Westport House
Encyclopedia
Westport, County Mayo
Westport is a town in County Mayo, Ireland. It is situated on the west coast at the south-east corner of Clew Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean....
is the stately home of Lord Altamont the Marquess of Sligo
Marquess of Sligo
Marquess of Sligo is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1800 for John Browne, 3rd Earl of Altamont. The Marquess holds the subsidiary titles of Baron Mount Eagle, of Westport in the County of Mayo , Viscount Westport, of Westport in the County of Mayo , Earl of Altamont, in the...
. It was built by the Browne family in the 18th Century, on the site of an O'Malley
O'Malley
O'Malley may refer to:* Charles O'Malley, an eponymous character in a novel by Charles Lever.* O'Malley , people with the surname O'Malley* Ó Máille clan, an Irish clan name anglicized as O'Malley...
castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
whose dungeons are still present today. The architects were Richard Cassels
Richard Cassels
Richard Cassels , who anglicised his name to Richard Castle, ranks with Edward Lovett Pearce as one of the greatest architects working in Ireland in the 18th century. Cassels was born in 1690 in Kassel, Germany. Although German, his family were of French origin, descended from the...
who built (1730 ) the east section of the house facing the town, and later James Wyatt
James Wyatt
James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...
who built the other three facades to form a quadrangle. Later the quadrangle was filled in with a grand staircase. North and south wings were added to the designs of Benjamin Wyatt. The south wing, which contained a library, was burned soon after it was built due to a defect in the heating system. It was subsequently rebuilt.
A model farm was built in the demesne in the early part of the 19th century with accommodation housing animals and animal feed.
The remains of an old boathouse open to the sea.
Colonel John Browne (1638-1711) who built the original Westport House married Gráinne O'Malley’s great great granddaughter, Maude Burke. He was a Roman Catholic who fought on the Jacobite side in the War of the Two Kings
Williamite war in Ireland
The Williamite War in Ireland—also called the Jacobite War in Ireland, the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland and in Irish as Cogadh an Dá Rí —was a conflict between Catholic King James II and Protestant King William of Orange over who would be King of England, Scotland and Ireland...
. His descendants, however, converted to the established Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
, and prospered.
The current Marquess of Sligo is Jeremy Browne
Jeremy Browne, 11th Marquess of Sligo
Jeremy Ulick Browne, 11th Marquess of Sligo , styled Earl of Altamont until 1991, is the 11th, and current, holder of the Marquessate of Sligo, a title created in 1800 in the Peerage of Ireland...
. He and his family still own and live in the country Park and have been responsible for its success as a commercial enterprise.
Westport House also has a Pirate Adventure Park
Pirate Adventure Park
Pirate Adventure Park is a small theme park located beside Westport House in Westport, Ireland. The Park is home to the first flume ride in Ireland . The Park is Pirate themed due to Wesport House's association with Grace O'Malley.-Rides:...
with a Pirate Ship thrill ride, Pirates' Plunge flume ride, mini Railway, white swan pedal boats, cannon-ball run slippery slide, Pirate's Den indoor soft play area, dungeons, Pirate's Playground, pitch and putt, fishing, Grace's Bar and Cafe and a large Caravan and Camping Park set in secluded woodland.
Designed by the famous architects Richard Cassels and James Wyatt in the 18th century, Westport House is located west of the Shannon and is considered one of Ireland's most beautiful historic homes open to the public. Westport House is situated in a superb parkland setting with lake, terraces, garden magnificent views overlooking Clew Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, Achill, Clare Island and Irelands Holy Mountain, Croagh Patrick. It was built and is still privately owned by the Browne family, who are direct descendants of the 16th-century Pirate Queen Gráinne O'Malley.
Westport House & Irish Pirate Queen Gráinne Ní Mháille
During the 16th century, Gráinne Ní Mháille or Granuaile was a famous Pirate Queen of Connaught. After her death, a report stated that for forty years was the stay of all rebellions in the west. She was chief of the O'Malley Clan and ruled the seas around Mayo. Gráinne Ní Mháille had several castles in the west of Ireland and it was on the foundations of one of these that Westport House was actually built. There is still an area of her original castle in the basement of the House (the Dungeons), which is on view to visitors.There is a Bronze statue of Gráinne Ní Mháille by the artist Michael Cooper situated on the grounds of Westport House.
The original House was built by Colonel John Browne, a Jacobite, who was at the Siege of Limerick, and his wife Maude Bourke. Maude Bourke was Gráinne Ní Mháille’s great-great granddaughter. The House then did not have the lake or a dam and the tide rose and fell against the walls.
Architecture
The East front of the house as it is today was built in 1730 by Colonel John Browne's grandson, also John - 1st Earl of Altamont, who hired the famous German architect Richard CasselsRichard Cassels
Richard Cassels , who anglicised his name to Richard Castle, ranks with Edward Lovett Pearce as one of the greatest architects working in Ireland in the 18th century. Cassels was born in 1690 in Kassel, Germany. Although German, his family were of French origin, descended from the...
