Laois Folk Tales

Laois Folk Tales gathers stories rooted in County Laois, drawing on historical sources and interviews to connect local places with legend, belief and oral tradition. The collection ranges from heroic material about Fionn MacCumhaill, Oisín and Conall Cearnach to accounts of saints, fairies, banshees and ghosts.

Across the Slieve Bloom Mountains, the Red Hills and the grounds of Durrow Castle, the tales feature bewitched butter, fairy changelings, talking cats and holy fish. Moll Anthony appears as a wise woman associated with the Red Hills, while the White Lady is reported to haunt Durrow Castle. Nuala Hayes presents these county traditions alongside original artwork by Rita Duffy, preserving their links to landscape, memory and storytelling.