient MS., Leabhar na h-Uidhri, that is “Book of the Dun (Cow).” After she had told me the story of how the poor enchanted cow, from whose udders used to flow all the rivers on the mountain-side, had been tricked by an impious old hag, who, in place of a milk-pail, had milked her into a sieve, and how, in consequence, she had either died of grief or deserted that locality for ever, I ventured to ask her the question whether there were any cows of that colour to be seen nowadays – whether, that is to say, she applied the term glas to the colour of any of the cows we saw on the mountain. She replied by a decided negative*, and added that the enchanted cow was the only one of that colour ever known, and that she travelled through Ireland from end to end in the space of a single day. The name of the Smith Gavida, the cow’s owner, in the tale, as still related in Donegal, was not remembered by my informant, although the name of one of the hills near by, on which were several dolmens, Glasgivneach, proved that it was once current there.

From ‘The dolmens of Ireland’ by William Copeland Borlase (1897).

*Of course not, you idiot.

This country is well sheltered on every side (except the northern) by high mountains; on the western by those of cantref Bachan; on the southern, by that range, of which the principal is Cadair Arthur, or the chair of Arthur, so called from two peaks rising up in the form of a chair, and which, from its lofty situation, is vulgarly ascribed to Arthur, the most distinguished king of the Britons. A spring of water rises on the summit of this mountain, deep, but of a square shape, like a well, and although no stream runs from it, trout are said to be sometimes found in it.

This mountain is now called, by way of eminence, the Van, or the height, but more commonly, by country people, Bannau Brycheinog, or the Brecknock heights, alluding to its two peaks. Our author, Giraldus, seems to have taken his account of the spring, on the summit of this mountain, from report, rather than from ocular testimony. I (Sir R. Colt Hoare) examined the summits of each peak very attentively, and could discern no spring whatever. The soil is peaty and very boggy. On the declivity of the southern side of the mountain, and at no considerable distance from the summit, is a spring of very fine water, which my guide assured me never failed. On the north-west side of the mountain is a round pool [.. from which] issues a small brook [..] I am rather inclined to think, that Giraldus confounded in his account the spring and the pool together.

From Sir Richard Colt Hoare’s translation of Giraldus Cambrensis’s Itinerary and Description of Wales, of the 12th century.

In a story told by Patrick Will, confirmed by RCAHMS, the woods next to Shethin have a horrible tale.

‘Three sisters were hunted down, why nobody knows. Sadly they were killed and the cairn at Lindsayhill Wood used as their burial place.‘

Sadly, for me, I’d ran out of time but I will go back and have a look to see if there are any remains of this cairn.