Rhiannon

The notion of [another writer], that the stones once formed some of the supports of a covering stone of a large sepulchral chamber, appears probable. The prevalent local tradition which he and the author of the History of Radnorshire record, that the font in Old Radnor Church was hewn out of one of the missing stones, shows that the supposed removal took place at a remote period, and is so far valuable; but an examination of the four stones does not support the tradition of the use which was made of one of their missing fellows, for they are clearly erratic boulders from the adjacent volcanic rocks of Hanter or Stanner, of which a very truthful and picturesque sketch is given in Murchison’s Silurian System. Any local stone mason would, on examination, at once say the four stones could not be dressed or hewn into a regular form, as they would shatter into irregular fragments when broken or dressed.

From ‘The Four Stones, Old Radnor’ by Richard W Banks, in Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club 1886-1889.

I have shown (in the Antiquary for April, 1912) why the Tolven Stone was set up on edge, and although this was done as recently as the middle of the nineteenth century, it had long ago acquired a reputation as a “crick-stone.”

Four years ago I had a chat with the daughter-in-law of the man who built the house at the back of which the stone stands, and who raised it to its present position. She told me that, quite recently, children had been passed through the hole in order to strengthen their backs, and added, “our old dog (a collie) ought to be strong enough in the back, for he’s backwards and forwards through it forty times a day.”

From Correspondence in ‘The Antiquary’ v10 (April 1914), our correspondent being George J Beesley. The reputation had to have been developed after it was put up, because otherwise, how would you shove infants through it? Or is he conceding that it already had the reputation (suggesting it had already been standing at some point)?

There is an old lios in the townland of Castlefarm, the next village to Clooneen. It was generally known that the owner of the land on which the lios was, would never remain too late at work and that he would not go out to work early in the morning. His neighbours asked him what was the reason of this and he told them that one morning he went out at day-break and began to plough near the lios, and a friend of his who had been dead for years told him to cease working at such early hours. He did as he had been advised, went back to bed for a few hours and when he returned he found that half the field had been ploughed in his absence. He then yoked in his horses, began to plough and did an ordinary day’s work. A few weeks later his cow strayed from him one evening and he could not find her.
It was near midnight when he went to the lios in search of her and he had a lantern in his hand because the night was very dark. As he came near the lios he heard the nicest music he ever heard played. After a while it changed into a kind of “caoining”.
He became very much afraid of this strange sound and he left the field and returned home and told his wife and family. Very soon after he became ill and he lived only six weeks.
Ever since people take care that they do not enter this field at a late hour.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s, now being transcribed at Duchas.ie.

In Gartan Co Donegal there is a huge stone which is kept in remembrance of St Colmcille. Long ago some Protestants were removing this stone and trying to hide it on the Catholics. When they had it some distance away a plague of black rats surrounded them so they thought they would leave the stone back again and when they did so the rats disappeared. The Protestants never interfered with the stone again.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s, now being transcribed at Duchas.ie.

Another story which I’m hoping applies to this stone. You get a lot packed in – fairies, Finn McCool, special tree species and petrification.

In a field at Balcunnin two miles from Skerries, there is a tall stone shaped somewhat like a man. It is said that a fairy queen was going to Fionn Mac Cumhail when a man leapt out of a hedge and tried to seize her. Like magic a hazel rod appeared in her hand and she turned her man into a rock.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s, now being transcribed at Duchas.ie.

There is a great stone in Clogher till the present day and there was a giant buried under it. One day a man from Eglish was over there and he lifted one of the stones. He looked down and saw a bottle. When he was about to lift the second stone a voice called to him to get away from that grave. He left that moment and for a long time he never was seen about Clogher. About seven years after that he was after sheep about the same place. When he came near the grave he saw a man sitting on the stone which lay over it. He heard him singing a song about if any man would lift that stone that he would be put to death before the end of that week. From that day to this no one went near these few stones. It is to be found on the farm of Kathleen Kelly of Clogher.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s, now being transcribed at duchas.ie. Perhaps this is the stone at Clogher (or perhaps there’s another).

Hmm imagine being glowered over by those rocks on the hill above. And they can look after themselves (to a point):

On the edge of Ravenstone precipice, in Greenfield, there formerly stood a large rocking stone (by the rocking of which the Druids tried their criminals for minor offences), but this stone was ruthlessly destroyed by the miners engaged in excavating the Standedge canal tunnel. These worse than Celtic barbarians assembled on this spot, and blew this time-honoured memorial into countless fragments, one of which, however, struck one of the men and killed him on the spot.