. It is built with the finest limestone taken from the quarry south of the estate farmyard and was executed by craftsmen. Richard Cassels also designed Carton, Haselwood, Russborough and Leinster House. Westport House was completed by James Wyatt
James Wyatt
James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...
, one of the greatest English architects, who also laid out the town of Westport. On the south facade is the date 1778, inside, many of the ceilings, cornice and fireplaces are examples of his finest works. The Large Dining room is perhaps the finest remaining example of his work. The doors are mahogany brought back from the family estates in Jamaica. There are still a number of original James Wyatt drawings on show, together with some of his son’s, Benjamin Wyatt, who also did some work in the house.
There are several architecturally stunning rooms on show in Westport House.
Westport House Art & Antiques
Westport House is also unusual in that it is complete with original contents, most of which have a long association with Ireland. Among the pictures are portraits by Sir Joshua ReynoldsJoshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
of the 1st Earl of Altamont, of the Rt. Hon. Denis Browne, brother of the 1st Marquess of Sligo and a member of Grattan's Parliament; by William Beechey
William Beechey
Sir Henry William Beechey , English portrait-painter, was born at Burford, the son of William Beechey and Hannah Read ....
, of Howe Peter - the 2nd Marquess of Sligo, who spent four months in an English jail for bribing British seamen in time of war to bring his ship, full of antiquities from Greece, to Westport. Howe Peter was a friend of George IV
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
and the poet Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
.
There is a portrait of Earl Howe - Admiral of the Fleet, father of the 1st Marchioness of Sligo, by John Singleton Copley. Artworks also include a magnificent collection of landscapes painted in the locality by James Arthur O'Connor
James Arthur O'Connor
James Arthur O'Connor was an Irish painter.-Career:James Arthur O'Connor was born 15 Aston's Quay, Dublin – the son of an engraver and printer, William O'Connor. O'Connor would become a distinguished landscape painter. He was self-taught, receiving just a few lessons from William Sadler...
. Other artists such as Chalon, Barrett, Gibson, Opie, Brooks and Lavery are part of the collection.
There is also a collection of waxwork figures by Gems Display Figures, which are a tribute to the literary, arts and music achievements of the W Ireland. Including William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
, Lady Gregory
Augusta, Lady Gregory
Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory , born Isabella Augusta Persse, was an Irish dramatist and folklorist. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, and wrote numerous short works for both companies. Lady Gregory produced a number of...
and Turlough Carolan.
Other original items on show in Westport House are a fine collection of old English and Irish silver, which include some 18th-century Irish "potato" or dish rings; Waterford glass; a library with many old Irish books and the Mayo Legion Flag which was brought to Ireland by General Humbert
Jean Joseph Amable Humbert
General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert was a French soldier, a participant in the French Revolution, who led a failed invasion of Ireland to assist Irish rebels in 1798....
when he invaded the country in 1798, and which has been in Westport House since. Westport House was occupied by General Humbert’s troops.
Westport House & The Browne Family
The story of Westport House and the Browne family is a microcosm for the wider and, at times, turbulent history of Ireland. Each generation has had to contend with and adapt to the prevailing social, political and religious changes encountered along the way. Despite revolution, invasion, plantation, famine and confiscation, the bond uniting Westport House and its family remains unbroken.The Browne family came to County Mayo from Sussex in the sixteenth century. Through marriage with the daughters of native Irish landowners and by purchase they built up a small estate near The Neale. As a Catholic family they were fortunate that their lands were situated in Connaught thereby escaping notorious confiscations of Cromwell.
It is with John Browne III (1638-1711) that the connection with Westport House commenced. A successful lawyer, he married Maud Bourke, daughter of Viscount Mayo and great-great granddaughter of the Pirate Queen, Granuaile (Gráinne O'Malley 1530-1603). John Browne greatly increased his estate in Mayo and Galway including Cathair-na-Mart (the Fort of the Beeves) a ruinous O'Malley fortress on the shores of Clew Bay.
John’s good fortune was soon swept away as Ireland was plunged into chaos in the Williamite wars. A Catholic, John supported the Jacobite cause and was a Colonel in the Jacobite army. From the iron mines on his lands near Westport, he supplied the army with cannon balls and weapons. The defeat of the Jacobite army at Aughrim and Limerick in 1691 brought financial ruin in the confiscations that followed. At his death in 1711 his estate was reduced to Cathair na Mart and a few hundred acres. The Penal Laws which followed left his grandson, John IV, with little option but to conform to the prevailing religion in the hope of surviving the confiscations and political upheaval.
