Drumcliff or Drumcliffe () is a village in

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is 8 km (5 miles) north of

Sligo town Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the largest urban cen ...

on the N15 road on a low gravel ridge between the mountain of

Ben Bulben Benbulbin ( ga, Binn Ghulbain), sometimes Benbulben or Ben Bulben, is a large flat-topped nunatak rock formation in County Sligo, Ireland. It is part of the Dartry Mountains, in an area sometimes called " Yeats Country". Benbulbin is a prote ...

and Drumcliff bay. It is on the Drumcliff river, originally called the "Codnach", which drains

Glencar Lake Glencar Lough (), locally known as Glencar Lake, is a freshwater lake in the northwest of Ireland. It covers an area of and lies mostly in County Leitrim with a smaller part in County Sligo. Glencar Waterfall is located near the lake's north s ...

. Drumcliff is the resting place of the Irish poet

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

History

The old name of Drumcliff was Cnoc na Teagh (trans. Hill of the House). The village is one of several possible locations in Co. Sligo for the settlement of

Nagnata Nagnata ( el, Νάγνατα) or Magnata ( el, Μάγνατα) is a town noted on the co-ordinate map of the 2nd century AD Alexandrian scholar Claudius Ptolemy in the territory of the Nagnatae (Ναγνᾶται). It is located in northwest Hiber ...

as marked on

Claudius Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

's early map of Ireland. The name Codnach means placid or even tempered river. A battle was fought on this river in A.M. 3656 (1538 BC) by the legendary Milesian monarch Tigearnmas. An ancient topographical poem in the

Dinnsenchus ''Dindsenchas'' or ''Dindshenchas'' (modern spellings: ''Dinnseanchas'' or ''Dinnsheanchas'' or ''Dınnṡeanċas''), meaning "lore of places" (the Irish language, modern Irish word ''dinnseanchas'' means "topography"), is a class of onomastic tex ...

(Lore of Places) tells how the baskets in the name refer to the wicker frames of a fleet of boats that was once made here. The poem is part of a lost epic story involving the Fomorians in a raid on an island in the western ocean. Drumcliff formed the western extremity of the kingdom of Bréifne (the eastern end was Kells), and the northern extremity of Tir Fhiacrach Múaidhe (Tireragh). The Battle of the Book took place near Drumcliff between 555 AD and 561 AD. The historian Mac Firbisigh mention a "Fort of Codhnach", known to be a fort near Drumcliff, although its location now is unknown.

The Monastery

St.

Colmcille Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is toda ...

founded a monastery in Drumcliff in about 575. The monastery was of such importance that it gave its name to the territory of

Cairbre Drom Cliabh Cairbre Drom Cliabh (meaning "Ui Cairbre (the descendants of Cairbre mac Néill, Cairbre) of Drumcliff"), was an Irish ''túath'' in the ancient confederation of Íochtar Connacht (Lower Connacht), now County Sligo in the west of Ireland. It is no ...

in which it resides. The first abbot was St. Mothorian. The annals mention that in 1225, Amlaib Ó Beólláin, '' erenach'' of Drumcliff'','' a man eminent for generosity and for his guest-house, died this year. The Ó Beólláin family were hereditary keepers of Drumcliff monastery. All that remains of the monastery now is an Irish High Cross dating to c. 1100, and a ruined 10th or 11th century round tower, the only one known in County Sligo, The round tower was struck by lightning in 1396. Further decorated cross slabs are built into the walls of the current church.

William Butler Yeats

Drumcliff is the final resting place of the poet

(1865–1939), who is buried in the graveyard of St. Columba's Church of Ireland. Although Yeats died in

Roquebrune-Cap-Martin Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (; oc, Ròcabruna Caup Martin or ; it, Roccabruna-Capo Martino, ; Mentonasc: ''Rocabrüna''; Roquebrune until 1921) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, Southeastern Fr ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in January 1939, his remains were brought home to Ireland by the

Irish Naval Service The Naval Service ( ga, An tSeirbhís Chabhlaigh) is the maritime component of the Defence Forces of Ireland and is one of the three branches of the Irish Defence Forces. Its base is in Haulbowline, County Cork. Though preceded by earlier mar ...

and re-interred at Drumcliff in 1948 in the presence of a large number of local people and dignitaries which included the Minister for External Affairs,

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of governm ...

and

Seán MacBride Seán MacBride (26 January 1904 – 15 January 1988) was an Irish Clann na Poblachta politician who served as Minister for External Affairs from 1948 to 1951, Leader of Clann na Poblachta from 1946 to 1965 and Chief of Staff of the IRA from 193 ...

, who represented the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

. His famous epitaph, written in the poem "

Under Ben Bulben "Under Ben Bulben" is a poem written by Irish poet W. B. Yeats. Composition It is believed to be one of the last poems he wrote, being drafted when he was 73, in August 1938 when his health was already poor (he died in January 1939). Publicat ...

", reads: Yeats paternal great-grandfather was rector in Drumcliff, as

John Butler Yeats John Butler Yeats (16 March 1839 – 3 February 1922) was an Irish people, Irish artist and the father of W. B. Yeats, Lily Yeats, Elizabeth Yeats, Elizabeth Corbett "Lolly" Yeats and Jack Butler Yeats. The National Gallery of Ireland holds a nu ...

remarked in a letter to his son William in 1913:

Gallery

File:WBYeats.JPG, The grave of

in Drumcliff Cemetery File:drumcliffe tower.jpg, The

round tower A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and ful ...

in Drumcliff File:Drumcliffe cross (higher resolution).JPG, Celtic

High cross A high cross or standing cross ( ga, cros ard / ardchros, gd, crois àrd / àrd-chrois, cy, croes uchel / croes eglwysig) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval traditi ...

in Drumcliff Cemetery Drumcliffe cemetery.jpg, Drumcliff cemetery

References

{{County Sligo Towns and villages in County Sligo

History

The Monastery

William Butler Yeats

Gallery

See also

References