Glencar Waterfall

Waterfall Of About 15 M In A Wooded Glen Above Glencar Lough, Celebrated In W. B. Yeats'S Poem The Stolen Child · Glencar, Leitrim

Glencar Waterfall is a slender fall of about 15 m dropping through a wooded glen above Glencar Lough, just inside County Leitrim on the road from Sligo to Manorhamilton. It is small, and it is famous for a poem: W. B. Yeats set part of The Stolen Child here, with its lines about the wandering water that gushes from the hills above Glencar, and the fall has drawn readers and painters ever since. A short woodland path of about ten minutes loops from the car park to a viewing point at the pool, under beech, hazel and moss, and the valley around it is one of the most beautiful in the north-west, a green trough between the cliffs of the Dartry Mountains with Benbulben's plateau close by. People stop on the way between Sligo and Donegal, or as part of a day in Yeats Country. The honest caveat: this is a 30-60 minute stop for people already nearby, not a trip in itself, and after a dry spell the fall shrinks to a thin trickle; it is best after heavy rain, when the valley's other falls come alive too.

Glencar Lough, off the N16 Sligo-Manorhamilton road, County Leitrim, about 15 km north-east of Sligo town, Glencar, Leitrim, Ireland

The waterfall walk is open all year during daylight, with no gate or ticket (confirm any seasonal car park hours). The tea room beside the car park opens roughly Easter to September and at some weekends outside that, with shorter hours in spring and autumn (confirm); toilets may be seasonal too. There is no public transport to the gate: drive about 15-20 minutes from Sligo town on the N16 towards Manorhamilton and follow signs for Glencar along the lough, or come on a Yeats Country tour. Nothing needs to be booked.

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