placenamesDrumcliff
Droim Chliabh
Drumcliff’s medieval monuments stand beside the churchyard where W. B. Yeats was reburied in 1948.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Droim Chliabh · Irish · main form · validated name
- Drumcliff · English · main form
- Drumcliffe · English · main form · local name
Place & story
The medieval remains
The surviving round tower at Drumcliff stands about nine metres high. Built of mortared rubble, it has a raised entrance and a window near its present top. Across the road, the high cross carries carved biblical scenes alongside interlace and spiral decoration. Fragments of other crosses also survive at the site. [2]
St Columba’s church
The present St Columba’s Church was built in the early nineteenth century with Board of First Fruits support. During restoration in 1999, two high-cross fragments were discovered within its interior walls, evidence of the reuse of earlier stonework. [3]
Yeats’s return
Drumcliff’s burial register records the reinterment of W. B. Yeats on 17 September 1948. The parish rector, James Wilson, conducted the service with Bishop Albert Hughes and other clergy. Yeats had died in France in January 1939; his grave in the churchyard became the lasting local memorial to the poet. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Drumcliff. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Drumcliff Round Tower and High Crosses · Office of Public Works
- St Columba’s (Drumcliffe) Church · Drumcliffe and Rathcormac Church of Ireland
- Yeats 150: Church of Ireland Archive of the Month, June 2015 · Representative Church Body Library
- Saint Columba’s Church, Drumcliff, as photographed in2003 illustration: based on a The Parish Church of Drumcliffe by Bill Stilling. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-09-19. How this page was prepared.