Westport House

Westport House
Westport House pictured in 2008
General information
Town or city	Westport, County Mayo
Country	Ireland
Construction started	1730
Design and construction
Architect	Richard Cassels

Westport House in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, is a well known Irish tourist attraction, owned by the Hughes family, who own a number of businesses in the west of Ireland. Until January 2017 it was the ancestral seat of the Browne family, whose head was the Marquesses of Sligo. The title and the house were separated in 2014, following the death of the 11th Marquess of Sligo, who left the estate to his five daughters. His titles passed to his first cousin, Sebastian Ulick Browne, a residential real estate agent in Australia. It was built by the Browne family in the 18th Century, near the site of an O'Malley castle. The architects were Richard Cassels, who built (1730) the east section of the house facing the town, and later James Wyatt, who built the other three façades 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 for housing animals and animal feed.

The remains of an old boathouse open to the sea.

Colonel John Browne (1638–1711), who had the original Westport House built, 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. His descendants, however, converted to the established Church of Ireland, and prospered.