Westport House - Westport House & The Browne Family

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 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. 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, 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.