Taking a 70km loop for history and literature

A new website aimed at increasing tourists to South Galway by emphasising the area’s links with Lady Gregory and WB Yeats, will be launched next week.

The website promotes the Lady Gregory/Yeats Trail, a 70km loop linking significant sites from Gort to Loughrea.

The trail incorporates historical sites, including the Kilmacduagh monastic site, Coole Park, the Kiltartan Gregory Museum, Thoor Ballylee, Killinane Graveyard, Woodville Gardens, Roxborough Gates and St Brendan’s Cathedral.

The website includes details of each of the heritage sites as well as a wealth of historical information about the area, a map, photographs, a four-minute video showcasing the trail and its sites, narrated by local historian Sr DeLourdes Fahy, as well as an 11-page brochure detailing the trail and the sites’ historic relevance.

The website, www.ladygregoryyeatstrail.com, was set up by The Lady Gregory and Yeats Heritage Trail Group, a non-profit community group that was formed two years ago.

The group aims to raise awareness and greater understanding of the lives of Lady Augusta Gregory and WB Yeats and their impact on the social and cultural life of the area. Its members believe there is potential for development of the area as a sustainable, cultural, heritage tourism destination.

“Since our first public meeting in the Lady Gregory Hotel in 2011, a small core group stuck together and engaged web designer Tommy Hannon to produce a website

“We think it is very good and hope that others will also find it good and useful. Our aim from day one was to link the heritage sites connected with Gregory and Yeats between the towns of Gort and Loughrea.

“The area has huge tourist potential and we feel that this initiative illustrates what communities can do for themselves,” said Councillor Bridie Willers, who has been involved in the project since the beginning.

“The main purpose of the website is to give people additional information about the local heritage sites, to present these as a manageable loop and market the route as a package in an effort to increase tourists to the area.

“That is the fundamental hope of it. It is an initiative of the community, who wanted to do something for themselves and enhance tourism prospects. It is not a big project but I think the website is very good. The video explains the trail perfectly and it is only four minutes long,” Councillor Willers added.

Funding for the project came in part from a Galway County Council grant and also from a particularly apt source. “We had a play from husband-and-wife team Sam and Joan McCready called Coole Lady. Sam wrote the play and Joan performed it in the library in Lougrea and then also in the Lady Gregory Hotel in Gort. That is how we improved the fund to cover the cost of the website,” Councillor Willers explained.

“The website has turned out well on a very tight budget and it illustrates what can be done if people get together and help themselves,” she added.

The launch takes place in The Lady Gregory Hotel on Friday, April 19 at 7pm. Robert Murray, captain of the victorious Galway County and All-Ireland Club Hurling champions St Thomas’, will officially launch the site while the keynote speaker will be writer and former broadcaster John Quinn, who lives locally.

“Rather than having a senior politician opening this, we decided to go for someone in the community. Robert lives close to Kilchreest and Killinane Graveyard, while John Quinn, as well as being well-known nationally, also lives in South Galway so we were trying to promote the community element as much as possible,” Councillor Willers concluded.