Fairies in Ireland: Folklore, Fairy Forts and Enchanting Gardens to Visit
Ireland is one of the few places on earth where belief in fairies is not considered eccentric. Fairies in Ireland are woven into the landscape, the language, and the living memory of the people who call this island home. From the ancient earthen mounds called fairy forts to woodland trails scattered with tiny doors and fairy houses, the magic is real here or at least, it feels that way.
If you are visiting Ireland, understanding its fairy lore is not simply a charming tourist footnote. It is a window into one of the oldest continuous mythological traditions in Europe, one that shaped how the Irish see their land, their history, and the invisible world that moves alongside the visible one.
I have visited fairy gardens, fairy forts and fairy trails the length and breadth of Ireland, from the Wild Atlantic Way at the edges of Kerry and Galway to the quiet midlands of Cavan and Limerick, and I have been through the gates of Bunratty Castle more times than I can count. Every single visit has produced something unexpected. That is the nature of this island. The mythology does not stay neatly in the past.
This guide covers everything you need to know: the origins of Irish fairy folklore, the mythology of the Tuatha De Danann, how to spot a fairy fort, what not to do near one, and 24 fairy gardens and trails worth putting on your itinerary. This is part of a much older tradition the Irish Culture and Folklore guide covers fairy belief across Ireland, from fairy forts to the Aos Sí.
- Fairies in Ireland: Folklore, Fairy Forts and Enchanting Gardens to Visit
- What Are Fairies in Ireland?
- The Tuatha De Danann: The Original Irish Fairies
- The Forgotten Fairies: Ireland's Wider Supernatural World
- Fairy Forts in Ireland: What They Are and Why They Matter
- Notable Fairy Forts to Visit
- Irish Fairy Lore: Changelings, Sleep and the Dangers of Dusk
- Where to Find Fairies in Ireland: 24 Fairy Trails and Gardens
- Why Fairies in Ireland Are Still Taken Seriously
- Frequently Asked Questions About Fairies in Ireland
- Explore More Irish Culture and Folklore
- Exploring the fascinating regions of Ireland
What Are Fairies in Ireland?
In Irish tradition, fairies are not the delicate winged creatures of children’s picture books. They are powerful, ancient, and frequently dangerous. The Irish term most commonly used is the Aos Si (pronounced “ees-shee”), a supernatural race who inhabit the space between the human world and the Otherworld. They are also called the Sidhe, the Sleagh Maith, or simply the Good People a respectful name that reflects the traditional Irish wisdom of not provoking beings you cannot control.
The core belief is this: fairies in Ireland are the remnants of the Tuatha De Danann, the divine race of pre-Christian Ireland who were driven underground by invading humans. They retreated into the ancient mounds, hills and cairns, where they continue to exist in a parallel realm. In Irish tradition, they are not mythological. They are treated as fact.
This distinction matters enormously if you want to understand the Irish relationship with the landscape. It explains why a farmer will plough around a lone hawthorn tree in the middle of a field rather than remove it. It explains why roads in rural Ireland sometimes take inexplicable bends. It explains why, when I asked a man in a pub in Killarney what he thought about fairies, he looked at me steadily for a moment and said, “I wouldn’t interfere with them.”
The Tuatha De Danann: The Original Irish Fairies
In Irish mythology, the Tuatha De Danann are a race of supernaturally gifted beings who represent the main deities of pre-Christian Ireland. Their name translates roughly as “the peoples of the goddess Danu,” and their stories fill the great cycles of Irish mythology, recorded by monastic scholars in the early medieval period and preserved in texts such as the Lebor Gabala Erenn, the Book of Invasions.
According to these myths, the Tuatha De Danann arrived in Ireland shrouded in magical mist and conquered the land from its previous inhabitants, the Fir Bolg. They brought with them four treasures of immense power: the Spear of Lugh, the Sword of Nuada, the Cauldron of the Dagda, and the Stone of Fal. They were poets, warriors, healers and shapeshifters in equal measure.
