Map - The Fairy Seat of the Druid Clan of Dana

Map - The Fairy Seat of the Druid Clan of Dana

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.

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."

"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.

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

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.