This is a photograph of the old wrought iron gates at the entrance to the Glen at Knocknarea. The Glen (also know as the Alt) is a dramatic chasm on the southern slopes of Knocknarea mountain in Co. Sligo which features in poem The Man And The Echo by W.B. Yeats -
"In a cleft that's christened Alt
Under broken stone I halt
At the bottom of a pit
That broad noon has never lit,
And shout a secret to the stone."
Unfortunately, after posing as sentries to the Glen for probably more than two centuries, the gates featured in this photograph were stolen in July 2011. It is unsettling to think that these iconic cultural landmarks which provided such a tangible connection to Yeats in Sligo (he would have walked though them) have in all likelihood been sold on as scrap metal.
(see panorama photo of The Glen)