Dylan Thomas

The young 20-year-old Welsh poet followed in Kent’s footsteps when he arrived into Glenlough in the summer of 1935. He was being chaperoned by literary editor Geoffrey Grigson who was attempting to distance the poet from the bright lights of bohemian London. Little did he realise that he was bringing the young poet into the poteen making capital of Donegal. When Grigson left for home a fortnight later, Dylan elected to stay on to work on completing his second collection of poetry simply titled Twenty-five poems. This included the celebrated And death shall have no dominion. One of the poems which he worked on while in the valley finishes with the lines:

“That was the god of beginning in the intricate seawhirl, And my images roared and rose on heaven’s hill.”

The Notebook that he worked on while in Glenlough, was ‘missing’ for many years but it turned up again in 2014 where it sold at auction for over £100,000 and is now housed in the Swansea University Collection.