Suffice it to say, that many instances of such an
association in the former country will be found in the pages of Mr.
MacRitchie's works, whilst as to the latter, I shall content myself by
quoting Sir William Wilde's statement, that every green "rath" in that
country is consecrated to the "good people." In England there are numerous
instances of a similar kind. Gervase of Tilbury in the thirteenth century
mentions such a spot in Gloucestershire: "There is in the county of
Gloucester a forest abounding in boars, stags, and every species of game
that England produces. In a grovy lawn of this forest there is a little
mount, rising in a point to the height of a man." With this mount he
associates the familiar story of the offering of refreshment to travellers
by its unseen inhabitants. In Warwickshire, the mound upon which
Kenilworth Castle is built was formerly a fairy habitation.[A] Ritson[B]
mentions that the "fairies frequented many parts of the Bishopric of
Durham." There is a hillock or tumulus near Bishopton, and a large hill
near Billingham, both of which used in former time to be "haunted by
fairies.
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