Drumcliffe, County Sligo

About eight kilometres north of Sligo Town, on a low gravel ridge between the Mountain of Ben Bulben and Drumcliffe Bay is a village by the name of Drumcliffe. The original name was Cnoc na Teagh and is a possible location of the settlement named Nagnata as shown on Claudius Ptolemy’s map of Ireland. This village has a rich history.

At the edge of the village is the local church, St Columba’s Church of Ireland. A number of famous people are buried there. It also has some extremely old burial plots that have the celtic cross as headstones.

One of Drumcliffe’s more recent residents was W.B. Yeats. William Butler Yeats was born in 1865 in Sandymount, Ireland, and, because his paternal grandmother was from County Sligo, spent a great deal of time in the county as a child. One of the things that our bus driver had said about Yeats was that he asked Maud Gonne to marry him three times but she said no every time. Years later, there was a proposition of marriage from her daughter which he declined.

W.B. Yeats died in 1939 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France. In 1948, his remains were brought back to Drumcliffe and reinterred in the cemetery at this church. Many people go to the cemetery to visit his grave. 

Day Eleven – Field Trip, April 2016

Well, we are no longer in Northern Ireland. We crossed the border about 8:30 this morning at a crossing where there used to be a huge British military camp. This was to prevent anyone who had no legal need from entering into Northern Ireland during The Troubles. At that time, the British presence was a fact of life. Thankfully, the British and the Irish have come to a point ten years ago where they have started to live more peacefully. They still have more work to do to sort out issues, but they are doing well, given the circumstances.

Our first stop this morning was at Donegal Castle. This castle was built approximately 1,000 years ago and, for approximately 300 years, sat empty and became run down. Part of it has been restored and they did an excellent job of it. Hopefully, more of the restoration will happen in the future.

We then walked around the corner to visit a shop where they weave their own tweed. We were greeted with Irish coffee of which I did not partake as I do not drink coffee. This was followed by a demonstration of the types of tweed that they make there and the process that is involved. It was interesting to watch the tweed being woven. They do produce some very nice tweed but I had no interest in purchasing any.

Back on the bus, we then travelled to Drumcliffe to visit the cemetery where W.B. Yeats is buried. We were given a short biography on the bus and we had the opportunity of finding the grave as well as visiting the church that is there. This particular cemetery has a long history as some of the graves have headstones made with the celtic cross. I would have liked to spend more time, but we were running a bit lake.

Lunch was at a restaurant named The Helm which is situated on Clew Bay. Because it was mid afternoon, we were not expecting a big meal. We were wrong. However, the food was delicious.

After lunch, we were taken over to Westport House. It is another site that has a long history. We heard about Grace O’Malley and her descendants. We were given a tour of the first floor and then left to explore the rest for ourselves. I found the dungeon and enjoyed the bit of fun that it provided.

We are now at our hotel and will shortly be going for dinner. Tomorrow, we have some more touring to do, but we will not be changing hotels.