File:Lissadell and the 'dead cat case' - the history of a troubled estate - geograph.org.uk - 1710882.jpg

English: Lissadell and the "dead cat case": the history of a troubled estate. Built of the local grey limestone in 1833 by Francis Goodwin for the Gore-Booth family, this huge sorrowful-looking mansion (pictured empty in 2001) has been a hostage to its famous past. Standing in a favoured position in an estate of 400 acre (originally 4000 acres), the mansion overlooks Drumcliff Bay to the south. And to the east are the Dartry mountains with the iconic shape of Ben Bulben, made familiar by the poetry of WB Yeats 1865-1939 http://www.lissadellhouse.com/wbyeats.html . For all this had become "Yeats country" and in the process Lissadell (where the poet had stayed in 1893/4) and the Gore-Booths themselves became part of Irish folklore. In particular the two rebellious daughters of the house, Eva and Constance were immortalised by Yates: Eva, the poet and suffragist, and Constance, the artist and republican firebrand. Constance became part of the 1916 Easter Rising and was the first woman to be elected to Dáil Eireann. She was also elected to be an MP in London but did not take her seat http://www.lissadellhouse.com/countess.html

"The light of evening, Lissadell Great windows open to the south Two girls in silk kimonos, both Beautiful, one a gazelle"

But from the 1950s, things changed: the Gore-Booth finances slumped, but they persisted in remaining at Lissadell in near poverty while the almost empty house fell into disrepair and the once productive estate, reduced to the present 400 acres, devolved into dispute and debt – recorded at http://www.lissadellhouse.com/gabrielle.html . There was some desultory interest from the Irish government in buying the run-down estate for the nation, but in 2003 the Walsh family from Co. Kildare, Edward, Constance and their seven children, bought it. Since then they have restored the whole property without public funding, opened it to the public and in 2008 welcomed 44,000 visitors to the house and gardens http://www.lissadellhouse.com/ .

Sadly, this is not the happy Irish ending it seems. In December 2008, Sligo County Council, by recourse to old documents (found, it is said, only after the removal from their store by "health and safety" of a long-dead cat) claimed that some of the routes through the Lissadell estate were public rights of way. As this will make the estate insecure and inoperable as a family business open to the public, the Walshes temporarily closed the grounds and to this day (Feb 2010) the lawyers continue to haggle over the case. Meanwhile Sligo and North-West Ireland tourism slumps for the lack of this jewel of a destination.