When the Milesians, the ancestors of modern Irish people, arrived and defeated the Tuatha De Danann in battle, a peace was negotiated. The Tuatha De Danann agreed to withdraw beneath the surface of the land, into the sidhe, the ancient mounds and sacred hills. There they became the fairy folk of Irish legend, connected to the Otherworld places known as Mag Mell (the Pleasant Plain), Emain Ablach (the Land of Promise), and Tir na nOg (the Land of Youth).
This is why the Irish treat their ancient mounds with such consistent respect across centuries of change. They are not simply archaeological sites. In traditional belief, they are occupied.
The Forgotten Fairies: Ireland’s Wider Supernatural World
The most important figure in ancient Irish cultural life was the seanachie, the storyteller or bard who kept the mythology alive through oral recitation across centuries of conquest and hardship. These were the people who preserved Ireland’s supernatural landscape when everything else was under threat. Thanks to them, the mythology survived.
The beings they described go far beyond the leprechaun of the souvenir shop. Irish fairy lore includes the merrow, from the Irish “muir oigh” meaning sea maiden, a mermaid figure with long red hair whose irresistible song draws the unwary toward the sea. There are the pookas, shape-shifting tricksters who take the form of dark horses, goats or other animals, and who were said to particularly favour the roads after dark on Samhain.
There is Fionn mac Cumhaill, the great warrior-giant of the Causeway Coast, whose handprints are said to be visible in the basalt columns of the Giant’s Causeway in Antrim. And there is the dullahan, the headless horseman of Irish legend, whose galloping form so impressed the American writer Washington Irving that it became the direct inspiration for his story of Sleepy Hollow.
The Banshee: Ireland’s Most Misunderstood Fairy
Perhaps no figure is more distinctly Irish than the banshee, or bean sidhe, meaning “woman of the fairy mound.” She is frequently misrepresented in popular culture as a simple ghost or monster. She is neither.
The banshee is a fairy woman attached to specific Irish families, traditionally those of noble lineage with names beginning in O or Mac. Her role is not to cause death but to mourn it in advance. Her mournful wail or keening cry, heard in the night before a death in the family, is a forewarning rather than a curse. She does not kill. She grieves.
In the folklore collected by the Irish Folklore Commission, now held at University College Dublin’s National Folklore Collection, the banshee is described consistently as a sorrowful rather than malevolent figure, sometimes seen as a beautiful young woman, sometimes as an old woman in grey, always associated with a specific family rather than a place.
Fairy Forts in Ireland: What They Are and Why They Matter
What Is a Fairy Fort?
A fairy fort, or rath (pronounced “rah”), is an ancient circular earthwork settlement. Built primarily between 500 and 900 AD, though some evidence suggests earlier prehistoric origins, these structures consisted of earthen walls raised from the spoil of a surrounding ditch or moat. In stone-rich areas of the west of Ireland, the equivalent structures were built from dry-stone walling and are called caiseals. Many contained huts within their interior, and a number feature subterranean stone passageways called souterrains.
The Irish Heritage Council estimates there are over 60,000 rath or fairy forts remaining across Ireland. Many are barely visible, appearing as gentle rises in a farmer’s field. Others are unmistakable: large grassy mounds sitting alone in the landscape, surrounded by trees that no one has touched for generations.
Over centuries, as the original function of these structures as defended farmsteads faded from memory, they became associated with the Sidhe who were said to inhabit them. The connection was a natural one. If the Tuatha De Danann had retreated underground, where better to look for them than the ancient mounds?
The Rules Around Fairy Forts
The respect shown to fairy forts in Ireland is genuine, ancient, and now carries legal weight. Under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014, fairy forts are protected archaeological monuments. Damaging or destroying them without consent carries significant financial penalties.
