Off To Galway

 

I'm heading off up to Galway for a meeting this evening and planning to stop in Coole Park on the way.

 During the Gaelic Literary Revival in the late 19th and early 20th century Coole became a haven in which famous literary figures sought refuge from time to time, drawn by the hospitality and enthusiasm of Lady Gregory, whom George Bernard Shaw once described as the 'greatest living Irishwoman'.

                 'Under my window ledge the waters race,
                 Otters below and moor-hens on the top,
                 Run for a mile undimmed in Heaven's face,
                 Then darkening through 'dark' Raftery's 'cellar' drop,
                 Run underground, rise in a rocky place
                 In Coole demesne, and there to finish up
                 Spread to a lake and drop into a hole.
                 What's water but the generated soul?'

                 W.B. Yeats 'Coole Park and Ballylee, 1931

So looking forward to spending an hour or two wandering in these grounds that have inspired Irish men and women through many generations.