Location: Gort Map
Constructed: 13th century by de Burgo
Thoor Ballylee is a Norman tower house in a town of Gort in County Galway in Ireland. Thoor Ballylee Castle was erected in 13th century by de Burgo.
In 1929, when the Yeats family moved here, the
fortress was desolate, but in 1965 it was restored as the “Yeats
Tower” and subsequently became a museum, preserving an interesting
collection of the first editions, as well as pieces of furniture of
the poet.
The adjoining cottage was used as a tea room and a shop. The tower
was equipped with a sound system, so a pre-recorded comment can be
listened to with the click of a button. In addition, part of the
floor was adapted to reproduce an audiovisual presentation dedicated
to Yeats's years of life here. The rest of the tower’s history is
most often ignored.
The building dates from the thirteenth century, it was bought by
Yeats for a symbolic amount in 1917. The original fortifications
were erected by the De Burgo family, which was consolidated in
Connacht after 1200. The poet William Yates was so enchanted by the
castle that he not only bought it, but then restored it. For twelve
years, this place became the summer home of the poet, who found him
“so full of history and romance” that he was inspired to write
“Winding Stairs” and “Tower Poems”. He once said: “Leaving here is
to leave the beautiful behind,” and in a letter to Olivia,
Shakespeare wrote: “We are in our Tower, and now I write poems, as I
always do here, and, as it always does, no matter how I will begin,
the love of poetry comes before I finish them. ”
The castle originally belonged to one of the septa of Burke, mainly
forming part of the large possessions of the Earls of Clanricard.
The castle has four floors, the original windows are still preserved
in the upper part, although Yates and his architect Professor
William A. Scott installed wider windows on the lower floors. The
ground floor setting was described by Yates as "the most pleasant
room I have ever seen, a magnificent wide window overlooking the
river and a rounded arched door leading to the thatched hall." He
also liked the wall staircase, symbolically described as "This
winding, swirling, galloping staircase resembles my family tree."
Bellily Castle was abandoned and began to collapse in the early
1930s. By the centenary of the poet’s birth in 1965, the building
was rebuilt so that it appeared as it was during Yates’s life. The
fortress also hosts a help center for his life and work.
In order not to be forgotten that this place was once the poet’s
house, there is a plate on the wall that serves as a reminder of his
stay here, on which is written:
"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.
Yates, William Butler »