elf barrow

plural elf barrows

1. Synonym of fairy hill

   The nurse is old Cathrine, who was telling the servants about the trolls and the elf barrow while they were preparing the feast in the forest.

   1992, Johannes Møllehave, A Folk Legend, Copenhagen: Sesam, page 32

   3 more examples

   The peasant may, however, provide against the evils above-mentioned, if, before he lets his cattle loose, he goes to the Elf-barrow and says; “Thou little Troll! may I graze my cows on thy mount?” If he gets no refusal, he may feel easy.

   1851, Benjamin Thorpe, Northern Mythology, volume II, London: Edward Lumley, page 117

   Similar references to these spirits are also found in connection with mounds and barrows (hlæw or beorh), such as Shuckburgh (Warwickshire), which probably incorporates scucca and means something like ‘goblin hill’ or ‘demon hill’, or Shucklow (Buckinghamshire); Ailcy Hill (North Yorkshire) may refer to an elf barrow, since the first recorded reference to the mound in 1228 is ‘elueshou’, although how much earlier this name was coined is unclear.

   2013, Helen Foxhall Forbes, Heaven and Earth in Anglo-Saxon England: Theology and Society in an Age of Faith, Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, page 93

   Neolithic burial mounds were commonly referred to as “elf barrows” or “goblin hills,” while megalithic standing stones—typified by the famous Stonehenge—were said to be trolls who had been turned to stone after being exposed to sunlight.

   2021, Justin Mullis, “Fear, Faries, and Fossils: The Legacy of Arthur Machen's “Little People” Stories”, in Antonio Sanna, editor, Arthur Machen: Critical Essays, Lanham: Lexington Books, page 118

   Synonyms: fairy hill