Owners fence Lissadell House with barbed wire and boulders

THE owners of Lissadell House have secured it with barbed wire wrapped around poles and there are boulders blockading access to the Yeats Museum in a separate coach-house.

The protective measures were introduced by lawyers Edward Walsh and Constance Cassidy to safeguard their own property in the days after a High Court ruling confirmed the existence of public rights of way.

Within hours of the court decision in Christmas week, roads through the Co Sligo estate, including one passing right by the house, were opened to the public.