For private usePor Racontour and friends

For private usePor Racontour and friends

For private usePor Racontour and friends

For private usePor Racontour and friends

For private usePor Racontour and friends

For private use. AllPor Racontour and friends

Mary, and particularly Sean, relish the chance to go through various voices from through the ages give their critique of Sligo. If the curmudgeons they are mimicking could be won over, hopefully you will be too.Por Racontour and friends

Non Yeats POI: Parkes Castle. GPS location 54.264611, -8.33396 A restored plantation castle of the early 17th century, picturesquely situated on the shores of Lough Gill, once the home of Robert Parke and his family. The Courtyard grounds contain evidence of an earlier 16th century Tower House structure once owned by Sir Brian O'Rourke who subseque…

Non Yeats P.O.I. Dromahair. GPS location 54.220799, -8.297467 Dromahair lies in the hilly north west of Leitrim amid some stunning unspoiled natural landscapes. The "Sleeping Giant" mountain formation (comprising Keelogyboy, Leean and Benbo) is visible on approaches to the village, as is Lough Gill below the Slieve Dae?ne and Killerry mountain. The…

Tour curator John Ward welcomes listeners about to embark on a range of sites that inspired a young Yeats to conjure up his Celtic Twilight. All of the well-known sites, plus a few non-Yeats treats are included culminating in a visit to Yeats's grave at Drumcliffe. Please see the dedicated Yeats page https://www.racontour.com/yeats/ which has an ov…

Tour curator John Ward welcomes listeners about to embark on a range of sites that inspired a young Yeats to conjure up his Celtic Twilight. All of the well-known sites, plus a few non-Yeats treats are included culminating in a visit to Yeats's grave at Drumcliffe. Please see the dedicated Yeats page https://www.racontour.com/yeats/ which has an ov…

Coming from the bleak R232 Pettigo road, the traveller will get the finally see the Bluestack Mountains reveal themselves with spectacular gusto.Por Racontour and friends

Guide producer John Ward welcomes you to this extensive travel guide for the Bluestack Way. Along its 51 km route, hear the myriad stories this magical place has to offer.Por Racontour and friends

Speaker: archive producer, John Ward Full details on the project can be found at Racontour Welcome to the Celtic Calendar, a comprehensive audio archive on the four seasons and their cross-quarter days in Ireland. As old as time itself, the seasons were the constant path by which our ancestors survived through passed-down knowledge, customs and rit…

Speaker: John Ward Lughnasa - the time of the harvest runs from the end of July well into August. Just as a good Rosary has its trimmings, so too does Lughnasa have a number of ancillary events that need to be referenced. The first major event after Garland Sunday was the Assumption, being the 15th of August. This was the day that the Virgin Mary a…

Speaker: John Ward For our Irish ancestors, Garland Sunday could not come soon enough. The bitter six weeks leading up to Lughnasa were when food was at its scarcest. Other names beyond Hungry July were 'The Hungry Month', 'The Blue Month' and 'Staggering July.' Regionally, it was known as the yellow month in Kilkenny as Buímhís' The yellow month b…

Speaker: John Ward These days it forms the location for one of the great Lughnasa set pieces being Reek Sunday held on the last Sunday in July. It is all in honour of St. Patrick overcoming the swarms of winged demons that plagued him for 40 days and nights on that very mountain. Few may be surprised to hear that the mountain had been host to pagan…

Speaker: John Ward The royal charter from King James I in 1603 means little to the fair dwellers for they have their king, a wild mountain goat whose untamed and hardy nature reflect that of the fair itself. The festooned goat or 'poc' is crowned King Puck by the young fair queen on the main fair day before being hoisted 20 feet high above in his r…

Speaker: John Ward Sounds: Drummers and MF himself! "When I was sixteen, I remember slipping out one Sunday - it was this time of year, the beginning of August - and Bernie and I met at the gate of the workhouse and the pair of us went off to a dance in Ardstraw..." Maggie prior to the big dance to The Mason's Apron in Act One of Dancing at Lughnas…

Speaker: John Ward Lugh gave his name to the cross quarter day of harvest time, but according to the Book of Invasions, the inspiration for it is usually given as a mourning ceremony for his deceased foster-mother Tailtiu, to whom the festival was named the Fair of Tailteann. The fair was held on the banks of the River Blackwater in what is now Tel…

Speaker: John Ward An audio overview about the sun God Lugh who gave his name to the most vibrant of cross quarter days, Lughnasa in August. Lugh played a major role in the battle of Moytura where the Tuatha de Denann defeated the Fomorians led by Balor of the Evil Eye, being his grandfather no less. That defeat at the Poisoned Glen in Donegal is a…

