Heritage group showcase Yeats and Lady Gregory trail

THE Lady Gregory and Yeats Heritage Group exhibited in the Tourism Village at the Coach and Bus Show 2012 recently held at the RDS, Dublin.

The purpose of the event was to showcase all the sites on the trail, which include Kilmacduagh, Coole Park, Kiltartan Museum, Thoor Ballylee, Roxborough Gates, Woodville Walled Garden and St Brendan’s Cathedral.
The group hope to promote tourism in the region through the trail. All the sites have a connection with Lady Augusta Gregory or William Butler Yeats and are located between the towns of Gort and Loughrea.

The group also plan to launch a new website on the trail early next year at www.ladygregoryyeatstrail.com.
Thoor Ballylee was Yeats’ monument and symbol; in both aspects, it had multiple significance. It satisfied his desire for a rooted place in a known countryside, not far from Coole and his life-long friend Lady Gregory.

To live in a tower fulfilled his desire to sample a tradition of cultivated aristocracy, which he had envied and a leisured peace, which he had enjoyed.

The tower or castle that Yeats bought was a 16th century Norman castle built by the family de Burgo, or Burke. It consisted of four floors with one room on each, connected by a spiral stone stairway built into the seven-foot thickness of the massive outer wall.

After the Yeats family moved out in 1929, it fell into disuse but was restored as Yeats’ Tower in 1965 and fitted out as a Yeats’ museum, containing an interesting collection of first editions as well as items of furniture.

The adjoining cottage is fitted out as a tea room and shop. The tower has been wired for sound and a pre-recorded commentary can be played on a push-button system.

In addition, part of the ground floor has been adapted for an audio-visual presentation on the years of Yeats’ occupancy.