From Saddleworth Sketches by Joseph Bradbury, 1871.

There are more curious stones a mere 500 metres away at Alderman’s rocks, and the old maps have the “Fairy Hole” at SE01520469 – surely what this must refer to?

On the hill of Alderman, but nearer to Greenfield than is Pots and Pans, is a long fissure in the earth, about 14 yards in length, each end of which terminates in a cavernous hole in the rock. Tradition says that into one of these holes
A fox and dog, once on a Whitsun morn,
Entered in chase, but never to return.

From Saddleworth Sketches by Joseph Bradbury, 1871.

Besides the basins already mentioned, there is a long uneven hole on Pots and Pans rock, which Borlase supposes was made to receive the bodies of diseased persons, in order that the god of the rock might heal them.

In confirmation of this opinion, I have often heard it said that the water of the basins on Pots and Pans rock “will cure sore eyes,” which superstition has in all probability been transmitted to us from the Druidical period.

Butterworth mentions a stone called Pancake, and on which, he says, was the “long uneven hole” just mentioned, but he has evidently confounded the two stones. At the time the canal locks were being made, Pots and Pans narrowly escaped destruction, and Pancake was destroyed, together with the Giant’s Stone – so called from having the impress of a gigantic hand upon it,

- and a “rock idol” (?), thus described by Butterworth and others who had seen it:- “A little west(?) of Pancake (Pots and Pans he means) is a stone about twenty feet in height, but much narrower at the top (than bottom (?), from whence proceed irregular flutings down one side of about two feet in length, by some supposed to be the effect of time, and by others the workmanship of art.

In all probability if you wash your eyes in the water you may then require the use of the long uneven hole. From Saddleworth Sketches by Joseph Bradbury, 1871.

From [a mansion called The Friars] we bent our way towards the hills, over the spot where the Saxons, under their first landing, were routed by the British king Vortimier, after a long and bloody battle, in which Horsa, and Catigern, Vortimer’s brother, fighting hand to hand, slew each other.

Tradition says, that Horsa was buried at a place near Chatham, now called Horsted from that circumstance, and that Catigern was interred where he fell. The spot, according to the general opinion, is marked by a monument named Kit’s Coty House, composed of four immense stones, which many, however, suppose to have been a druidical altar.

[...] As my reader may possibly object to the word Coity, I beg to remind him that this cromlech is variously designated by different writers: Camden calls it Keith Coty House; Lambarde and Philipott, Citscotehouse; and Kilburne, Kits Cothouse.

The height of the pile is between nine and ten feet, and the upper or largest stone weighs about ten tons and a haf; but, as it is most accurately represented in the print [...] and from its vicinity to the road is too well known to require a minute description, I shall only notice the art shown in the placing of the stones, which, I believe, is not generally observed.

The two blocks which form the sides, stand about six feet apart, and lean a little towards each other, so that they could only fall inwards; but they are secured from doing so by the third set transversely between them; and the three are bound firmly together by the fourth and largest, which is placed on their tops as a roof.

At a short distance below Kit’s Coty House, towards the south-west, there are several large stones, which lie in such a confused heap that their number cannot be correctly ascertained; we judged it to be about twenty: and on the hill side, to the north-east by east of Kit’s Coty House, there are several more lying near to each other; both these collections seem to have formed circles resembling, on a small scale, that of Stonehenge, and like Kit’s Coty House, were reared by the Britons either for a sacrificial altar, or a monumental trophy. Besides those already mentioned there are several large stones scattered about the fields in this neighbourhood, some of which have names given to them.

From A brief historical and descriptive account of Maidstone and its environs by Lampreys, 1834. I like his easy style of writing. Though I’m not quite sure why he thinks I might take offence at Coity.. maybe because it sounds like saying if a house is made of coits it must be coity? which is a bit too silly and slangy.

This was told to me by Mick Carbry, Socker. In Rathdonell house there was a man who lived there, his name was Staffard. There was a big fort around the house. Staffard had a horse which he liked very much. Staffard died, and the minute he did, the horse came to the door step and died.
The people put the ‘trace’ of the horse on Staffard’s tombstone. He is buried in Douglas. There was a fort round this house, and the Danes planted a lot of trees around the fort. There was a fight and the trees hid and saved the Danes from being shot. There was supposed to be a ghost seen in Rathdonell house ever since.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s, now being transcribed at Duchas.ie.