Address: Trumon Barr on the R232 GPS location: 54.598846 -8.041193 Theme: the big reveal The first few miles into Donegal on the R232 Pettigo to Laghey road are deceptive. Low key and quite frankly forgettable, you start to wonder why all the fuss about Donegal's famous beauty. Here, tour producer John Ward, explains why the wonder of Donegal is a …

Rosses Point GPS Location: 54.304105, -8.561783 Yeats loved Rosses Point and first experimented with the paranormal here, encouraged by his cousin's housekeeper who had the ˜second sight'. Today excellent restaurants and pubs meet all your needs, even if they can't predict your future! Yeats stayed at Elsinore House when he was in Rosses Point. It …

Rathcormack GPS Location: 54.31955, -8.48289 Rathcormack is a small village at the base of a valley. You may wish to take note of an art installation honouring Countess Markievicz by the roadside. Rising on a brae from it towards Sligo, get ready to turn right at the top of the brae for Rosses Point - it is signposted although, please note the sign…

Location: Yeat's Grave, Drumcliffe Yeats's grave is marked in front of you with Ben Bulben visible through the cemetery trees. If the church is open, ensure you pay it a visit. If the excellent booklet by Derick Bingham entitled 'The Eye of the Heart' is still in print, it's well worth a read. The resting place of Ireland's greatest poet, William B…

Drumcliffe GPS Location: 54.325334, -8.493741 You are now in the village of Drumcliffe, firmly put on the map when W.B. Yeats was interred here some nine years after his death in France in January 1939. After a long and somber route back from Roquebrune where it lay in state both there and in Sligo Town, he was laid to rest as per his instructions …

Lissadell House GPS Location: 54.344031, -8.57777 Please note that Lissadell House has a limited opening season. Best to check the Lissadell website when planning your visit closer to the time. One of the great coups for Lissadell is getting Leonard Cohen to play here in 2010. Thw riter was lucky enough to see the show and it was magnificent hearin…

Carney village GPS Location: 54.336437, -8.527212 Narrators: Pro Yeats Mary vs Anti Yeats Sean! You are driving through Carney, a small but well-serviced village, with two good restaurants and pubs, a Chinese take away and even a football team called Yeats FC! DIRECTIONS: Carry on to Lissadell House. In our audio piece, Mary and Sean give their hon…

By the shores of Glencar lake GPS Location: 54.33762, -8.404841 One of the many tranquil spots along the lake where the scenery is worth stopping for. In our audio piece, we move onto Irish mythology as under Ben Bulben is where the Fianna warriors hunted and where we tell you the story of Diarmaid and Grainne. However, the good people are never to…

Glencar lake and waterfall GPS location: 54.340271, -8.37323 We've guided you to the car park by Glencar lake. It's got clean WCs available and adequate parking for everything from buses to motorhomes. This car park may be the best place from which to do a proper walking tour of the area. The waterfall is believed to be the site which inspired The …

DAY TWO Starting point is the N16 to Manorhamilton GPS Location: 54.282961, -8.45329 Narrators: Mary Murphy and Sean McMahon In our audio piece. Mary and Sean set the scene on Yeats's fascination with the Celtic twilight. Today's route encompasses its famous sites before coming to Yeats's resting spot. The N16 is a scenic route that will take you h…

We finish Day One overlooking Lough Gill from a viewing point with good parking. Actor Neil O'Shea recites The Song of Wandering Aengus from 1899 The Wind amongst the Reeds collection. This is one of the pieces from his full length show, The Irish Writers Entertain which mixes verse, poetry, comedy with some fine anecdotes about Ireland's literary …

OPTIONAL The banks of Lough Gill by Inishfree GPS Location: 54.215204, -8.350232 Narrator: W.B. Yeats (no kidding!) NB: not recommended in an SUV! Best to see the famed isle via the waterbus. The road down to this Point of Interest is signposted, but is about 4 kilometres along a windy road - there is parking once you get to the end of it. Listen t…

Dooney Rock GPS Location: 54.239091, -8.42733 Narrators: Mary Murphy and Sean McMahon You are now at Dooney Rock, a huge rock covered in foliage and trees. This was a favourite spot for dancing and romancing and Yeats would have seen a blind fiddler who regularly played here on Sundays. "When I play on my fiddle in Dooney, Folk dance like a wave of…

