Thoor Ballylee, Castle, Galway

  • Author: ActiveME
  • Created: June 24, 2013 11:09 am
  • Updated: December 12, 2017 10:59 am
Location: Galway
  • Distance Instructions
Label
  • Distance 0 m
  • Time 0 s
  • Speed 0.0 km/h
  • Min altitude 0 m
  • Peak 0 m
  • Climb 0 m
  • Descent 0 m

Thoor Ballylee Castle is a fortified 16th century Anglo Norman tower house near the town of Gort in County Galway, Ireland. It is also known as Yeats' Tower because it was once owned and inhabited by the poet William Butler Yeats who purchased it for the nominal sum of £35 in 1917 because he was so enchanted with it and especially as it was located in a rural area. As he had an affinity for the Irish language, Yeats dropped the term "castle" in naming the property and replaced it with 'Thoor' (Túr), the Irish word for 'tower'. It was close to this particular thoor that the Irish Literary Revival began - in Coole Park, an estate owned by Lady Gregory where she hosted the likes of George Bernard Shaw, W. B. Yeats and J. M. Synge.

1. Thoor Ballylee, Castle, Galway

Altitude: 18 m

Thoor Ballylee Castle is a fortified 16th century Anglo Norman tower house near the town of Gort in County Galway, Ireland. It is also known as Yeats’ Tower because it was once owned and inhabited by the poet William Butler Yeats who purchased it for the nominal sum of £35 in 1917 because he was so enchanted with it and especially as it was located in a rural area. As he had an affinity for the Irish language, Yeats dropped the term “castle” in naming the property and replaced it with ‘Thoor‘ (Túr), the Irish word for ‘tower’. It was close to this particular thoor that the Irish Literary Revival began – in Coole Park, an estate owned by Lady Gregory where she hosted the likes of George Bernard Shaw, W. B. Yeats and J. M. Synge.