Celtic fairy lore holds that it is deeply unlucky to take wood, brush or stones from a fairy fort. The path between a fort and a tree, or between two forts, is called a fairy path, and building a house on a fairy path was believed to bring sickness and misfortune to any family within. The traditional test before building was simple: leave a small pile of stones on each corner of the proposed site overnight. If the stones were undisturbed in the morning, the ground was safe.
The belief in consequences for disturbing these sites has not entirely faded into history. In 1999, a proposed bypass near Ennis in County Clare was rerouted after Eddie Lenihan, one of Ireland’s few remaining practising seanchaithe, warned that it would destroy a fairy bush linked to the Munster fairies. The local authority took the warning seriously. The road was altered.
Lenihan has continued to document and defend these sites for decades. In 2015 he warned publicly about the threatened destruction of a fairy fort in Waterford by a development company, stating plainly: “It is not a matter of if it will close but when it will close.” He is not a man given to theatre. He means it.
The journalist and writer Manchan Magan, in his book “Thirty-Two Words for Field,” argues that the Irish landscape is effectively a text written in mythology, and that destroying its features is a form of cultural erasure. I find that argument compelling. The fairy forts that survive today do so in large part because generations of Irish farmers preferred to work around them rather than through them. That is a remarkable act of cultural preservation, achieved not through policy but through belief.
My Own Experience at a Fairy Fort
I have stood beside several rath on quiet evenings in County Tipperary and Clare, and the atmosphere is genuinely difficult to explain. There is a stillness around them that feels deliberate. The grass grows differently. The trees that have taken root on the mounds are often gnarled and old in a way that feels disproportionate to their size.
The adults and children I have brought to these sites invariably go quiet when they get close. Not frightened, exactly. Just attentive, in the way children sometimes become when they sense something adults have stopped paying attention to. Whether that is projection or perception is a question I am happy to leave open.
Notable Fairy Forts to Visit
Knockgraffon Motte, around 4 km north of Cahir in County Tipperary, is among the most atmospheric fairy forts in Ireland. Legend holds that it served as the coronation place of the High Kings of Munster. The mound is substantial and commands a wide view of the Tipperary plain. There is no entry fee and the site can be visited year-round.
Rathnadrinna, approximately 3 km south of the Rock of Cashel, is unusually large and exceptionally rare for having three concentric rings. Archaeological exploration began here in 2010. Combining a visit here with the Rock of Cashel makes for an extraordinary day in one of Ireland’s most myth-saturated landscapes.
Between 2009 and 2010 geophysics were carried out by the UCD Archaelogical Society on the fort and the surrounding area. These surveys yielded a significant amount of results including satellite forts as well as ringbarrows and a large number of pits and ditches within the fort itself.
Mutton Hill Motte, in the Tipperary Hills outside Tipperary town, is also known locally as Cup and Saucer Hill for the distinct shape of its earthworks. It sits quietly in farming country and is easy to miss if you do not know what you are looking for, which is half the point.
Irish Fairy Lore: Changelings, Sleep and the Dangers of Dusk
Evening is the most dangerous time around a fairy fort. The old stories are unanimous on this. Falling asleep beside a rath is described in countless accounts as an open invitation for trouble. Folklore collected across the 19th and early 20th centuries describes people waking from vivid dreams of fairy banquets and feasts only to discover that a decade or more had passed in the human world, and that everyone they knew had aged or died.
The changeling tradition is among the darkest strands of Irish fairy folklore. The belief was that fairies could steal healthy human children, replacing them with a fairy child or enchanted object that mimicked the child’s appearance. The changeling would behave strangely, prompting parents to seek remedies through ritual and charm. While this belief had harmful consequences in some historical cases, its origin lies in the broader Irish understanding that fairies and humans share overlapping worlds and that the boundary between them requires active maintenance.
One of the simplest protective measures described across Irish folklore is to turn your coat inside out. This was thought to confuse fairy perception and allow safe passage through dangerous territory. It is the kind of practical everyday magic that reveals how seriously these beliefs were lived, not simply told.
