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Dunguaire Castle

Fairy fort

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Dunguaire Castle

Dunguaire Castle
Dunguaire Castle

Dunguaire Castle exterior

Location within Ireland

General information
Location

Kinvara, County Galway, Ireland

Coordinates

53.142N 8.926W

Completed

16th Century

Client

Hynes Clan

[1]

Dunguaire Castle (Irish: Dn Guaire) is a 16th-century tower house on the southeastern shore of Galway Bay in
County Galway, Ireland, near Kinvarra (also spelled Kinvara). The name derives from the Dun of King Guaire, the
legendary king of Connacht. The castle's 75-foot tower and its defensive wall have been restored, and the grounds
are open to tourists during the summer.

Dunguaire Castle

History
The castle was built by the Hynes clan around 1520, a family who may have been associated with the area since
around 662. At the time, the royal palace of Guaire Aidne mac Colmin, the legendary king of Connacht and
progenitor of the clan is believed to have been in this area. According to current thinking by archeologists, the
original dun was most likely a ring fort, the remains of which can be found on the small promontory just to the
northeast of the current castle.
Dunguaire Castle was transferred in the 17th century to Oliver Martin (father of Richard Martin fitz Oliver). Richard
Martin (or Martyn) lived here until 1642. Dunguaire Castle remained in his family. However, their main seat was
Tullira (or Tulira) Castle near Gort and Dunguaire fell into disrepair. In 1924, after Edward Martyn and with him the
senior line of the family had died in 1922, the surgeon and poet Oliver St. John Gogarty purchased Dunguaire.
Gogarty began restoring the castle and established it as the meeting place for the leading figures of the Celtic
Revival, such as W.B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Augusta, Lady Gregory, and John Millington Synge.
The castle was acquired in 1954 by Christobel Lady Ampthill, who completed the restoration work started by
Gogarty. It was later purchased by Shannon Development, an Irish corporation that manages numerous historic
tourist attractions in Ireland. During the summer months when Dunguaire Castle is open to the public, a Medieval
Banquet is held every night with costumed performers who recite Irish literature and play traditional Irish music.
Dunguaire Castle was used as a filming location for the Scottish castle home of the main character in the 1979 film
North Sea Hijack.

Legends
Part of the lore about Dunguaire's Castle is that the Lord of the castle was very generous and he continued this
generosity into the afterlife. One example of this is the story about a poor beggar whom King Guaire had often
helped in life. The beggar visited the King's grave and said, "King Guaire, even you cannot help me now."
Undeterred even by death, the King's skeletal hand dropped several gold coins at the beggar's feet. According to
legend, still to this day, if a person stands at the front gate and asks a question, they will have an answer to their
question by the end of the day.
Another regionally well known legend is the "Road of the Dishes" (Bothar na Mias), involving King Guaire and St.
Colman of Kilmacduagh.

References
[1] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ geohack/ geohack. php?pagename=Dunguaire_Castle& params=53. 142_N_-8. 926_E_type:landmark

External links
Entry at Shannon Heritage site (http://www.shannonheritage.com/Attractions/DunguarieCastle/)
Coordinates:
53.142N
8.926W
(http:/
/
tools.
wmflabs.
org/
geohack/
php?pagename=Dunguaire_Castle&params=53.142_N_-8.926_E_type:landmark_scale:5000)

geohack.

Fairy fort

Fairy fort
Fairy forts (also known as raths from the Irish, referring to an earthen mound) are the remains of lios (ringforts),
hillforts or other circular dwellings in Ireland.[1] From (possibly) late Iron Age to early Christian times, the island's
occupants built circular structures with earth banks or ditches. These were sometimes topped with wooden palisades,
and wooden framed buildings. As the dwellings were not durable, in many cases only vague circular marks remain in
the landscape.[2] Raths and lios are found in all parts of Ireland.

