Built on the ruins of a castle belonging to the renowned Pirate Queen, Grace O’Malley, this resplendent manor dates back to the 16th century. A dungeon, which was part of O’Malley’s tower house, is still accessible from the cellar.
We went on a guided tour, during which we learned a little about the fascinating history of the family of the Browne family. In the 1600s, Colonel John Browne arrived from England and married Maud Bourke, the great-great-granddaughter of Grace O’Malley. Their grandson, John Browne, the 1st Earl of Altamont, built the initial part of Westport House in 1730.
Over the centuries, the house was extended, the village was moved further away and the park and lake were gradually added.
Through marriage, the Brown family became the owners of plantations in Jamaica, which increased their wealth. In 1834, Howe Peter was appointed as Governor of Jamaica.
The local plantation owners assumed that, as a plantation owner himself, Browne would look after their interests. However, Browne opposed the practice of slavery on the island and oversaw the transition to a free society instead. He also set up schools for the black population, financing two of them personally. However, the other landowners blocked his attempts to fully emancipate the Black Jamaican population, forcing him to resign from the governorship.
The Browne family remained the owners of Westport House for almost three hundred years, until 2017, when the five daughters of the 11th Marquess of Sligo, who died in 2014, had to sell up. Fortunately, the Hughes, a local family who were once tenants on the estate, bought the house and are now investing 50 million Euros to renovate it!! The house will therefore be closed for two years from September.
Westport House is currently our favourite manor house in Ireland! With its long history with the same family, and with so much of the original interior and art on display, it provides a very fascinating insight into the lives of the Irish peerage.
Our next stop was one of Grace O’Malley’s original tower houses on Achill Island.
On the island’s coast, we came upon a rusting structure assembled from parts of a ship that sank nearby. This winch was used to pull the ship’s parts ashore.
After leaving Achill Island, we stopped at Ballycroy National Park to walk through one of Europe’s largest peat bogs.
Having passed through the heaviest rain for years (for us), we stopped at Dunmoran Beach for the night. The Irish, of course, were not deterred by the weather and were enjoying the beach anyway.