Where to Find Fairies in Ireland: 24 Fairy Trails and Gardens
Ireland has embraced its fairy tradition with genuine imagination and care. The following places offer real encounters with fairy lore, from ancient woodland walks to purpose-built fairy villages. I have visited many of these personally and have included honest notes where my experience adds something useful.
County Kerry
Fairy Trails at Parknasilla Resort and Derrynane House form two of the most scenically spectacular fairy encounters in the country. Derrynane sits within the old Kerry estate of Daniel O’Connell, the Liberator, on a coastline of extraordinary beauty. The fairy houses here were reportedly uncovered in 2010, though the woodland has likely been considered a mystical site for far longer. Kerry has a quality of light that makes the idea of a parallel magical world feel less like imagination and more like simple observation. I have walked the Derrynane woodland with children who refused to leave until they had peered behind every stone and root, absolutely certain that something had just moved.
County Galway
The Ardilaun Hotel Fairy Garden, Galway city is set in the rear garden of the hotel near the fountain, chosen, according to the fairy keepers, for its seclusion and quiet. The advice is to move slowly and keep your voice low. I have been here on a still September afternoon when the garden had a particular golden quality to it and the children I was with were entirely convinced they saw something dart between the rosebushes. I am not saying they were wrong.
Fairy Garden, Portiuncula Hospital, Galway was donated by two women from Longford and is open to the public as well as to children staying at the hospital overnight. The wishing chair was made by the hospital’s own maintenance team. There is something genuinely moving about a fairy garden built for sick children by the people who work among them every day.
County Cavan
Erica’s Fairy Forest, Cootehill is one of the most quietly affecting places I have visited in Ireland. It was created by the parents of Erica Ni Draighneain, who lived from 2010 to 2016, to honour her memory and her absolute, unshakeable belief in fairies and magical kingdoms. The site is free. It has picnic areas scattered through the trees. I visited with friends and their young children on a weekday morning in early summer and we had the woods almost entirely to ourselves. The children ran ahead and the adults walked slowly behind, and nobody said very much. Sometimes a place does not need commentary.
County Limerick
The Woodlands Hotel Fairy Trail is free, open year-round, and genuinely charming. The story goes that the fairy houses were discovered by accident in 2015 when farmer Jim was clearing trees on the grounds. Maps and a small packet of fairy dust are collected at reception, which is a detail that reliably delights children aged approximately three to ten.
Fairy Mountain, Athea is hidden behind the Memorial Hall in a quiet corner of Limerick that most tourists never reach. Ten fairies each have their own door and a stated purpose. At the end of the trail is a Fairy Post Box for messages and a worry tree called Croga, which promises to absorb any anxieties you place your hand on. On the evidence of the faded notes tucked under stones around its base when I visited, a great many people have taken that offer seriously.
County Clare and Limerick
Bunratty Castle Fairy Village is, in my experience, one of the most reliably enjoyable family attractions in Ireland. I have been to Bunratty several times over the years, in different seasons and with different combinations of children and adults, and it has never disappointed. The Folk Park itself is exceptional, a living reconstruction of 19th-century Irish rural and town life, and the fairy village sits within a genuinely pretty woodland area of the grounds. The miniature Bunratty Castle built by the fairies is a particular hit. A family ticket for two adults and up to six children costs around 35 euros and represents good value for a full day out.
County Wicklow
Russborough House, Blessington’s Magical Trail has been hosting fairy activity for over 270 years by the account of its current fairy custodians. The trail winds through a beech hedge maze and walled garden on the shores of the Blessington Lakes. Wicklow is called the Garden of Ireland for good reason, and Russborough sits within some of its most beautiful countryside.
County Wexford
Kilmokea Country Manor and Gardens, New Ross contains a Tree Fairy Village set within an ancient walled garden near Campile on Great Island. The garden itself has won numerous awards and the Georgian tea room serves homemade cakes and scones that are worth the trip independently of any fairy activity.
