fairy hill

English

Noun

fairy hill (plural fairy hills)

1. (folklore) A hill, barrow (tumulus), or other circular eminence, beneath which fairies live.
   • 1754, Thomas Gardner, An Historical Account of Dunwich, Antiently a City, Now a Borough, page 189:

     On this Hill [...] are the Remains of a CAMP, and where the Ground has suffered no Rupture are to be seen Tokens of circular Tents, called Fairy Hills, round which the vulgar report these Sylphes were wont to dance.

   • 1865, Cuthbert Bede, The White Wife: With Other Stories, Supernatural, Romantic and Legendary, page 189:

     Their Fairy hills were called Tomhans and Shian, and were supposed to possess great internal comforts, with doors and windows that could only be discovered on dark evenings, by the bright light of the fairy fires shining through the artfully-constructed apertures.

   • 1928, Lewis Spence, Mysteries of Britain, page v. 136:

     Finally, as regards the places in which these rites and mysteries may have been held, certain writers believe them to have been the "Fairy Hills" or "howes" in various parts of Scotland.