William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)
Yeats was an Irish poet, dramatist, mystic and public figure. Yeats was one of the driving forces behind the Irish Literary Revival and was co-founder of the Abbey Theatre.
His early work tended towards a romantic lushness and fantasy-like quality best described by the title of his 1893 collection The Celtic Twilight, but in his 40s, inspired by his relationships with modernist poets such as Ezra Pound and his active involvement in Irish nationalist politics, he moved towards a harder, more modern style.
Yeats was born in Sandymount, Dublin. His father, John Butler Yeats was studying law, but soon abandoned his studies to take up a career as a portrait painter. His mother, Susan Mary Pollexfen, came from an Anglo-Irish family in County Sligo. Soon after his birth, Yeats moved to Sligo to stay with his extended family and he came to think of it as his true childhood home.
After suffering from a variety of illnesses for a number of years, Yeats died at the Hôtel Idéal Séjour, in Menton, France on 28 January 1939. Soon afterward, Yeats was first buried at Roquebrune, until, in accordance with his final wish, his body was moved to Drumcliff in September, 1948, on the corvette Irish Macha.
His epitaph, which is the final line from one of his last poems, "Under Ben Bulben" is:
"Cast a cold eye
on life, on death;
horseman, pass by!"
Of this location, Yeats said, "the place that has really influenced my life most is Sligo."
This information was obtained from Wikipedia. Follow this link for the complete article and this link for a complete Bibliography of Yeats' work.
The Cache
The container is a large tab-lock box, wrapped in camo material. To find it you will need to visit two locations in the area.
Stage 1
The posted coordinates will bring you to the site of Yeats' grave. Just behind it is the plot of the Bolton family. In which year did Robert Bolton die. Call this ABCD
Stage 2 (N54 19.555 W008 29.611)
The coordinates will bring you to a sculpture from which the cache gets its name. There are many dates around here but the one you need is on the ground at the bottom of the sculpture. Call this WXYZ
Cache Location
N54 19. (X-D) (A+D) (B-W)
W008 29. (W+A+C) (W+X) (Z-D)
Travelbug Hotel
This cache is a travelbug hotel which means that its main aim is to provide a container suitable for exchanging travelbugs, geocoins and other trackables. As such the only contents are a logbook and some travelbugs to get it started.
Please feel free to drop or take as many trackables as you like but please check out the mission of the trackable before taking to ensure you can help it on its way.
Getting There
Drumcliff is located approx 8km North of Sligo on the main Sligo - Letterkenny road (N15).
The best parking spot is the coach park at N54o 19.546 W008o 29.613 but it closes at 6pm. An alternative is the smaller car park at N54o 19.575 W008o 29.709 .
If you would like to visit another Yeats related geocache & an area that was the inspiration to one of his many poems then please visit my other geocache GC7ACWH
Visit the Geocaching Ireland discussion forum HERE