Did you know that Howth was home to the poet and writer William Butler Yeats? He lived in the village during his teenage years and the fishing village certainly made an impression on him. He wrote the essay ‘Village Ghosts’ which was published in The Celtic Twilight in 1893. In this essay, Yeats gives a meticulous account of Howth ghosts, immortalising their spirits. These spirits include the headless individual on the quay, the white-capped woman by the cemetery and the Devil himself who appeared in the shape of a white cat at Hospital Lane.
The home of W.B Yeats, the artist Jack B. Yeats and the rest of their family is one of the stops along our Howth Cycle Tours. They resided at Balscadden House which looks out onto beautiful Balscadden Beach.