Wells House, Wexford offers an Enchanted Woodland Walk with interactive fairy doors and castles, wooden sculptures including a Gruffalo, trolls, bug hotels and falconry demonstrations. Entry is 8 euros per car.
County Meath
Rathbeggan Lakes, Dunshaughlin combines a fairy garden with a pet farm, playground and adventure trail. Entry is 3 euros per person, with children under two free. There is a soother fairy called Siog who accepts donated dummies from children ready to give them up, which is either charming or extremely clever parenting psychology. Possibly both.
County Kildare
The Irish National Stud, Kildare is a working stud farm and world-class tourist attraction that brings the fairies back each spring to take up residence among the lakeside trees. Entry costs 12 euros for adults and 7 euros for children over five. Visiting in spring offers the additional possibility of seeing newborn foals in the stable yards, which requires no fairy magic to be genuinely wonderful.
County Offaly
Lough Boora Discovery Park lies between Tullamore, Birr and Clonmacnoise, on land that was once bog. The fairy village here is presided over by Teddy, said to be over 3,000 years old and therefore one of the more experienced fairy guides in Ireland. The wishing seat and worry plaque are worth finding. Parking costs 4 euros. The park also has excellent walking and cycling trails for adults who exhaust the fairy content faster than the children do.
Dublin and Surrounds
Corkagh Park, Clondalkin contains the Fairy Wood just south of Dublin city and is entirely free. It has a worry tree, a wishing chair, fairy houses and doors, and a pet farm, alongside a playground, rose garden and cycle track. For visitors staying in Dublin who want a fairy experience without a long drive, this is the most accessible option.
Tymon Park Fairy Trail, Tallaght is close to Clondalkin and features fairy doors with bilingual plaques in Irish and English explaining the resident fairy of each tree. There is a lake and a children’s playground.
Lucan Demesne Fairy Trail is near Lucan village and St Catherine’s Park, close to Leixlip. The trail is free and a smartphone app is available to trace the route and find all 17 resident fairies. The setting along the Liffey is lovely.
Marlay Park, Rathfarnham is home to the Fairy Tree, a hollow trunk that the local fairies have fitted with towers, stairways and balconies visible through a small door at the base. The park is free, with a cafe and a weekend food market in the Georgian courtyard during summer months.
Ardgillan Castle, Balrothery north of Dublin has a free Fairy Village and Fairy Tree Trail that introduces children to native Irish forest trees through the lens of fairy lore. A downloadable app includes a map and quiz.
County Cork
Rineen Woods, Union Hall features a 30 to 40 minute woodland walk dotted with fairy houses and a letter-box for messages to the tooth fairy. The trail is free, well-signposted and has a picnic area by the car park. Union Hall is a small fishing village in west Cork and the drive there from Cork city is beautiful.
Glenview Gardens, West Cork covers three acres and combines a woodland fairy trail with Hobbit Houses, Japanese and Chinese gardens and a sunken garden. There is a tea room and picnic areas. Entry is 5 euros for adults and 3 euros for children aged 4 to 16.
County Tipperary
Templemore Park Fairy Trail is a free trail within Templemore town park, built around the challenge of finding all the tiny fairy doors hidden in the trees. There are picnic tables and a children’s playground.
County Down and County Antrim, Northern Ireland
The Giant’s Lair, Ring of Gullion, County Down is a storybook park near the Mourne Mountains built around the myth of Flynn the fairy and the sleeping giant of Slieve Gullion. It includes fairy houses, dragons, witches and the legendary Cailleach Beara. Entry is free, with parking and a cafe on site.
Why Fairies in Ireland Are Still Taken Seriously
The persistence of fairy belief in Ireland is not naivety. It is the residue of one of Europe’s oldest and richest mythological traditions, one that has survived conquest, famine, colonisation and modernity largely intact. The fairies in Ireland, whatever their ultimate nature, have performed the remarkable function of preserving thousands of archaeological monuments that might otherwise have been cleared generations ago.
