Tag: Fermanagh
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Fairies Have Been Around For A Long Time
Not all monuments are what they appear. Take raths, for example. Sometimes known as fairy forths or ring forts, raths are common across our lowland landscapes. Located mostly on top of many small hills or drumlins, they generally date from the 5th to 11th Century AD. Raths are not to be confused with the larger hill…
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All Over the Place
The phone call came in the wee hours. One of our volunteers had stumbled into a production office at the far end of the festival’s perimeter fence, at least an hour’s walk away. Distressed and anxious, we needed to escort her back to her tent. Chatting the following day about her misadventure, she explained that…
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Men of the Book: An Inspector Calls
There were no vehicles in the farmyard. My knock on the door went unanswered so I decided to go ahead and check out the Bivallate rath on top of the drumlin to the rear of the house. A friendly dog accompanied me up the lane. It was a dry day with high cloud. Visibility was…
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The Navel of Fermanagh
Omphalos is an ancient Greek word meaning the centre, or navel of the earth. Located at Delphi, it was the religious go-to-place for seekers of wisdom and advice from the famous oracle who resided there. I sometimes fancy that there was a similar omphalos-like inspiration behind the construction of the monuments on the southern tip of…
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Beep, Beep; Wheee…
Many people will recognise the high-pitched sound of a metal detector as it signals to its handler that there is something metallic below the ground. It’s exciting as the operator won’t know what is triggering the detector – maybe an ancient object, or simply a discarded soft drink can. But metal detecting is far from…