Legend and vvetland landscape in Ireland

Abstract

Ireland has a large body of archaeological monuments and artefacts associated with water and wetlands, and this is mirrored by a large corpus of legends and lore in the folk tradition dealing with supernatural creatures which inhabit wetlands, lakes and rivers. Some of these are part of a wider European tradition of legends and folktales. There is a tendency in the Irish tradition to treat wetlands as dangerous places, and part of this might have stemmed not only from an attempt to warn people away from unfamiliar landscapes, but also to warn against interfering with otherworldly or supernatural places.