British Fairies
What would you consider to be the most prominent locations in Britain associated with fairies?
What would you consider to be the most prominent locations in Britain associated with fairies?
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Re: British Fairies
The Blackdown Hills in Somerset are reputed to have faeries, there is a faery fair. A gentleman riding on the hills reportedly saw lights like a fair which faded and disappeared as he neared.
Wistmans Wood on Dartmoor in Devon has been said of having elemental energies.
Re: British Fairies
[quote=cauldronwitch]The Blackdown Hills in Somerset are reputed to have faeries, there is a faery fair. A gentleman riding on the hills reportedly saw lights like a fair which faded and disappeared as he neared. Wistmans Wood on Dartmoor in Devon has been said of having elemental energies.[/quote]
We have a brief mention of the Blackdown Hills in the gazatteer and we mention a school teacher seeing fairies dancing in ring. I wonder if this is the same account changed over time or two seperate incidents.
Re: British Fairies
My vote for the most prominent "fairy" location would be the Ben Bulben in Co Sligo, Ireland.
Up to the opening years of the XX century not only fairies were still seen there, but there were also many persons alive who swore to have interacted with the Gentry near the Ben.
In Distortion We Trust
Re: British Fairies
I checked out Ben Bulben and found there was a Finn McCool legend attached to it as well. I came across references to fairies by Yeats as well.
Re: British Fairies
Doon Hill near Aberfoyle must come in close,
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/scotland/stirlingshire/featured-sites/doon-hill-and-robert-kirk.html
Re: British Fairies
The Highlands and islands of Scotland. Orkney with its Trows and Haughboys. I agree, Aberfoyle due to Kirk’s Secret Commonwealth. In England, Devon and Cornwall have a strong fay heritage. In Wales possibly the Black Hills. (Wirt Sykes – British Goblins is a good source for reading of Welsh faeries.) In Ireland, seems to be an almost universal hidden people presence. I think Yeats speaks of the Sidhe in The Celtic Twilight, if I recall properly. It’s a few years since I’ve read it and there’s The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries‎ by W. Y. Evans-Wentz.
@ndy
Re: British Fairies
Ireland and the Highlands is where the tradition lasted the longest, I think you can still get the ‘Fairy Faith’ and ‘British Goblins’ online as e-books. I am pretty sure Yeats believed in the otherworld (The Stolen Child is a haunting poem) – there was a rumour he was in the Golden Dawn but I don’t know how true this is.
Re: British Fairies
WB Yeats was a member of The Golden Dawn and the Stella Matutina order and apparently he played a prominent part in the conflict between Aleister Crowley and Samuel MacGregor Mathers.
According to the Mystica “After the expulsion of both men Yeats took charge of the Ordo Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis and also became the Imperator of the Isis-Urania Temple Outer Order”.
@ndy
Re: British Fairies
Shiehallion litterally means Fairy Hill, so that’s got to count for something 🙂 Also there is a wee bridge on the Isle of Mann that is well-known as a Faerie haunt.
Re: British Fairies
Glastonbury tor in Somerset is reputed to be the entrance or gateway to Annwyn, the fairy domain beneath the earth, where a day would last a whole year, here amongst the humans. Does anybody know of any other entrances to the underworld?
Re: British Fairies
I think Peak Cavern may be associated as there is a legend attached to it where someone passed through the cave and emerged in the fairy lands.
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/derbyshire/folklore/peak-cavern.html
Re: British Fairies
yes you can access “The fairy-faith in Celtic Countries” by Evans Wentz (and a whole lot more!),on this wonderful site:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/
just click on celtic then scroll down to celtic fairies. it’s given me hours of fascinating reading
Re: British Fairies
Maybe Doon Hill Aberfoyle for it’s association with Robert Kirk. Kirk is essentially to faerie folklore what Lovecraft is to… well… horror! Highly influential yet not actually all that well known by the general public… but those in the know, know just how influential they are!