I have brought children to fairy gardens in Kerry and Galway and Cavan and Limerick and watched them respond to these places with a seriousness that adults sometimes struggle to sustain. They do not need convincing. They are simply paying attention. The Irish landscape rewards that kind of attention. There are layers here that take time to read.
When you walk a fairy trail, stand beside a rath at dusk, or leave a note for the fairies in a hollow tree, you are participating in something much older than tourism. You are connecting with the way a people have understood their land for thousands of years. That is worth your time, wherever in Ireland you find yourself.
Frequently Asked Questions About Fairies in Ireland
What are fairies called in Irish? The primary Irish term is the Aos Si (pronounced “ees-shee”), meaning “people of the mound.” They are also called the Sidhe, which technically refers to the fairy mounds themselves but is widely used to mean the fairy folk. The respectful everyday name is the Sleagh Maith or the Good People, used traditionally to avoid giving offence to beings who take notice of such things.
Are fairy forts protected by law in Ireland? Yes. Fairy forts are classified as archaeological monuments under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014. Damaging, destroying or altering them without consent from the relevant authorities carries significant financial penalties. The Irish Heritage Council estimates there are over 60,000 of these structures across the country.
What is the difference between the Aos Si and the Tuatha De Danann? The Tuatha De Danann are the divine race of pre-Christian Irish mythology who were defeated by the Milesian ancestors of modern Irish people and agreed to retreat underground. The Aos Si are the fairy folk who now inhabit the ancient mounds and hills. In most traditional accounts, the Aos Si are the Tuatha De Danann in their transformed state: the same beings, living on in a parallel existence beneath the surface of Ireland.
Where is the best place to see fairy forts in Ireland? Fairy forts can be found throughout Ireland, but Tipperary, Meath, Clare and the west of Ireland have particularly high concentrations. Knockgraffon Motte near Cahir in Tipperary and Rathnadrinna south of the Rock of Cashel are among the most accessible. Driving the back roads of any rural county, particularly in Connacht or Munster, will reveal earthen mounds rising from fields with no obvious explanation for their presence.
What is a banshee in Irish mythology? A banshee, from the Irish bean sidhe meaning “woman of the fairy mound,” is a female fairy spirit attached to specific Irish families, traditionally those of noble lineage. She does not cause death; she forewarns of it with a mournful wail or keening cry heard before a death in the family. She is sorrowful rather than malevolent and belongs firmly within the fairy tradition, not the ghost tradition.
Is there a difference between Irish fairies and leprechauns? Yes, and it is a significant one. Leprechauns are a specific type of fairy in Irish tradition, a solitary craftsman, usually depicted as a shoemaker, who hoards gold and must reveal its location if caught. They are a minor figure in the broader mythology. The Irish fairy tradition encompasses the Tuatha De Danann, the Aos Si, banshees, pookas, merrows, dullahans and many others. Leprechauns became internationally prominent through emigration and popular culture but represent a narrow slice of a much richer tradition.
Can you visit fairy gardens in Ireland for free? Many fairy gardens and trails across Ireland are entirely free, including Corkagh Park in Dublin, Templemore Park in Tipperary, the Lucan Demesne trail, Tymon Park, Ardgillan Castle, Fairy Mountain in Athea, Erica’s Fairy Forest in Cavan, and the Ring of Gullion Giant’s Lair in County Down. Others charge a small entry fee, particularly those within larger attractions such as the Irish National Stud or Bunratty Castle Folk Park.
What should I not do near a fairy fort in Ireland? Traditional Irish fairy lore gives clear guidance. Do not take wood, stones or brush from the site. Do not disturb the mound or any trees growing on it. Do not build or place any structure on the fairy path between a fort and a neighbouring tree or mound. Most importantly, do not fall asleep beside one at dusk. The stories about what happens to people who ignore this last piece of advice are numerous, consistent, and not reassuring.
