Travel Information

Ballylee Castle caught the attention of the poet W.B. Yeats – he was so enamored with the 16th century tower house located near the banks of the Cloon River in Loughrea Road that he decided to buy the property in 1916. For the next few years he painstakingly had it restored. For almost twelve years “Thoor Ballylee” became Yeats’ summer retreat. He wrote that the castle was “full of history and romance” that it inspired him to write “The Tower Poems” and “The Winding Stair”. The ever eloquent poet once said: “To leave here is to leave beauty behind.” Ballylee Castle was originally owned by one of the Burke septs and was part of the vast estates of the Earls of Clanrickarde. The tower is four-storeys high and its original windows surprisingly still survive in the upper part even though Yeats asked his architect Prof. William A. Scott to remove the old windows and install larger ones instead in the lower floors. Yeats described the ground-floor chamber of the castle as “the pleasantest room I have yet seen.” Yeats particularly loved the mural stair. Ballylee Castle was eventually abandoned by Yeats’ family and began to fall into disrepair during the early 1930’s. But as a way to commemorate Yeats’ birth centenary in 1965, the place was fully restored. And it has maintained that restored look up to this day. The castle now also plays host to an interpretative centre based on Yeats’ life and works. A tablet has recently been put on the wall of the castle to commemorate his stay there. It reads: “I, the poet William Yeats, With old mill boards and sea-green slates, And smithy work from the Gort forge, Restored this tower for my wife George; And may these characters remain When all is ruin once again.” Ballylee castle is easily accessible by car. Car trips are fast becoming tourists' favorite way of touring the country.