Did you know Gulliver was a Cavan man? To mark the 300th anniversary of Jonathan Swift’s classic satire, which was written in, and inspired by the Breffni County, Cavan Arts will celebrate Gulliver 300 on Sunday, 25th October, as part of the Cavan Eco Féile festival.
Gulliver 300 will see a spectacular celebration of this beloved staple of the literary canon with music, spectacle, dance, drama, and visual art at Courthouse Cavan, culminating in a dark skies lantern parade through Cavan Town.
The event will get underway at 2.30pm with interactive art workshops, a Gulliver’s Travels theatrical ensemble, poets’ corner, folklore storytelling with Cavan Yarnspinners, folk music with NYAH and the Latvian Association Cavan, followed by contemporary classical music from Ian Wilson and crOw.
As darkness falls, the Sleeping Giant awakes. This spectacular 20-foot large scale lantern sculpture will light up at Urney Church at 5pm, while just across the street at Cavan Courthouse, the sounds of Cavan Sinfonia Orchestra and Cavan Singers will reverberate through the evening air.
Shortly after 7pm a short film inspired by Gulliver’s Travels will be digitally mapped onto the Courthouse façade, before the Dark Skies Lantern parade sees over 100 hand-crafted lanterns march through town to the Cavan Eco Féile main stage, where one of Ireland’s most electric live acts, The Tumbling Paddies, will bring the weekend’s festivities to a raucous conclusion.
Cavan County Council’s Arts Officer, Karina Charles-Lynch said “It’s still a little-known fact that Jonathan Swift wrote much of Gulliver’s Travels in Mullagh in County Cavan while he was staying with his good friend Thomas Sheridan in Quilca House, This event is about honouring that legacy and the influence that our beautiful county and its people had on one of the English language’s most enduring literary classics”.
Cathaoirleach of Cavan County Council, Cllr Carmel Brady added, “Cavan has a proud literary tradition and has inspired many poems and novels, so it’s no surprise that Jonathan Swift’s letters reveal that he wrote much of Gulliver’s Travels here. I am looking forward to celebrating that legacy with a fantastic day of culture in Cavan Town on 25th October”.
Gulliver 300 is presented in association with Cavan County Council’s Cultúr 2026 programme.