For a classic medieval high cross, the nub or a round tower, and the grave of the poet W.B. Yeats, visit Drumcliff. From the car park – we’ll see a church, grave, café/gift shop, high cross, trail to the river, and round tower.
The stately little church has a delightful and stony interior. Outside the church is the simple grave of the beloved Irish poet, William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939) and his wife George. The tombstone reads: “Cast a cold eye on life, on death. Horsemen pass by.”
Benbulben, the mountain that inspired Yeats, looms behind the graveyard, looking like a sphinx.
Just past the café/gift shop, we find the highest cross in the graveyard. This classic high cross – along with the stub of a round tower (with its defensive door high above ground level) across the busy highway – were part of a monastic settlement a thousand years ago. These symbols of medieval Ireland once dotted the countryside.
The cross (once colorfully painted) is carved with reliefs designed to help teach the people Bible lessons. Find Adam and Eve, Cain clubbing Abel, and Christ in Majesty on one side and a camel (trying to get through the eye of a needle) on the other.
This is a historic spot, the site of a monastery founded in AD 574 by St. Columba. He and another saint had a quarrel over the rights to a book, which actually led to a battle here in which 3,000 people were killed. Columba was so distraught by the bloodshed that he eventually banished himself from Ireland and sailed to Iona (in Scotland), where he founded another monastery (famous as the original home of the magnificent Book of Kells). A small path leads to a river path with dramatic views of Benbulben, ideal for getting into the spirit of Yeats for a moment.