Yeats was long believed to be buried next to the doorway of the Protestant church, but recent evidence suggests that the bones shipped here from France in 1948 were not his at all, owing to the actual bones being scattered about an ossuary during the chaos of WWII. Yeats' youthful bride Georgie Hyde-Lee, however, is buried alongside. Almost three decades her senior, Yeats was 52 when they married.
The poet's epitaph is from his poem Under Ben Bulben :
"Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!"
There's a small cafe & crafts shop beside the church. It is popular with locals at lunch and has a good selection of books.
In the 6th century, St Colmcille chose this location for a monastery. You can still see the stumpy remains of a round tower , which was struck by lightning in 1396, on the main road nearby. Also in the churchyard is an extraordinary 9th-century high cross , etched with intricate biblical scenes that include Adam and Eve, as well as Daniel in the Lion's Den.
