Gort is a medium sized market town on the Galway to
Ennis Road, situated in a gap between the Slieve Aughty
Mountains and the Burren to the south.
The town takes its name form King Guaire, the sixth century
King of Connacht, who built a castle here. He had a
reputation for his generosity and it was said that his right
arm, his giving arm, was longer than his left. One legend
recalls how Guaire was sitting down to dinner when
mysteriously the plates disappeared out the windows. He
quickly followed them on horseback and soon met St Colman
who had just finished a seven year fast and had eaten the
food. The King was impressed by his ingenuity and granted
him lands at Kilmacduagh where he built a monastery, one of
the oldest in Europe.
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The area around the town is notable for its landscape of
grey stone walls and stone-strewn fields. The eighteenth
century weigh-house in the Town Square has recently been
restored. There is a strong tradition of Irish music in the
locality and many pubs stage sessions at night.
Thoor Ballylee (above left) was Yeats's monument and symbol;
in both aspects it had multiple significance. It satisfied
his desire for a rooted place in a known countryside, not
far from Coole and his life-long friend Lady Gregory. To
live in a Tower complemented, perhaps, his alignment with a
tradition of cultivated aristocracy which he had envied and
a leisured peace which he had enjoyed.
Coole Park (above right)
outside Gort was the home of Lady Augusta Gregory, dramatist
and co-founder with Edward Martyn and W.B. Years of the
Abbey Theatre. The area is also a National Nature Reserve
due to its great wildlife importance - its native woodlands
and turloughs.
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