Sligo – Yeats Country

William Butler Yeats speant a good deal if time here in Sligo, hanging out, writing poetry and plays, and generally making himself useful to Sligonian posterity by becoming famous. Then he famously created the Abbey Theatre down in Dublin, dedicated to Irish plays and authors.  As a result, Sligo considers itself as prime yeats country with yeats festivals, readings, commemorations, buildings, and so on. Our hotel is right up the street from the Yeats house.

Our first tour is out to Leitrim Castle on Lough Gill.  It’s a plantation castle, referring to the English Crown ppassing out land grants and planting protestant and loyal settlers from England and Scotland in Ireland in the 1500’s to prevent Ireland from becoming a staging point for foreign (French, Spansh, Dutch) invaders.

One of the very intersting features, aside from the presentations about plantation and family life, is a discussion about thatched roofs, suggesting that there is very little that is romantic about thatched roofs.  It’s a lot of work, and it’s extremely attractive as a home for bugs, spiders, and small mammals.