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I can’t believe they would make such changes! Ireland is known for all the fairy lore and castles. I wonder if my old, old clan’s tiny castle will be torn down . Beautiful images!
This is fascinating. I had no idea that these fairy forts existed. These tales probably make great bedtime stories too. They make me want to go out and get a book on Irish fairy tales
Wow, what a magical idea, that ‘hills’ could actually be fairy forts. I just love that! I also love the stories behind sleeping on a fort and building a house on one. I loved reading this post, it was like reading a fairytale, except it’s real!
I haven’t made it to Ireland yet during my travels. It’s very interesting to read that taking sometime like a branch isn’t allowed because it’s considered a fairy branch. I never new some of the history behind all of the fairy lore. If I ever find myself in Ireland, I’ll be sure to check out the forts. Great post!
How interesting! I have never heard of Fairy Forts. There really must be some power in there if all the people wishing to demolish these ancient places end up having their lives turned to worse. I love the photos and wouldn’t mind visiting one of them in the future myself. I’ll add this to my Ireland to-do-list!
Wow I never knew these even existed! Sounds kind of spooky, but I would love to see these for myself now! I guess it’s a good excuse to visit Ireland! Thanks for the post, very informative!
The photos are really nice. Didn’t really know about the changes.
I love the lore around it. I’ve always been fascinated by fairy loves and how they can be tricksters. Your photos are lovely and it makes me want to visit ASAP before any changes are made!
I’ve never heard about the fairy forts either! I would love to see them in person and find a good spot to build our house hehe. Thank you for sharing this.
Wow 60,000 that is just incredible! I have only been to Ireland once and it was just a few days in Dublin a million years ago. This posts makes me want to go back now.
We just adore learning about folklore and legends as we travel abroad. We don’t know much about Ireland and certainly have never heard of fairy forts!! How sad to see many of them being destroyed..and how interesting the urban legends of misfortune brought to those who didn’t efforts to preserve them.
I love this! I want to visit Ireland and will definitely keep this post in mind :). I especially love Galgorm Castle Fairy Trail! Looks like Hobbiton haha.
I didn’t know these existed. I love how your writing always adds more places to my bucket list Faith. I’ll just make sure I don’t visit a airy fort in the evening and wake up having lost ten years. 😉
I didn’t know about the fairy connection in Ireland. When I think of fairy places, I think of Isle of Skye. I would love to visit these fairy forts.
Oh my goodness, my five year old self is in heaven with this post! Had no idea these little gardens existed 🙂 Love your photos as well!
How fascinating! I had no idea how widespread the sites were. I’m particularly fond of the idea that there are places to leave your worries. And I’m loving the concept of fairy planning permission; leave your stones, and get permission to build if they’re untouched.
Ive never heard of these fairy forts, but my daughter would love this! She loves fairies, leprechauns, really believes in mythical creatures!
Great post. If you travel by car from Limerick city to Ennis the road is re-routed to accommodate a fairy tree. Don’t mess with the fairies!
What a fantastic collection of special places. Been to lreland a lot and have never heard of them despite having a husband who was into folklore!
I loved this post about the ‚Good People‘, the fairy forts and fairy trails! Just cool 🙂
Fairies? Ireland? Nature? That’s like the best combo ever! I was actually planning a trip to Ireland later this year and didn’t even know about this! Thank you so much for letting me know – I’ll def go out and visit these places. 🙂
Such a comprehensive post! I love how all the pictures send me thinking about a fairytale place.
What a neat part of Irish culture! I knew about fairies in irish culture but I had no idea there were forts!! And they look so lovely!! I’d love to visit!
What a collection of places. After reading this article, I’d love to visit those places. No, doubt the creation of God.
Loved the article. Helped raise my granddaughter, on fairy’s. Love Ireland visited several times. Last visit we stopped at Brigets Garden…my husband and I really enjoyed it. Next visit we’ll add some of your suggestions.