Coole Park

Augusta, Lady Gregory, ran Coole as the effective headquarters of the Irish Literary Revival. Yeats spent summers here for twenty years and wrote The Wild Swans at Coole about the lake; Sean O'Casey, John Millington Synge, George Bernard Shaw, Douglas Hyde and Jack B Yeats all stayed. She co-founded the Abbey Theatre and translated the Irish sagas into the Kiltartan dialect of the district. The house had been sold to the state in 1927, with a life tenancy for her, and after her death in 1932 it fell into ruin and was demolished in 1941, which is the central fact of any visit - there is a rectangle of foundations where it stood. What survives is the autograph tree, a copper beech in the walled garden carved with the initials of the visitors, protected now behind railings, and the seven woods, the turlough and the lake with its swans. The visitor centre covers Gregory and the Revival.

History

Coole House was built in the late 18th century for Robert Gregory, a three-storey house whose dining and drawing rooms faced Coole Lough and the Burren hills. Margaret Gregory, Lady Gregory's widowed daughter-in-law, sold it to the Irish state in 1927 with a life tenancy for Lady Gregory, who died in 1932, and the state demolished the house in 1941 (Wikipedia, Coole Park).

What's there

• The autograph tree - a copper beech carved with the Revival writers' initials.
• The house foundations - the outline of what was demolished in 1941.
• The lake and turlough - the water of The Wild Swans at Coole.
• The seven woods - the walks Yeats named in his poems.

When to go

April to September for the visitor centre, which is seasonal; the grounds and trails are open year-round. The turlough fills and empties with the season, so the lake changes considerably.

Practical notes

The house is entirely gone - visitors expecting a country house are disappointed. The autograph tree is behind railings and hard to read. The visitor centre is seasonal. Parking is charged though entry is free.

Nearby

Thoor Ballylee is a short drive; Kilmacduagh and Gort are close.

Key facts