Fairies & folklore
Neil Trigger
if anyone's interested.
--
Neil Trigger
Magic2k Founder & Manager
http://www.magic2k.com
http://www.magic2k.co.uk
Helena Handbasket
By Will Pavia and Chris Windle
VILLAGERS who protested that a new housing estate would "harm the fairies"
living in their midst have forced a property company to scrap its building
plans and start again.
Marcus Salter, head of Genesis Properties, estimates that the small colony
of fairies believed to live beneath a rock in St Fillans, Perthshire, has
cost him £15,000. His first notice of the residential sensibilities of the
netherworld came as his diggers moved on to a site on the outskirts of the
village, which crowns the easterly shore of Loch Earn.
He said: "A neighbour came over shouting, 'Don't move that rock. You'll kill
the fairies'." The rock protruded from the centre of a gently shelving
field, edged by the steep slopes of Dundurn mountain, where in the sixth
century the Celtic missionary St Fillan set up camp and attempted to convert
the Picts from the pagan darkness of superstition.
"Then we got a series of phone calls, saying we were disturbing the fairies.
I thought they were joking. It didn't go down very well," Mr Salter said.
In fact, even as his firm attempted to work around the rock, they received
complaints that the fairies would be "upset". Mr Salter still believed he
was dealing with a vocal minority, but the gears of Perthshire's planning
process were about to be clogged by something that looked suspiciously like
fairy dust.
"I went to a meeting of the community council and the concerns cropped up
there," he said. The council was considering lodging a complaint with the
planning authority, likely to be the kiss of death for a housing development
in a national park. Jeannie Fox, council chairman, said: "I do believe in
fairies but I can't be sure that they live under that rock. I had been told
that the rock had historic importance, that kings were crowned upon it." Her
main objection to moving the rock was based on the fact that it had stood on
the hillside for so long: a sort of MacFeng Shui that many in the village
subscribe to.
"There are a lot of superstitions going about up here and people do believe
that things like standing stones and large rocks should never be moved," she
said.
Half a mile into Loch Earn is Neish Island. From there the Neish clan set
forth to plunder the surrounding country, retreating each time to their
island. Early in the 17th century, the MacNabs retaliated from the next
valley, carrying a boat over the mountains, storming the island and
slaughtering most of the Neishes.
This summer Betty Neish McInnes, the last of that line in St Fillans, went
to her grave - but not before she had imparted the ancient Pict significance
of the rock to many of her neighbours.
"A lot of people think the rock had some Pictish meaning," Mrs Fox said. "It
would be extremely unlucky to move it."
Mr Salter did not just want to move the rock. He wanted to dig it up, cart
it to the roadside and brand it with the name of his new neighbourhood.
The Planning Inspectorate has no specific guidelines on fairies but a
spokesman said: "Planning guidance states that local customs and beliefs
must be taken into account when a developer applies for planning
permission." Mr Salter said: "We had to redesign the entire thing from
scratch."
The new estate will now centre on a small park, in the middle of which
stands a curious rock. Work begins next month, if the fairies allow.
"Neil Trigger" <nt018...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:AquSf.199722$YJ4....@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk...