Westport House

Westport House stands in the town of Westport, Ireland; it was first established by the Browne family. The house occupies the site of an earlier O’Malley stronghold known as Cahernamart, and the first dwelling erected there was built by Colonel John Browne (1638–1711). That early house stood directly on the shore, before a dam and lake were created, so the tide rose and fell against its walls.

During the 1700s the Brownes rebuilt and enlarged the residence. Around 1730 the east front, which faces the town, was constructed to a design by Richard Cassels. Later in the same century Thomas Ivory submitted proposals in 1773 and took part in enlargement works around 1778, and James Wyatt completed large parts of the façades to produce a four-sided house. James Wyatt also redesigned a dining room in 1781 and drew a greenhouse in 1796; his original drawings remain on display at the house.

In 1798 forces under General Humbert occupied the house, and the Mayo Legion Flag brought by those troops has been kept there. In the early decades of the 1800s the estate received new agricultural buildings, including a model farm that provided accommodation for animals and for feed. Benjamin Dean Wyatt added north and south wings, and in 1819 the south wing was completed and used to house a library.

Around 1826 the south wing suffered a serious fire caused by a heating defect; it was rebuilt soon afterwards. Following that blaze the second Marquess covered the formerly open courtyard, ran a gallery around the enclosed interior wall to form a new library, and reconstructed the principal drawing room with a painted sky ceiling and Pompeian-style figures. A mantelpiece by John Flaxman was installed in the redecorated drawing room.

For the third Marquess, in 1858 George Wilkinson designed a grand staircase of Sicilian marble; the balustrade was cast in phosphor bronze by Skidmore of Coventry. Later interventions included a gate designed by Henry Holland in 1808, which was demolished around 1958. Sculpture and memorials have been added to the grounds in recent years; a bronze representation of Grace O’Malley by Michael Cooper was unveiled in 2003 and placed to face the nearby water close to land associated with her castles.

In the twenty-first century the privately owned estate received a Heritage Council conservation grant in 2007. After the death of Jeremy Browne, 11th Marquess of Sligo, title and house were separated in 2014: the house passed to his five daughters while the peerage passed to his cousin, Sebastian Ulick Browne. The land of the estate entered the National Asset Management Agency in 2015 for debts secured against it. The Browne family sold Westport House to the Hughes family on 17 January 2017; the new owners announced plans to invest in refurbishment. In April 2022 a wooden sculpture titled An Saighdiúir by Seighean Ó Draoi was donated to and accepted by the house’s owners following a fundraiser organised by Charlie Bird.