Tobernalt Holy Well GPS Location: 54.244666, -8.445053 Narrator: Sean McMahon Non Yeats Point of Interest Tobernalt Holy Well is a place of reflection and nurturing serenity. It predates the advent of Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century. Its importance as a meeting place and a sustainer of life predates our Celtic ancestors. Somewhat tenuo…

Lough Gill scenic brow GPS Location: 54.250261, -8.45164 Narrators: Mary Murphy and Sean McMahon Your first view of it is a spectacular panorama well worth stopping off to take some pictures. Park on the left just before the brow descends. Directions: go down the brae and turn right at the sign for Tobernalt holy well which you will find further do…

Ballysadare Bridge GPS Location: 54.209507, -8.509383 Narrators: Mary Murphy and Sean McMahon Ballysadare village, 7 miles south of Sligo is where the Pollexfen Company had extensive milling interests. You should be on the bridge where the Ballysadare river is. Facing north, you are now best placed to recall one of Yeats's better known poems, 'Down…

Queen Maeve's Cairn, Knocknarea GPS Location: 54.272091, -8.47533 Narrators: Mary Murphy and Sean McMahon 325 metres high overlooking Yeats country is this imposing megalithic tomb to the legendary Maeve, Queen of Connacht. The great mound of stones on top of Knocknarea's flat-topped summit is known as Miosgan Meadhbha or Maeve's Grave. Maeve is on…

Sligo Tourist Office, Old Bank Building, O'Connell Street, Sligo GPS Location: 54.272091, -8.47533 Narrators: Mary Murphy and Sean McMahon The office is the nominal Sligo Town base from which you'll commence your two-day Yeats Country guide. The helpful staff will be able to provide you with a free map of Sligo and environs - best to get your beari…

Speaker: Maurice Timony From The Bluestack Way Audio Guide, Part One. This plant grows in the manner of ivy and it is believed its feather-like fruit heads are used to flavour beer brewed from barley. This plant grew wildly in the friars’ time and lay unrecognised for years after their departure until a clean-up operation was taking place by the Of…

Speakers: Seoirse Ō Dochartaigh and John Ward Patrick Campbell writes that 'scarcity would still be felt in and around the small mountain farms until midsummer or even the end of July. Indeed July was called ‘the hungry month’, ‘the lean month’ (the old Irish speakers named it Iul an ghorta’) ‘the shaking of the bags ‘ which when emptied were left …

Location: The Diamond, Donegal Town Narrators: John Ward/Mairead McNulty Patents for these days go back as far as the early 1600s when Sir Basil Brooke had taken over the castle from the O'Donnells. The fair day was held on the second Friday of each month while the market occurred every Saturday. Signs and symbols were used to show availability for…

Speaker: John Ward Lest we think that only the young lads had it tough after the 1st of May with the Hiring Fairs, there is a summertime activity reserved for the young girls that certainly was no picnic. Transhumance may sound like a phenomenon from a sci-fi film, but it's the more prosaic activity of humans bringing the cattle to mountain pasture…

Speaker: John Ward Midsummer's Eve was celebrated on the 23rd of June. At the heart of the celebrations was the bonfire which had been so for centuries in saluting the sun at its height before it declined south once again. All ages were involved in the gathering of any material to complete the bonfire, including bones which were believed to allow t…

Narrator: John Ward From the Celtic Calendar archive saluting all of the folklore associated with the calendar year in Ireland. Lady Jane Wilde doesn't mince here words in her evaluation of it: Whitsuntide is a very fatal and unlucky time. Especially beware of water then, for there is an evil spirit in it, and no one should venture to bathe, nor to…

Wexford storyteller Gretta Browne gives us her take on the customs associated with Bealtaine - everything from May Bushes to pisoegs to sayings to even a poem at the end. © 2021-2022 Racontour Productions. This clip forms part of the Celtic Calendar audio archive from Racontour Productions. Feel free to share if enjoyed, but with a credit or a soci…

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PULL OVER POINT #1 - Athleague LOCATION: 53.569574, -8.261633 The old Protestant church opposite the mill has been converted into an Angling and Visitors Centre called the Riverside Cafe. Here one can get all the local tourist information - angling, walking, cycling and is a central booking office for local accommodation and tours. The Centre is op…

Location: 53.629072, -8.191069 This Protestant church is dedicated to the saint who gave his name to the town and the county and has us saluting one of the true heroes of the area before we get to the good stuff on the sinners!Por Racontour and friends

The Suck river meanders ponderously as it makes it way down towards the Shannon. To the left is Galway and to the right is Roscommon. It's a valley that is renowned to fisherman across Europe, but it has some interesting historical facts associated with it. Did you know the finest ancient treasure in Ireland was made here, that this was destined to…