Thoor Ballylee Castle

Thoor Ballylee Castle, near Gort in County Galway, is a 15th-century Anglo-Norman tower house built by the de Burgo (Burke) family. Best known as Yeats’s Tower, it was owned and restored by poet W. B. Yeats, who lived there with his family between 1921 and 1929. Inspired by its setting along the Streamstown River, Yeats wrote some of his most famous works here, including The Tower.

Falling into ruin after the Yeats family left, it was later restored in the 1960s as a museum dedicated to the poet. The tower, with four floors linked by a spiral staircase and a small adjoining cottage, has reopened in recent years after flood damage and continues to welcome visitors each summer.

Address
Gort, County Galway, Ireland

Established
15th century