"priceless archaeological remains are being daily ploughed under"
Up to recent times, Irish fairy mythology could be described as the saviour of Irish archaeology.
Ireland is peppered with 'fairy forts', large prehistoric mounds which were claimed to be evidence of fairy dwellings, but which are in fact, prehistoric burial mounds - there are several within walking distance of our home.
If a farmer had one on his land, he would not disturb it, even if it was in the most inconvenient place on the farm
About thirty years ago a craze developed here for erecting small wind turbines to take advantage of the Atlantic gales - several homes had their own (till the wind blew them all down)
The Electricity board caught onto th craze and erected a very large, strange-looking one about half a mile from here - the locals referred to it as 'the egg beater'.
It never workd - it refused to move, or when it did, it went around the wrong way.
We were recording a local singer, Tom Lenihan, at the time, and when we asked about the generator, he shook his head and said, "They'll never get that yoke to work - they've gone and built it on a fairy fort"
Jim Carroll