In 2008, Archaeologist Faith Bailey identified four possible boulder burial stones were identified on a north-facing slope in Kintogher townland, at the far end of the Branley’s Yard Nature Trail. Possibly dating to the middle to late Bronze Age, boulder burials consist of megalithic size stones set on top of three or four smaller supporting stone and three of the four boulder burials found here are of this nature. Two large standing stones were also identified in this area, the largest approximately 2.2m in height, the smaller 1.2m. Such burial sites are rare in this region and little is known about this particular site, which faces Benbulben mountain on land that, prior to land drainage and reclamation, would originally have formed part of the Drumcliffe Estuary shoreline.
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Holy Well, Doonerin
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St Columcille’s Roman Catholic Church
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St. Columba’s Church of Ireland Church
Byadminating from 1808, Drumcliffe Church of Ireland church is a Board of First Fruits structure located on the site of the medieval monastery. In its church grounds is the grave of the poet William Butler Yeats whose great grandfather was rector here. ‘Under bare Ben Bulben’s headIn Drumcliffe churchyard Yeats is laidAn ancestor was rector…
Ballygilgan Nature reserve
ByadminThe sheltered estuary is fringed by saltmarsh and its extensive mud flats are exposed at low tide. In winter time, these mud flats serve as important feeding grounds for a large number of wading birds including bar-tailed godwit, dunlin, redshank, curlew, golden plover lapwing, and oystercatcher, as well as brent goose, shelduck and black-headed and…
The Battle of Cúl Dreimhne (Cooldrumman)
ByadminLocated a short distance to the north of Drumcliffe, at the base of Benbulben in Cúl Dreimhne (Cooldrumman) townlands, is the reputed site of the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne (Cooldrumman), more popularly referred to as the “Battle of the Books”. Recorded as having taken place in or about 560CE, the battle between the northern and southern…
Drumcliffe Monastery
ByadminThe monastery at Drumcliffe was in existence for almost a thousand years, from 575CE until the end of the 16th century. For most of this time, up until its dissolution, Drumcliffe was a Columban monastery. Plundered repeatedly He appointed St Thorian (Mothorain) to be the first abbot (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 34). The annals make…
