Ledwidge Cottage Museum , Slane

The Ledwidge Cottage Museum just outside Slane celebrates the life and work of Francis Ledwidge one of Ireland’s foremost poets. The museum is located in a restored cottage, which was the family home of Francis Ledwidge who was born in Slane in 1887. He was killed at the third battle of Ypres on 31 July 1917. Despite being popularly remembered for his association with the First World War. Ledwidge was a poet of nature and was inspired by the beauty of the area around Slane in which he grew up. Out of over two hundred poems that he wrote, only nine mentions the war in any degree and of those most describe some isolated moment of beauty that has escaped the carnage of war. There are artefacts associated with his life and works on display and visitors are encouraged to wander around the cottage and gardens and imagine themselves back in the Ledwidge era.