Thoor Ballylee, and an easier way to get there

There's a reason to mention the place right now. As of this June, the National Parks and Wildlife Service runs a free shuttle the Yeats-Gregory Explorer. Looping out of Market Square in Gort to Coole Park, the Kiltartan Gregory Museum, Thoor Ballylee, Kilmacduagh and Garryland Woods. Daily, through to the end of August. No charge, no booking. Park once and hop on and off as you like.

It's a sensible bit of infrastructure. The tower has always been slightly awkward to reach without a car, and parking near these sites gets tight in summer.

One of these shots looks down on Ballylee Mill, the ruined corn mill just downstream from the tower. It's more than a nice ruin. When Yeats restored Thoor Ballylee in the 1920s, he took the timber for its floors and furniture from this very mill, and then carved the fact into the dedication stone on the tower wall, "old mill boards" and all. Local volunteers got the mill wheel turning again in 2025, the first time in about a century.

If you're planning a trip to Thoor Ballylee or one of the other sites, check the [official timetable on CoolePark.ie](https://www.coolepark.ie/how-to-get-here) before you set off, the times shift between the morning and afternoon loops, and there's a PDF you can download to your phone.