There is a large stone in a field on the road to Galway from Oranmore, and beside Gurrane Lodge. Its position and size would lead one to believe that it was once used as a ceremonial stone of some kind.
The following story is told concerning this stone:-
There was once a great giant living in Oran Castle (see the story of the History of Oran Castle in this book). At one time another giant came to visit him. They decided that they would try to find out who was the stronger of the two. The local giant tore a huge rock up out of the ground. This rock is said to have been about fourteen feet long and ten feet broad. He threw the stone and in its flight it broke into two pieces. One piece (the rock in question) fell into a field near Gurrane Lodge on the Galway road. The second piece travelled so far that it was never traced.

From the 1930s Schools Collection, now being transcribed at duchas.ie.

Long ago there was a stone wall round Dunwiley fort. One time a man named Thomas Gallagher took the field in which the fort was situated for grazing. He sent his men to toss the wall. When the men put the stones on the carts the horses fell dead. It is said that this happened because the ground was “gentle.”
Shortly after this Thomas himself died.

From the 1930s Schools Collection, now being transcribed at duchas.ie.

Similar retellings here, here and here, and a different story about the fort is here..

There is a fort outside Stranorlar called Dunwiley Fort. Two men went to this fort to hunt one night about 12 o clock. They had two hounds with them. As they approached the top of the fort they noticed the hounds were afraid and looking round they saw a little woman who wore a red cloak. The men were afraid and ran away. After this one of the men took ill.

There is a stone in Ohermong called the Glánn Bawn or white stone. It is about five feet overground and buried in the earth to some depth. It is about six feet in circumference. An old lady who died about 30 years ago aged 95 at that time and a native of Ballinkelligs told my father that there lived in Ballinskelligs a woman who had as a custom to dig as many potatoes on Sundays in the harvest time as she would require for the week. She was digging one Sunday about dusk when suddenly she was taken away and found herself underground at the Glánn Bawn in Ohermong. She was very downhearted at being swept away and she was told by one of the underground people who took pity on her not to eat any of their food and that they would have to let her go again. She refused the food and after three days she was taken home again. She took some bread with her which she put on the fence near her home and any thing living would not eat it and it melted on the fence. She used to say afterwards “do bí caint briágh ann”[?] She did not dig any more potatoes on Sundays. This has happened about one hundred and fifty years ago and the old lady who told the story always believed that there is an under-ground house at the “Glánn Bawn” in Ohermong.

From the 1930s Schools Collection now being transcribed at duchas.ie. I regret I can’t transcribe the Irish properly so feel free to correct me (and tell me what it means :)

There was an old man named Johnny McKeown, who lived in a little house by the roadside close to Rice’s Fort. He used to say that one night he was sitting by the fire and he heard a noise on the road, so he went and opened the door and looked out. It was a bright moonlight night, and he saw a regiment of soldiers coming down the road towards him. They were very tired-looking and foot-sore, and “drabbed,” and they came right into his yard, marching two and two, several hundreds of them. They went into the field behind and into Rice’s Fort. Of course it was the “gentry” coming back from some fight between themselves – [T. Curtis].

Note – Rice’s Fort is said to contain a cave, or subterranean chamber, with a passage ending in the little marsh between it and Fort Hill. There is said to be a similar passage from the fort at Fort Hill to the marsh. The two forts are connected by a “fairy pass;” and one night, when Curtis and another man were standing beside this path, they heard a sound like many horses galloping past quite close to them.

From ‘Traditions and Superstitions collected at Kilcurry, County Louth, Ireland’ by Bryan J Jones and commented on by W B Yeats, in Folklore v10, no.1 (March 1899), pp. 119-123. It has a little sketch map, so I know I’ve got the right fort this time...

About three miles from Charlestown on the road to Carracastle there is a fort from which an underground passage leads to the neighbouring village. It is believed that the Danes, when invading the nearby districts, built the cave in order that they might have some place to live in and keep their booty in safety. The entrance to the cave is very narrow admitting only one person to enter at a time. This plan was followed to save the occupants from attacks made by the Irish.

