This article is from page 21 of the 2012-02-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
CONSTRUCTION work began yesterday on a major restoration of Thoor Ballylee, the Gort residence of William Butler Yeats. The historic tower and tourist attraction has been closed to the public since it was badly damaged by flooding in 2009.
The redevelopment of Yeat’s West of Ireland getaway will take an estimated three months to complete and will be fully operational ahead of this year’s busy summer season. The decision to fund the restoration of Thoor Ballylee comes after top-level meetings between Fáilte Ireland and the Office of Public Works (OPW), who manage the facility.
The tower at Thoor Ballylee, which is located just outside of Gort, was purchased by Yeats as his family home in 1917. It was used as a summer home for Yeats during his frequent visits to Gort where he spent much of his time at the residence of Lady Gregory at nearby Coole Park.
Local senator, Lorraine Higgins (Lab) has begun a campaign to secure enough government funding to reopen the tower as a tourist attraction.
Higgins hopes that the combination of a renovated Thoor Ballylee alongside Coole Park will be enough to win literary tourists away from Yeats’ childhood home in Sligo and down to the Burren region.
“We need to reclaim our strong association with one of the English language’s foremost and renowned poets by ensuring Thoor Ballylee is restored as a prime tourist attraction in the region,” she said.
“Thoor Ballylee is steeped in connections with Yeats and should be just as important a tourist landmark as his grave in Drumcliffe in County Sligo. More than 100,000 tourists visit the poet’s grave in Drumcliffe every year and there is no reason whatsoever why Thoor Ballylee cannot achieve similar status as a mustsee tourist destination.
“Thoor Ballylee has been extensively damaged by flooding, particularly in 2009. The River Coole which runs beside the tower is prone to flooding and overflows onto the road, and this has added to the difficulties from a tourist attraction point of view.”