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TO THE SIDE of the Newmarket-on-Fergus bypass in Latoon, Co Clare, is a nondescript green bush.
Even if passers-by were to move slowly, nothing about the bush would make it stand out from the dozens (if not hundreds) of shrubs along the dual carriageway.
However, the story behind the hedge made international headlines in 1999 when plans for a new motorway required its destruction. News of this prompted Eddie Lenihan, a renowned Irish storyteller (or seanchaí), who has been collecting stories for 43 years, to fight for its preservation. The hedge, in fact, is a fairy bush – and its removal would “create trouble.”
Lenihan learned about the bush’s history through a farmer who told him he once saw “lumps of green stuff with the consistency of liver” around it, indicating “that there had been fairy battles around the bush the night before.”
“The bush was significant for them and it was a meeting point for Munster fairies to battle with Connaught fairies,” he tells TheJournal.ie.
Lenihan was passing the bush one evening on the way home from teaching in Limerick when he saw machinery and road workers beside it. “I knew nothing about the road being built, and asked them what would happen to the bush,” he says.
After being told that the bush would be destroyed, Lenihan wrote to the Clare Champion and Clare FM about the consequences that its removal would bring.
“I told them not to move the bush and there would be serious consequences if they did. People would be killed on the motorway,” he says.
Lenihan went on to write a letter which was published in the Irish Times and picked up by a New York Times correspondent: “It went what you would call ‘viral.’”
“That’s when the fun started,” he says. “People from the BBC, CNN, French and Swedish news channels and publications came over. By that stage, they couldn’t demolish the bush.”
Today, the bush still stands along the bypass, with its worldwide coverage leading it to be somewhat of a tourist attraction.
“If you move or destroy a fairy fort or Celtic ringfort, you’ll be in trouble and you’re creating trouble. Never shift a fairy bush,” he says. “It belongs where it is and nowhere else.”
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Leave it alone please.
@Pùca: just make I am legend 2 already original was great film !
@Pùca: nah. Did you see the trailer? Looks unreal.
Will and Jaden with respect please leave us alone ta. Enough is enough.
Nooooooooooooooo.
This sounds all wrong!!
If it has his son Jayden as the star, they would hardly need a multi episode season to explain the story. A six second vine would work fine with his punchable face.
To be called The Mowldy Prince of Bel Air…
@ruairi: Is he Welsh?
@Alan McArdle:
No he’s a scientologist.
What a gimmick. Why not make a seperate show?
Breaking news
Ffs
Leave it as is please and thanks
All the people saying leave it alone clearly didn’t watch the trailer.
Trailer looked incredible, fair exceeded my expectations and put to rest any worries I had that they’d ruin the memory of an iconic show.
This’ll be big.
Ah jaysus
I am not a fan of reboots or changing things but the trailer basically looks like a whole new show and not really comparable to the original. Will give it a shot
@european liberal: if it’s really that much of a departure, then why not just go the extra step and make a new show. All these reboots are clinging to the hope that brand recognition is enough to generate buzz, but usually they fall flat
Directed by Zach Snyder
Diana went to some cracking parties back in the day.
I should have watched the trailer before commenting lol. Now that I have, it doesn’t look all that bad. If it wasn’t a reimagined version of an old show, I think everybody would be into this. I think most of the knee jerk reactions (including my own) are completely based on the fact that its a remake of a show we all know and loved. Having watched the trailer, I think the premise is one that could actually work pretty well as a gritty drama. I’m gunna hold off on judgement until it’s properly warranted.
God, going to butcher it. Can’t leave well enough alone.
Didn’t they already try that with Sabrina? And look at the state of that. Stop thinking you can recapture lightening in a bottle. The fun of fresh Prince was the fact that it was funny. If you take away the comedy there’s really nothing left. Even the prospect of Will Smith isn’t enough to make this sound good. Will Smith is an ego maniac who has too be the center of everything he does, and thats so painfully Obvious that it borders on the cringe. Bad idea.
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