Where do the fairies dwell and what do they want with us? Not easy questions to answer definitively, unfortunately. There are few fully formed fairy stories in Angus. Those that do exist are sometimes frustratingly incomplete or have disappinting origins. Take, for example, the anonymous story which appeared in the venerable Readers Digest Folklore, Myths and Legends of Great Britain (1973).
According to a short tale there, there was a piper of Lochlee whose music so entranced the Fair Folk that they came to him one evening when he was playing at the Dalbrack Bridge. Nine of them sailed down the Esk in a boat and one fairy touched the piper on the shoulder with a wand, obliging him to follow them onto the craft. The boat then sailed nine times around the pool called Pontskinnen Pot, then vanished upstream forever. He lived thereafter in some mysterious underground real with his captors. Sometimes his piper in heard in Glen Esk, but far away.
Unfortunately, this admirable 'tradition' may not be any older than the nineteenth century. It possibly has its origin in a poem by the Deeside stonemason poet Robert Dinnie (d. 1891). At least, I cannot trace the story any further back than his poem (which I have included at the bottom of this piece).
Another, possibly more legitimate fairy tradition is associated with the Laird of Ballmachie, near Carnoustie (the link to my exploration of this tradition is at the bottom of this article). Near Ballmachie is Carlungie, site of an ancient Pictish earth-house or souterrain, and nearby is a place which was once called the Cur Hills. The hills were evidently low mounds, possibly Bronze Age burial sites, reputedly haunted by the Fair Folk.
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Engraving from Sir Edward Burne-Jones, The Fairy Family: A Series of ballads and Metrical Tales Illustrating the Fairy Faith of Europe (1857)
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There were a few other prehistoric sites in Angus which had an association with the fairies. In the parish of Carmyllie there was a prehistoric site which was noted in Ordnance Survey name books. It was variously known as Fairyfold Hillock, Fairy Hillock, or Fairy Knowe. The site was possibly a prehistoric tumulus, which was excavated around 1828. No full record of this excavation exists, but there was a small brass ring found, plus some bones and charcoal. Another investigation in 1835 yielded several plain pennanular rings. The hillock was 'extant though mutilated' in 1858. The site was later totally levelled, evidence that Victorian landlords had little truck with the superstitious awe which their ancestors may have treated such sites with. (For those interested, the location of this site was British National Grid (BNG) Coordinates: 354450, 743480, OS NGR 5445 4348.)
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| Arthur Rackham, 'Twilight Dreams' |
Trying to get to the root of places haunted by fairies or more malevolent supernatural beings is not always fruitful since there are umpteen spots reputedly haunted by suchlike without any stories to back it up. Montreathmont Moor (or Munrimmon as it was commonly called) was one such place. An article in the Montrose Review (Friday 13 July 1928) refers to Montreathmont as being regarded by local children as the haunt of 'evil goblins and will-o-the-wisps', yet it does not elaborate in any detail. Where are the actual tales about the place?
In previous pieces on the fairies, I highlighted their association in the popular imagination with some underground places, particularly Pictish souterrains. An unrecognised souterrain at
Barns of Airlie was responsible for swallowing up oatcakes that vanished from a hearth while cooking, and the unseen fairies were of course blamed.
Some hills were associated with the fairies, such as the
Caterthuns. Smaller eminences also were their habitation, such as
Elf Hillock in
Glen Clova. But their name is recorded in relatively few places in Angus. Some minor 'elf mounds' (actually ancient monuments) were noted in
Lunan, but here - as in all too many other places - nobody has throught to records the traditions associated with such places, and they are lost forever.
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| John Lamb ‘Primus’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ 1834 |
The Piper of Lochlee
Langsyne there lived ance on a day
A piper in Lochlee,
An' fowks wha heard the tale they say
He played a merry key.
Through a' the glen, baith up and doun,
At bridal an' at fair,
An' ilka meeting o' renown,
The piper he was there.
An' when across the chanter stick
His nimble fingers flew,
The mellow notes cam' sweet an' quick,
While aye the bag he blew.
But, ah! what mortal could foretell
The piper'f future fate,
Or wha divert the fairy spell
Afore it was too late.
Ae bonnie simmer blithesome e'en
Close by a birken tree,
Beside Pontskinie there was seen
The piper o' Lochlee.
In haste he struck a merry strain,
An' played a famous spring.
From Craigmaskeldie to Millden,
Gart hill an' valley ring.
But ere he wist, the piper saw
A sight he ne'er hae seen -
Nine fairies dressed fu' trig an' braw,
In gowns o' bonny green.
They landed in a bonny boat,
Whar frae nae ane could tell,
But close beside Pontskinie pot,
There they drew in their sail.
They quickly formed an endless ring,
The piper played wi' glee,
"In troth," says he,
"ye fairly ding
The lasses o' Lochlee."
But ane, the bravest o' the band,
If braver ane could be,
She ript the piper wi' her wand,
An' after her ran he,
When ane an' a' into the boat
Wi' haste they did convene,
Syne wheel'd three times aroun' the pot,
But never mair were seen.
The pipers drones, fowk heard them still,
Tho' ne'er a thing they saw;
But fainter grew the soun' until
At last it died awa'.
A mystic parth leads to a cave
Whaur mortals canna see;
Whaur ghasts an' fairies hant an' rave,
An' sport an' feast wi' glee.
Whiles on the dreary hour o' nicht.
Ere cocks began to craw;
Fowks heard the piper play fu' bright
Aneath auld Bathie ha'.
Baith ane an' a' throughout the Glen
Did sair the piper mourn,
An' after days an' years were gane,
Thocht aye he wad return.
Thrice fifty years had gane their roun'
An' fled syne he was lost;
But whiles ahint the sun gaes doun,
Some fowks yet see his ghost.
But what a gruesome sicht he's grown,
Fu' spectre like an' spare;
They say his matter hair hings doun,
An auld Scots ell an' mair.
More Fairy Stuff From Previous Posts
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