John gradually revived the family fortune. Young and ambitious he set about extending his estate and transforming the old O'Malley castle into modern day Westport House. He replaced the old village of Cathair-na-Mart with a new town of Westport
Westport, County Mayo
Westport is a town in County Mayo, Ireland. It is situated on the west coast at the south-east corner of Clew Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean....
where he established a thriving linen industry. An excellent farmer, he set about improving the fertility of his lands, which, for the most part, were of poor quality. He became the first Earl of Altamont. In 1752, his son and heir, Peter, 2nd Earl of Altamont, married the heiress, Elizabeth Kelly from Co Galway, whose estates in Jamaica further enhanced the family fortune.
John 3rd Earl of Altamont, continued the innovative farming tradition of his grandfather. He created the lake to the west of Westport House, planted trees employed James Wyatt to decorate the beautiful Gallery and Dining Room. He laid out the principal streets of present town of Westport, and many of the streets in Westport today are named after Browne family members such as Peter Street, James Street, Altamont Street and John's Row. He also established a theatre at the Octagon and built the town of Louisburgh. In 1787, he married Louisa Catherine, daughter and heiress of the famous English
Earl Howe. During his lifetime the French-inspired 1798 Rebellion occurred. Aided by the arbitrarily actions of Denis Browne, his younger brother, against the Irish insurgents (which earned him the reputation of `black sheep' of the family) the Rebellion was crushed. John became Marquess of Sligo after the Act of Union in 1800. He seldom attended parliament in London being more content at home in Westport.
His only son Howe Peter Browne, 2nd Marquess of Sligo, inherited in 1809 at the age of twenty-one. Extravagant and generous, his early life subscribed to the popular image of a 'regency buck'. Friend of Byron, de Quincy and the Prince Regent, he travelled extensively throughout Europe. He excavated at Mycenae and discovered the 3,000 year old columns of the Treasury of Atreus. To bring them back to Westport, he took some seamen from a British warship, and was subsequently sentenced to four months in Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...
. He married Hester, the Earl of Clanrickard's daughter, by whom he had fourteen children, and settled down to life in Westport. He added the north and south wings, the library, and commissioned much furniture, china, silver and paintings for the House. He bred many famous race horses both at Westport and at the Curragh. One of his horses, Waxy, won the Derby. He owned the last two of the breed of Irish wolfhound. In 1834, he was appointed Governor General of Jamaica with the difficult task of overseeing the 'apprenticeship system', in a period prior to the full emancipation of the slaves. He met with great opposition from plantation owners and other vested interests. He was first to emancipate the slaves on the family's Jamaican plantations. The first 'free village' in the world, Sligoville
Sligoville
Sligoville is a small community approximately 10 miles from Spanish Town in the parish of St. Catherine on the island of Jamaica.Sligoville is named after the Marquess of Sligo, Governor of Jamaica in 1834, the year that freedom came to the enslaved people of Jamaica. Sligoville was said to be the...
, was subsequently named in his honour. A liberal, he was one of the few Irish peers to vote for Catholic Emancipation. He died in 1845 as the clouds of the Great Famine descended over Mayo.
His son, George, the 3rd Marquess, inherited a terrible legacy. The West of Ireland was worst affected by the famine. Westport House was closed and with no rents forthcoming, George borrowed where he could, spending £50,000 of his own money to alleviate the suffering of the tenants. He imported cargoes of meal to Westport Quay and subvented the local workhouse, then the only shelter available to the destitute. He wrote tirelessly to the British Government, demanding that they do more to help the famine victims. He wrote and had published a pamphlet outlining many pioneering reforms of the economic conditions that had led to the famine. In 1854 on being offered the Order of St Patrick, an honour once held by his father and grandfather, disillusioned by England's Irish policy (a recurring sentiment at Westport House!) the 3rd Marquess wrote 'I have no desire for the honour.'
John succeeded his brother as 4th Marquess. He had to contend with the huge changes that occurred in the ownership of land in Ireland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Above all he was a 'professional' farmer, whose main contribution was to transform a reduced and almost bankrupt estate into a profitable one, solely from agriculture. This work was continued by the 6th Marquess who added a sawmill, a salmon hatchery and planted extensively. He also modernised the interior of the House and created the Italianate terrace to the west.
The compulsory acquisition of the main entrance to the House for local public housing occurred in the time of the 8th Marquess, which altered the historic relationship that had existed between the House and town of Westport.
In 1960, the 10th Marquess, Denis Edward, his wife Jose and son Jeremy opened Westport House and the grounds to the visiting public. It was a pioneering venture in a place and at a time that was remote and depressed. Over the succeeding decades the 11th Marquess and his family have developed the estate into a major tourist attraction. From 5,000 visitors in the first year, Westport House has now welcomed over 4 million visitors.
Today, the Browne family continue the long links that bind Westport House to its Family. By hard work and dedication, they aim to ensure that Westport House will survive and continue to contribute to the economic development of the West of Ireland.
