Walk · Co. Sligo
Benbulbin
Benbulbin is a 526 m table mountain in the Sligo country, characterized by a flat top and a sheer face. It is the peak referenced in Yeats’s poetry and serves as the primary hiking destination for the area.
The grave
Drumcliff, known in Irish as Droim Chliabh or “the ridge of the baskets,” is defined by a single resting place. It is the final home of W. B. Yeats, buried in the churchyard of St. Columba’s Church of Ireland. The poet died in France in 1939. His body traveled back to Sligo in 1948 for burial. This location was his specific request, outlined in the poem “Under Ben Bulben.” He asked for no marble and no conventional phrases. The headstone bears his own epitaph: “Cast a cold eye / On life, on death. / Horseman, pass by!” Behind the churchyard, the mountain named in that poem fills the entire background.
The village
The churchyard itself has deep roots. A round tower and a Celtic high cross stand alongside the church. These structures mark the site of a sixth-century monastery. Yeats’s family had ties to this parish for generations. His great-grandfather, John Yeats, served as the Church of Ireland rector of Drumcliff starting in 1805. The rectory where he lived still stands near the church. Visitors will find a small coffee and craft shop operating within the churchyard grounds. Next to the churchyard lies a small military cemetery. It holds the graves of those who died in the 1916 rising in Sligo. This proximity brings the poet and the men he wrote about into one shared space.
Why it works
The village is small, so the visit is short. You see the churchyard, the monument, and the view of Benbulbin. It serves as the natural center of the Yeats country circuit. The N15 road places Sligo town ten minutes to the south. The Lough Gill country lies to the west.