The Fairy Bush that held up a motorway
This fairy bush in County Clare, Ireland was almost destroyed by a new motorway bypass, but folklorists warned that it was a sacred ground, and that misfortune would befall the planners who had planned to remove it. Fortunately the tree wasn't touched during construction.
The Latoon hawthorn Fairy Bush in County Clare on the M18, about 30 kilometers outside of Limerick was the site of where a new motorway was planned.
According to an article in the Irish Times from 1999, Eddie Lenihan, a well-known folklorist and story-teller warned “that the destruction of the fairy thorn bush or “sceach” … could result in misfortune and in some cases death for those traveling the proposed new road.”
Lenihan citing its importance, said that “the bush is a marker in a fairy path and was the rendezvous point for Kerry fairies on their way to do battle with the Connacht fairies.”
Claims of white blood around the bush have been seen.
The dire warnings worked, and the engineers who were surveying the area found a way to keep the “sceach” intact and kept as part of the landscaping for the motorway.
This was a victory for those who believe in the “wee folk” or “little people”—and possibly even Irish tourism, where this fairy bush was photographed on a bus trip in 2015.
Know Before You Go
On the M18, when on the way to visit Dromoland castle, before you turn right into Quin village, have a look for the Latoon fairy tree centred between two roundabouts, 100 metres ahead on roadside to the north.
GPS 52.789887, -8.920994
See Google maps: https://www.google.com/maps/@52.7901632,-8.921007,3a,40.4y,261.07h,88.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s4yhw1s5jbmBqQ0msXf3aGA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
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