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This page features a map of the geographic area that is featured in Lady Olivia's writing about
the Druid Clan of Dana. It was drawn by Lawrence and Olivia's father, Manning Durdin-Robertson.
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| Lawrence and Olivia's mother, Nora Robertson with a salmon caught in the Slaney near the castle. |
Nora Robertson wrote the following passages about this area of the Slaney: "It would be impossible for
anyone who has lived so long by the banks of such a river not to feel hopelessly prejudiced. The character of its fall, the
richness of the agricultural land through which it flows, the lively birch woods, floored with bluebells, the stands with
the traditional titles, “The Bee’s Rock,” “The Fairy Seat,” “The Tinker’s Turn,”
and behind all the dignity of Mount Leinster. Resting easily in the Slaney Valley, you have room to look round, to scent the
furze untainted by petrol, to watch the birds follow the harrow; for our beauty is fertile for beast and grain."
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| "The Moss House" a cabin designed by Manning Durdin-Robertson |
"The name Moss House, surviving in our most central
stream, was popular in mid-Victorian days, when our forebears used to erect summer-houses, roofed with moss or with green
sods. One of these was said to have existed in the Wilderness near the Castle; the one by the river, sited at its most agreeable
point, disappeared before the eighties." (*1880's)
"The idea was born in the autumn of 1926. We had left London in order to bring my husband's work nearer to the home
which had recently become his, and although we could not live there it was possible to keep in touch with Dublin, sixty miles
away. Sitting by the hall fire during a week-end, we decided we would replace the existing wooden fishing hut with something
more worthy of an architect."
"I walked the river very early one bright morning
in late May so as to see the bottom with the light behind me and I counted at least a dozen fish mostly behind rocks in still,
shallow water at the tail of Crow’s Grove."
“Oh! Were I at the Moss House, where the
birds do increase, (*) At the foot of Mount Leinster,
or some silent place; By the streams of Bunclody where all pleasures do meet …”
- Traditional Ballad, “The Maid of Bunclody”
(Newtownbarry)
Back to the Fairy Seat of the Druid Clan of Dana
* (Note: When this ballad is sung, ‘increase’ is traditionally pronounced to rhyme with ‘place.’)
Map and drawing of The Moss House by Manning Durdin-Robertson.The Circle of Isis website staff wishes to thank
Lady Olivia Robertson and members of the Durdin-Robertson family who provided the photo and other materials for this page.
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May Isis richly bless all who visit this site. This
central Fellowship of Isis website is officially authorized and chartered by Fellowship of Isis co-founder Rt. Rev.
Olivia Robertson, AU, FOI Foundation Centre, Clonegal Castle, Enniscorthy, Ireland Copyright © 2004-2009
The Circle of Isis Notice of Copyright and Disclaimer of the Circle of Isis Website
Contents: The Circle of Isis website is an officially sanctioned central global website
of the Fellowship of Isis, authorized by Rt. Rev. Olivia Robertson, AU, co-founder of the Fellowship of Isis, Foundation
Centre, Clonegal Castle, Enniscorthy, Ireland. The contents of the Circle of Isis Website are not public domain.
All contents published under the name The Circle of Isis on this website are copyrighted. The URL (www.thecircleofisis.com)
is copyrighted. Direct links to these webpages are permitted. Copying the appearance, content or
format of these pages is not permitted. All rights reserved.
Notice
of Copyright of the Fellowship of Isis Liturgy: Fellowship of Isis Liturgy copyright is legally shared by the
author, Rt. Rev. Olivia Robertson, AU, FOI co-founder, with members of the Circle of Isis Advisory Board. Those
members are Rt. Rev. Loreon Vigne, Rt. Rev. deTraci Regula, ArchDrs. Linda Iles and Rt. Rev. Caroline Wise. The content and
format of the Fellowship of Isis Liturgy presented on the Circle of Isis website are not public domain. The content and
format are protected by a separate copyright. Rt. Rev. Olivia Robertson, AU, FOI co-founder, personally upholds
our copyright. Private or public distribution, private or public reproduction, private or public publication
in any form, by any means, of the FOI Liturgy as presented on the Circle of Isis website, is not permitted. Direct links
to the FOI Liturgy pages on the Circle of Isis website are allowed, printing a copy for private ritual use is allowed.
All other rights reserved. "Circle of Isis" line drawing by Rt.
Rev. Olivia Robertson. Used by permission of the artist. All rights reserved.
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