Interpretation
Tradition claimed that ringforts were "fairy forts" imbued with Druids' magic and believers in the fairies did not alter
them. The early pre-Celtic inhabitants of Ireland (known as the Tuatha D Danann and Fir Bolg) came to be seen as
mythical and were associated with stories of fairies, also known as the "Good People". Fairy forts and prehistoric
Tumuli were seen as entrances to their world.[3] Even cutting brush, especially the sceach or whitethorn, on fairy
forts was reputed to be the death of those who performed the act.[4]
There are many folk tales about supernatural events happening at fairy forts. Real accidents which happened at
ringforts could be given supernatural explanations. For example a man who tried to blast a dolmen suffered a septic
hand. The wrecked dolmen was subsequently left untouched.
Other traditions hold that a leprechaun may allegedly know of hidden gold in a fairy fort.
In literature, British author Rudyard Kipling made allusions to the process by which such legends grow in his 1906
novel, Puck of Pook's Hill.[5]

Example tales
Fairies' revenge
Workmen were working to level earthworks in a fairy fort at Dooneeva. The originator of this fell apparently dead.
His wife, a wise woman brought him back to life magically.[6]

A cow taken and restored

A farmers best cow kept grazing in a fairy fort. It was unlucky for the cow to graze there but the cow pined when it
was prevented from going to the fairy fort. One day the farmer found the cow there with broken legs. He killed the
cow and his family ate the meat, some fresh and some salted. A year later the cow was seen in the fairy fort. The
fairies told the farmer they had taken the cow because they needed the milk for their children. They had substituted
an old stray horse and made the horse to be like the cow. The farmer took his cow home. He became very prosperous
because the fairies supported him.[7]

Fairy fort

An old fairy was prevented from marrying a young girl

A rich farmers son investigated why none of the cows would enter a field with a fairy fort and found an old fairy in
the fort. The old fairy asked the young man to help him get a young girl for his wife. The farmers son would not
give the young girl to the old fairy but instead married her himself. As revenge the old fairy destroyed most of the
fathers property.
The farmers son and his wife rode to her parents house. The daughter proved who she was. The daughter had three
brothers. The brothers went to the fairy fort and started digging till they found a large flat stone. The old fairy begged
them to spare his house. When they spared it he became their friend and restored what he had taken. [8]

Developer's downfall is fairies revenge

Even in 2011, the financial ruin of developer Sen Quinn was blamed on his moving a fairy fort.

References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]

Fairy Forts, Music & Language of Ireland (http:/ / www. romanceeverafter. com/ Fairy Forts, Music & Language of Ireland. htm)
The Celts & Celtic Ireland (http:/ / www. dochara. com/ stuff/ celtic-history. php)
Myths, Legends, Fantasy... - An Other World (http:/ / elt. britcoun. org. pl/ elt/ m_paper. htm)
Eddie Lenihan and Carolyn Eve Green, Meeting The Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland, p 125 ISBN 1-58542-206-1

[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]

http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ dirs/ etext96/ pkpkh10. txt

http:/ / www. clarelibrary. ie/ eolas/ coclare/ folklore/ folklore_survey/ chapter4. htm
http:/ / www. sacred-texts. com/ neu/ celt/ tfgw/ tfgw20. htm
http:/ / www. sacred-texts. com/ neu/ celt/ tfgw/ tfgw11. htm

External links
Celtic Ireland 2000 BC - 400 AD (http://www.dochara.com/stuff/celtic-history.php)
Clare Library - Folklore Survey - Fairies and Fairy Forts and Mounds (http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/
coclare/folklore/folklore_survey/chapter4.htm)
Irish Fairy Tales (http://www.rambles.net/curtin_ift93.html)

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Dunguaire Castle Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=611773772 Contributors: Anirishwoman, Ardfern, Boomur, Derr Saff, Drow69, Erebus555, Fergananim, Guliolopez,
JamesJHynes, Jllm06, Neddyseagoon, Neutrality, Niceguyedc, Postdlf, Rjwilmsi, Sir Gawain, Tentinator, Tetopa, 18 anonymous edits
Fairy fort Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=599490927 Contributors: AbigailAbernathy, Angusmclellan, Barbara Shack, DMacks, Dream of Nyx, EvelinaB, Goldfritha,
Guliolopez, Gurch, Ixfd64, Kaiwhakahaere, Midnightblueowl, NoSnakesInIreland, Pigman, Proxima Centauri, Serpentnight, Tide rolls, Trilobitealive, 32 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:Dunguaire Castle, Galway, Ireland.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dunguaire_Castle,_Galway,_Ireland.png License: Creative Commons
Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: User:Boomur
File:Ireland location map.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ireland_location_map.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors:
NordNordWest

License

License
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