lissadell house

The bow windows of Lissadell House look across Sligo Bay. William Butler Yeats recalled them in his poem to the Gore-Booth sisters Eva and Constance, Lady Markievicz. "The light of evening, Lissadell. Great Windows, open to the South"

The Gore-booths have lived at Drumcliffe for centuries and the present house, built near a previous castle and manor, by Sir Robert Gore-Booth in the 1830's, is still their home. Lissadell holds the legacy of generations of colourful Gore-Booths including the travel diaries of Sir Robert who mortgaged the estate to help the poor during the famine. His son Sir Henry sailed to the rescue of the Arctic explorer Leigh Smith.

The dining-room walls are painted with overlife size figures of the butler, forester and gamekeeper by her husband Count Casimir Markievicz. At the core of the house is a dramatic two storey hallway lined with Doric columns leading to a double staircase of Kilkenny marble.

Situated 13 km north of Sligo off the Sligo/Bundoran road.