Ballycloran

"I was located at a little town called Drumsna, or rather village, in the county Leitrim, where the postmaster had come to some sorrow about his money; and my friend John Merivale was staying with me for a day or two. As we were taking a walk in that most uninteresting country, we turned up through a deserted gateway, along a weedy, grass-grown avenue, till we came to the modern ruins of a country house. It was one of the most melancholy spots I ever visited. I will not describe it here, because I have done so in the first chapter of my first novel. We wandered about the place, suggesting to each other causes for the misery we saw there, and, while I was still among the ruined walls and decayed beams, I fabricated the plot of The Macdermots of Ballycloran." Anthony Trollope.

 

Anthony Trollope is universally recognised as one of the great Victorian novelists, however when he visited Drumsna in 1843 he was in the middle of an unpromising career in the postal service, he went on to write 47 novels and rise to the top of his profession as a senior civil servant.

Now we are not promising that Drumsna works this magic on everyone who visits or stays here, but we don't rule it out either.

 

 

The poetic inspiration that AT took from Drumsna and the surrounds of Ballycloran Castle also inspired the people of Drumsna in their own artistic endeavor with the making of Ballycloran Revisited in 2006.

The story of the making of Ballcloran Revisited can be found here

and you may still be able to purchase a DVD copy of the movie by contacting Drumsna Development Association or info@drumsna.com