One day, however, some people thought of a plan to rid themselves of their enemies. Lighting several sheaves of straw and putting them at one end, they rushed to the other side of the cave and waited. The smoke from the straw went through the rooms and almost suffocated the Danes who thought it better to go out by the other side and stay outside for some time.

Being able to move very quickly, the Irish arrived at the other end before the Danes who could come out only one at a time. One by one they fell under the swords of the Irishmen. But the gold which they had taken was never found as it was hidden in some place where it could not be seen.

From the Schools Collection, currently being transcribed at duchas.ie.

I’d imagine the very old cave in the story is the drystone-built souterrain that’s in a rocky outcrop on the west side of the hill (it’s marked as a cave on some old maps).

On the Hill of Clogherhead there stands a very old cave and it is said that priests lived in it in the Penal Days. The priests in this cave had a terrier dog. One day the solders were around the cave and the priests were saying Mass at the time. The dog started to bark. The soldiers heard it and came in and killed the priests. There are two stones inside this cave and every seven years the stones move a little bit closer together.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s, currently being transcribed at duchas.ie. Are the stones the soldiers, or the priests? or maybe either? And why are they moving closer together? Too many questions.

After all the stuff about fairies this seems rather mundane, it’s more like historical stories (albeit pretty muddled in its mix of pagan Irish tribes, Danish invaders and Christian institutions). The piece is still entitled ‘fairy forts’ though, so I guess the fairies turned up as tenants in the end.

In a field owned by Mr James Lonergan lie two large forts. They are situated by the side of the river Aherlow and are in the townland of Ballymorris.
It is said that they were built by the old Irish and in one of them a great chief lived. All that now remains of them is a mound of clay with a few whitethorn bushes growing round in a ring around it but once it was a huge fort.
Inside was the great house in which the chief lived: outside this was a great wall of clay and outside was a deep trench with the water from the river flowing into it.
When the Danes came to Ireland they plundered the fort, killed the chief and put the Irish tribe out and went in themselves.
It is said that they plundered St Pecaun’s church andtook some of the Sacred Vessels away and hid them in the fort. By now they were very strongly entrenched and they plundered every church school and monastery in the surrounding district.
The Irish at this time were fighting amongst themselves but after a while they united and drove the invader out of the fort and out of the district also. They restored the stolen treasures to the churches, schools and monasteries.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s, now being transcribed at duchas.ie.

There are so many Irish sites which seem undocumented on the internet, it makes me wonder how many are out there hiding and could be found. But this one has a photo on the Megalithic Monuments of Ireland website, and it looks superb.

Harristown is a mile south of Rathdowney and there is a stone there with the marks of St Bridgid’s knees and head on it. I was told that long ago when she was passing she knelt on the stone to pray and the marks of her knees and head remained on it.
Anyone with a headache will be cured if he kneels on this stone.

This is from the Schools Collection from the 1930s, now being transcribed at duchas.ie. The stone is outside the graveyard (which is actually a circular fort) and according to the record on the Historic Environment map, there should be a holy thorn (also Bridgid / Bridget’s as well), which has or had coins hammered into its bark.

There is a flat stone on the side of the road in Shanbough (Sean-Both) which is known as the blessed stone. Shanbough is in this parish about a couple of miles from New Ross on the road to Mullinavat.

Long ago there was a giant, who was a saint, leaping from Tory Hill to Brandon. When the was passing over the stone he fell to the ground. One of his feet rested on the stone. Being so heavy, his foot-print remained on the stone and is still to be seen. There is always water in the hollow of the stone. People bathe sores or cuts in the water and are cured.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s, currently being transcribed at duchas.ie.

I’ve been reading folklore for many standing stones which I can’t track down on the maps. Sometimes they are marked, but only on one sort of map. So sometimes when there’s no map trace at all, I wonder whether they might actually still exist in reality anyway. This is one of those times. The location seems quite definite, and it may well have gone unnoticed by a cartographer in its wood.

In a hill called Blackhill which is about a mile in a North Westerly direction from Abbeyleix there lies a famous old stone which a druid and his people used to worship at before the time of Saint Patrick. The stone itself is in a wood which covers all the hill and is now standing upright in the midst of a bunch of thorns on the top of the hill. It is now only about four feet above the ground and is very hard to find.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s, now being transcribed at duchas.ie.

