The Lone Bush of Coolrath

The Lone Bush There is a legend told of a lone bush, which was growing in Coolrath, about four miles from Drogheda. A man cut it down, and left a hole in the ground, where he took up the root which he brought to the yard. That night, three knocks came to the back of the house. The next night the same thing happened. The following morning, when the fire was being lighted, a terrible noise came to the door. It was like as though someone was hitting it with a mallet. That day the man put the root back into the hole where it was formerly growing, and it grew again. The noise never came anymore.” Lone bushes in the middle of a field, typically hawthorn, are supposed to be haunted by the fairies, leprechauns or little people. Whether they live there, or party there, or just sleep there isn’t known. One isn’t even to break twigs off them on pain of death. So, in digging up the whole root, and living, the man from Coolrath can consider himself lucky!