Few houses in Ireland, as I know, can command a finer view than the prospect from the many windows of Classy Bawn, in the County of Sligo.
This small castle, or large turreted house, was built by Lord Palmerston, and it is situated not far from the village of Cliffoney. The site chosen was on the highest point of the peninsula, which runs out far into the Atlantic at the southern side of Donegal Bay.
To the east and south are the queerly-shaped mountains of Sligo, and on a clear day it is possible to see the Mayo giant, Nephin. Ben Bulben seems but a stone's throw from the grassy headland where the house stands. To the north there is a view of the Donegal Mountains, that on a sunlit day in spring almost takes the breath away, so smoky blue are they above the deeper blue of the sea, and so softly dappled with cloud shadows.
Towards the west the Atlantic changes with every changeful mood of the day. Sometimes it is blue, or steel grey; ruffled by a squall or smoothed over by some invisible hand; or rearing itself in great rollers, from whose crests the spray is blown backward by the wind - but always it is beautiful.
The Irish Times, June 1st,1931.