This four storied tower house built in the fourteenth century by the Anglo Norman de Burgo family, was bought in 1917 by the Irish literary figure W B Yeates for £35. After his marriage in 1917 to Georgie Hyde-Lees, the couple moved into the castle and spent much time converting it into a comfortable and stylish habitation.

From the battlements are fine views of the Slieve Aughy mountains and the tranquil surrounding countryside, many of Yeates most evocative and mystical works were produced here, notably 'The Tower and the Winding Stair', although this is not regarded as one of his better works. It was in his latter years in the tower that Yeate's disillusionment with Irish politics set in, and in 1928 he abandoned the tower and moved to France where he died in 1939.

Yeats was a poet of undoubted ability, but he was also a realist as can be gleaned from the plaque affixed to the tower during the renovations

I the poet William Yeates
With old mill boards and sea green slates
And smithy work from the Gort forge
Restored this tower for my wife George
And may these characters remain
When all is ruin once again.

The castle is now a museum containing memorabilia of Yeats and his works
See also W B Yeats

(Great fort.)

The original castle built on this site was built by the de Birmingham's in the early thirteenth century, this was replaced after 1315 by the present building which is a rectangular tower rising to five storeys.

Achadh na nlubhar.
(Field of the yew tree.)

This fine six storied step battlemented tower house was built by the O'Flahertys around the end of the fifteenth century it is one of some 200 tower houses in Galway. The castle stands on the shores of Lough Corrib, Aughnanure Castle sits inside a double Bawn. The outer Bawn has a turret and encloses the ruins of a banqueting hall, dating from the sixteenth century.

The O'Flaherty clan held the castle until 1572, when it was captured by the President of Connaught, Sir Edward Filton. During the Cromwellian invasion it was used to blockade Galway, later it was granted to the Earl of Clanrickard, who soon after lost it to the O'Flahertys. Who lost it tto Lord St. George as the result of the foreclosure of a mortgage. It is now in the possession of the state.