thoor ballylee castle

Thoor Ballylee Castle is a four storey tower dating back to the 16th century, beautifully situated beside a stream. There was much to enchant William Butler Yeats on his first visit to Ballylee in 1885: the old square castle, the little river and the legend of a most beautiful local woman 'Mary Hynes, the Shining Flower of Ballylee.
He eventually bought the medieval tower, which was built by the Norman de Burgo family, with a cottage and garden for the grand sum of IR35.00 in 1916. The following year he married Miss George Hyde-Lees, and two years were spent restoring the 'Thoor' before they could live there. Yeats particularly liked the juxtaposition of the noble castle and humble cottage.
For a number of years the tower became Yeats' monument and symbol and featured in the title and cover illustration of his 1928 book 'The Tower', inspired by Ballylee.
All was in ruin once again shortly after Yeats left it in 1929, but in 1965 it was restored as a Yeats museum, and now contains an interesting collection of first editions of the poet's works.