Conway Mill Trust

Fairy forts are found all over Ireland.  They are what remain of the ring forts, dwellings originally dating from the Iron Age to early Christian times.  According to legends, they are magical places, entrances to another world. The white thorn bush which grew in them are also considered magical and anyone who cut the white thorn was cursed. Traditional stories tell of tragic events which happened to anyone who tampered with fairy forts.

Feb 1 is the Celtic Feast of Imbolc.  This was celebrated as the beginning of spring and fires were lit in the homes and on the hillside. Cailleach, the hag of winter, would be taken over by Bridget.  If this day was bright and sunny, Cailleach would be seen gathering firewood for a longer winter to come.  If she slept through and did not gather wood, this would mean that spring was coming.  The Celts also watched for burrowing animals to emerge from their holes, signaling fair weather.

In 1895, a woman named Bridget Cleary went missing.  After a week of searching the police found her charred body in a shallow grave.  Bridget was the wife of Michael Cleary, a local cooper.  After questioning, they arrested him for his wife’s murder.  Michael insisted that wasn’t his wife, but a changeling who had taken her place.  In the time before her death she apparently was ill, according to some biographers, with pneumonia or tuberculosis which was a shameful and fearsome disease.  It could have been she was confused and this was taken as a sign that she had been stolen.  Various methods were used to expel the changeling, including fire.  Michael pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a 15 year sentence.

A changeling is a supernatural creature, usually a fairy and often described as ugly and nasty tempered, that has been secretly exchanged for a human baby.
In medieval folklore, the idea of a swapped child was quite common, indicating deeply rooted concern about misunderstood reasons for infant death, disease, and disorders. One supposed way to tell if a baby was a changeling was to boil eggshells in front of the suspect baby. If it laughed or spoke, it was not actually human. To reverse a swap, changelings were sometimes supposed to be scooped up by a red-hot shovel and tossed into chimney fire…then the original child would be returned unharmed.