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WESTPORT |
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"The islands in the bay which was of gold colour, look like so many
dolphins and whales basking there," wrote the English novelist W.M.
Thackeray on a visit to Westport in 1842. Set in a picturesque
eighteenth-century landscape on the shores of Clew Bay, WESTPORT , is a
comfortable, relaxed town, still recognizably Georgian - it was planned
by the architects Richard Castle and James Wyatt - with a leafy mall,
octagonal square, a canalized river and one of Ireland's great stately
homes, Westport House. For the past ten years, it has capitalized on its
fine architecture and busy urban buzz to offer some elegant town living
in the midst of the wild scenery of the remote west. During summer, the
place is tremendously lively, with Irish, British, French and German
visitors returning annually to resample its charms, and a couple of
excellent festivals.
In its heyday the town was extremely prosperous, fattened by the trade
in linen and cotton cloth and yarn. However, like many places throughout
Ireland, Westport was hit hard by the Act of Union of 1801. Although
local landowners like the first Marquess of Sligo supported the Act in
the belief that it would be of economic benefit, the reverse was in fact
true: Irish hand looms were no competition for the new spinning jennies
in Britain's industrial towns, the national linen and cotton industries
declined, and Westport's economy was ruined. Mass unemployment forced a
choice between reverting to subsistence farming or starting a new life
in America.
Its quiet Georgian beauties and its lively modern streetlife apart, the
reason Westport is on the tourist trail nowadays is Westport House (June
daily 1.30-5.30pm; July & Aug Mon-Fri 11.30am-5.30pm, Sat & Sun
1.30-5.30pm; Sept house only daily 2-5pm; www.westporthouse.ie ; house
£6/¬7.62, children's pass for house, animal and bird park and amusements
£7.50/¬9.52), a mile or so out of town towards Clew Bay. Built on the
site of one of the castles of the sixteenth-century pirate queen Grace
O'Malley (a direct ancestor of the current owner , Westport House was
beautifully designed in 1730 by the ubiquitous Richard Castle, with
later additions by Thomas Ivory and James Wyatt. This was one of the
first Irish houses opened to the public - and it's had a go at any and
every way of making money. There's a bird and animal park in the
grounds, a water slide, bouncy castle and mini-railway for the kids plus
horse-drawn caravans for rent, while the dungeons (which belonged to an
earlier house) have everything from a trace-your-ancestor service to
ghostly sound-effects; the loos are billed, with some welcome
self-irony, "Westport House Toilet Centre". On the plus side, though,
the delicate response of the house to its luminous surroundings of land,
light and water is undimmed and wonderful if you can ignore the commerce
- and feel like shelling out the swingeing admission fee.
Inside the house there's a Holy Family by Rubens, a violin which used to
belong to J.M. Synge and, on the first floor, a room with lovely Chinese
wallpapers dating from 1780. A lot of the mahogany in the house was
brought back from Jamaica by the first marquess, who was instrumental in
freeing slaves during his time as governor there. On the walls of the
staircase, a series of paintings of local views by James Arthur
O'Connor, commissioned by the second marquess in 1818 and 1819, shows an
idyllic nineteenth-century landscape, an overweeningly romantic version
of the dramatic scenery at Delphi and bustling activity as sailing boats
are unloaded at Westport Quay. This was wishful thinking - Westport in
the 1810s was already overshadowed by the changes in the relationship
with England, and by 1825 was finished as an industrial centre.
Further out on The Quay, the Clew Bay heritage centre (Mon-Fri 10am-6pm,
Sat-Sun 2-6pm; £2/¬2.54) - an engaging but chaotic jumble of old coins,
agricultural implements, typewriters, ration books and other detritus -
fails to live up to its grandiose title
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