fairy hill

plural fairy hills

1. artsA hill, barrow (tumulus), or other circular eminence, beneath which fairies live.

   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.

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

   2 more examples

   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.

   1754, Thomas Gardner, An Historical Account of Dunwich, Antiently a City, Now a Borough, 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.

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

   Synonyms: elf hill, elf howe, fairy barrow, fairy fort, fairy mound, fairy rath

1. A locality in the Richmond Valley council area, north eastern New South Wales, Australia.