Drumcliffe and Sligo Abbey

This is the church in Sligo where Yeats is buried. We are met by a local tour guide, Martin Enright, whom James has recently met, and he gives a short presentation on Yeats because our time is limited, but he is definitely up on his stuff and presents well.  He’ll be featured on future tours, and he recommends some kids from the local area who are bang-up traditional musicians.  Athough there has been no concert planned for this night, the kids are arranged, because the schedules on these tours tend to be flexible.

Rob and Patty.  Patty got sick during the tour, and had to leave earl. We missed her music and Rob’s quiet ways.

Martin Enright and our leader, James.   To the right is Rosheen, one of the merriest souls on the tour.  When the tour was over, it was revealed that she is a nun, and she was extremely grateful to James and Donnie for not blowing her cover. 

There’s also a tour of Sligo Abbey, another ruined church and friary, that has a lurid history as an In-And-Out Graveyard during the time of the cholera in the early 1800’s, with hastily buried and half-exposed corpses. Bram Stoker’s mother would tell him about the times of the cholera to entertain him as he was rather sickly during his first seven years.  Coupled with Stoker’s friendship with Oscar Wilde and Wilde’s mother who was extremely averse to sunlight, you have the seeds of Stoker’s novel about the undead.