The impact of Fairy Beliefs in 19th Century Ireland

Name: The impact of Fairy Beliefs in 19th Century Ireland
Start: 2025-02-10T18:00:00-05:00
Location: 991 5th Ave, New York, NY, United States, New York 10028

Schedule

Mon, 10 Feb, 2025 at 06:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

991 5th Ave, New York, NY, United States, New York 10028 | Manhattan, NY

In 1999, the Irish made the headlines of international news when plans for a motorway in County Clare were called off, because the local community believed the proposed route would knock down a 'fairy fort,' and as a result there would be high casualties on the road.
This story was not the first time Irish superstition made the headlines. In 1895, 26-year-old Bridget Cleary was burned to death by her husband, male relatives and neighbors. They believed that she was not Bridget but a 'changeling,' a non-human counterpart who could be banished by inflicting harm on it to secure the 'real' Bridget's return from a local 'fairy fort.'
While the story of a motorway's diversion because of 'fairy faith' proved surprising and harmless to a modern audience, at the end of the 19th century, it was evident that stories about rural, working-class superstition could also shock an urban, educated population - especially when they had such a deadly outcome. This presentation examines the impact of ‘fairy faith’ in nineteenth-century Ireland, something which has had a long-term legacy on Irish soil. It examines the importance of these beliefs not only in influencing the country’s physical geography and in its folklore traditions (in the form of 'ring forts,' 'fairy doctors,' and 'changelings') but in the domestic lives of the rural peasantry. In their homes, it had the power to turn parents against their own children when they identified them as ‘fairies’ and sought to cure them accordingly, often by extremely violent means.
Caoimhe McConigle was awarded a BA in History at Queen’s University Belfast, where she focused on Modern Irish social and cultural history. She is currently an intern at Emerald Isle Immigration Center.