I’ve scoured the maps so hard to find the location of this story, and I think it could be right next to this stone. That is, there’s a lough with no water coming in or out, and on the historic 6” map a “Rock” is marked next to the lough. Please let me have it, I mean it’s not like you get a 50 ft whistling eel in a story every day, and surely with the Danes involved there must be some ancient connection. There’s a hill called Cashelbane close to the west, but we need a rock and a lough for the eel. I’m confused and need to visit.

The townland of Croagh lies half way between Calhame school and Binbawn Crossroads. In this district there is an ancient spot called Castlebawn where the Danes are supposed to have castles long ago. There they lived for many a year. On the Castlebawn a large grey stone whose circumference is about one hundred ft and whose height is about forty ft. This stone is said to mark the spot called the Golden Well where the Danes on their retreat from Croagh were supposed to hide their gold. One of the Danes was supposed to lift this large stone in his mighty hand and put it on top of the gold. The track of his five fingers are plain to see in it ever since. After the retreat of the Danes the old people who lived in those ages often gathered to the Castlebawn and tried to remove the stone to procure the hidden treasure.
When they would set to work with picks spades and shovels there would come out of the blind lough near by a whistling eel said to be fifty feet long. This monster would perch itself on top of the stone and lash its tail in every direction. Its whistles at the same time could be heard for miles around. The men would get so frightened at the whistling eel that they would run for home.
This whistling used to continue evening after evening for a long time. Then the men decided never to go near the stone.
Eventually the whistling eel disappeared but there the stone remains. It has ever since been called the Stone of the Hidden Treasure.

Forts are very common in my district. Some of the forts are called Liss, but they are mostly called forts. The forts in my district are in a line one after another. The fences that are around them are made of earth and stones. There is a fort about three miles from my district in which there is an opening in to an underground tunnel. The place where the fort is is called [?]. The end of the tunnel is another fort about a mile from it. The place is called Gurteen.
About two hundred years ago a man went through the tunnel. It is believed that there are beautiful houses and roads in the tunnel. No one ever went down there since because the man died a few days after. It is believed by the old people that the fairies are living in them. Some others believe that they are the fallen angels. When God cast them out of Heaven the Archangel Michael said “Let them be as they are” and they stayed in the forts. Others believe that they are the Tuatha De Danans.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s, now being transcribed at duchas.ie.

The Griddle is the name of a townland in the southern part of the parish of Easkey. In this townland is a famous cromlech called the Griddle stone. The Griddle stone is a great big flat stone resting on three smaller stones. The old people say that this stone marks the burial place of a giant long ago.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s.

Once upon a time it is said that two giants had a quarrel. One of them was on the Arigna mountain, and the other was on Slieve-an-Iern. They began to throw stones at each other, and the giant that was on Arigna Mountain threw a stone to Slieve an Iern. This stone is supposed to be fifty tons weight and the prints of this giant’s fingers are still on this huge stone.
It is called Prevago Stone and one man can shake it at his ease but two hundred men would not lift it.
On the last Sunday of July, Garland Sunday, it is the custom of young people to go to the mountain to pick bilberries and often four youths go up and dance an Irish Reel on the Stone. It is said also that the Arigna Giant killed the other giant with this stone and that he is buried under it.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s. You can see a big rock on the aerial photo on the Historic Environment Viewer. I hope that’s the rocking stone. I hope it still rocks.

Not far from Ballyturn there is what the people of the place call a Dolmen – It consists of two large oblong stones standing on their sides and another flat stone on top, forming a kind of bed. It is supposed to be the grave of an Irish chieftain of long ago, but it is locally known as “leaba Diarmuda agus Grainne.” When flying from Finn Mac Coole, it is said that Diarmuid and Grainne rested here.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s, now being transcribed at duchas.ie.

Perhaps I’ve got the wrong place, but Liss is very close and this certainly sounds like a ballaun, of which one is at these coordinates. The story is entitled “A Peculiar Stone”.

There is a square stone about eight inches long and eight inches wide in this locality. It is situated in a square field in the townland of Liss.
In the centre of the stone there is a hole which is always filled with water. It is supposed Saint Patrick knelt on it and left the print of his knee on it.
It is supposed that if you washed your hands with the water which is in the print you would never get warts.

From the Schools Collection of the 1930s, now being transcribed at duchas.ie.