Glencar Waterfall (Eas Ghleann an Chairthe)

A beautiful waterfall in a wooded glen, immortalised in the poetry of W. B. Yeats.

Glencar Waterfall (Eas Ghleann an Chairthe) tumbles through a wooded valley in County Leitrim, close to the Sligo border and the mountains of Yeats Country.

The poet W. B. Yeats knew and loved this place, and gave it lasting fame in his poem 'The Stolen Child', with its haunting refrain about the 'waters and the wild'.

At a glance

• A waterfall in a wooded glen in Co. Leitrim.
• Immortalised in W. B. Yeats's poem 'The Stolen Child'.
• Set in the heart of Yeats Country, near the Sligo border.

In County Leitrim

Glencar Waterfall is in County Leitrim, Liatroim in Irish, which means “grey ridge”.

More in Leitrim

• Lough Allen (Loch Aillionn): The first of the great lakes on the River Shannon.
• Lough Melvin (Loch Meilbhe): A clear border lake famed for its rare native trout.

Other places of this kind

• The Cliffs of Moher (Aillte an Mhothair): Sea cliffs located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region.
• Newgrange (Sí an Bhrú): A prehistoric monument in County Meath, older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.
• The Giant's Causeway (Clochán an Aifir): Around 40,000 interlocking basalt columns on the Antrim coast, a UNESCO site wrapped in the legend of Finn McCool.
• Glendalough (Gleann Dá Loch): A beautiful glacial valley of two lakes, home to one of Ireland's most important early monastic settlements.
• The Rock of Cashel (Carraig Phádraig): A dramatic outcrop crowned with medieval buildings, once the seat of the kings of Munster.
• Clonmacnoise (Cluain Mhic Nóis): A great early monastery on the banks of the Shannon, once a renowned centre of learning.

The Irish name

The Irish form of Glencar Waterfall is Eas Ghleann an Chairthe. You can hear it spoken, and take apart names like it, in the Placename Explorer. The authoritative record for any Irish place-name is logainm.ie.