Historic Places in County Mayo

Located to the west of Shannon, Westport House overlooks Ireland's holy Croagh Patrick mountain, Clare Island and out over Clew Bay to the Atlantic Ocean beyond. The limestone house is built over three floors on an estate with formal gardens, terraces a lake and parkland, the estate also has the remains of an old boathouse open to the sea. The interior is particularly fine with intricate ceilings and Jamaican mahogany doors. Facilities Westport House is considered one of the most beautiful historic houses in Ireland and is open to the public between May and October, 10am and 5.30pm daily (Sundays and Bank Holidays only in May) The house and estate offers something for every visitor, from the beautiful rooms on show within the house to a family playground and even a campsite in the woodland. Inside the house some of the rooms display a selection of their original contents including portraits and landscapes, a collection of silver, Waterford glass and historic Irish books in the library. Visitors also have the opportunity to visit part of the original castle belonging to Grace O'Malley which is now in the basement or the dungeons as they are known. In the grounds families can enjoy the Pirate's Den an adventure playground with log flume, pirate ship, mini railway and an indoor soft play area. The house also has its own bar and cafe in the old farmyard named after the pirate queen it is the venue for live music most weekends. Westport House also hosts wedding receptions. Champagne receptions start in the entrance hall with its sweeping staircase and the drawing room or the long gallery; seating up to 90 guests, being used for dining. For those with a larger amount of guests a grand marquee is set up on the lawns. The house was built on the site of an original castle belonging to Grace O'Malley, the 'Pirate Queen'. The original eastern façade was designed by Richard Cassels a famous German architect in 1730 for Colonel John Browne, the husband of Maude Burke, the great great granddaughter of Grace O'Malley. During the Williamite wars much of the estate was confiscated and when Colonel Browne died his grandson; also called John and later becoming 1st Earl of Altamont, inherited an estate of just a few hundred acres. The estate was improved by succeeding generations who now also had the title of Marquees of Sligo, creating a lake and planting trees as well as employing James Wyatt to build a further three facades and two wings and decorate the gallery and dining room. In 1845 during the famine the estate closed and the 3rd Marquess was forced to borrow and use his saving to help his tenants for which he was awarded the Order of St Patrick. In 1960 the 10th Marquess and his family opened the house and grounds to the public for the first time and since then it has been developed as a major tourist attraction with current occupant being Jeremy Browne, 11th Marquess of Sligo and his family. The Arts Outdoor family theatre productions are held in the grounds during the summer.

Rockfleet Castle; or Carraigahowley Castle as it was sometimes known, is situated at the mouth of a small inlet on the northern shores of Clew Bay, 5 miles from Newport on the north west coast of Ireland. The castle is a small square defensive tower house, built over 4 floors and over 60 feet in height. The site consists of a tower house with a rectangular corner parapet set in open ground. The top floor is reached by a spiral staircase made of stone and is the only room with a fireplace. The castle was built in a medieval style and is one of five along the shores of Clew Bay. Facilities Rockfleet Castle is open to the public during the summer, it also possible to take a trip into the bay by fishing boat from the nearby pier. From the sea you can see how well the castle was placed to keep watch over the bay The castle was built in the mid 16th Century and home to Grace O'Malley the 'Pirate Queen' and her husband Richard Burke 'Richard of Iron' from 1566. Grace was the leader of the O'Malley clan and controlled much of the west coast in the late 1500's. She had a fleet of 20 ships moored at Rockfleet which she used to raid cargo ships along the channel and was also responsible for capturing some of the dispersed ships from the Spanish Armada. She remained at RockfleetCastle after the death of her husband in 1583 but it was not long afterwards that the English successfully captured some of the O'Malley fleet along with Grace's brother. Grace appealed directly to Queen Elizabeth for his release and negotiated that she would forfeit her ships in return for her brother. The Queen granted Grace what she had asked for and allowed her to keep her vessels on the condition that she fought with, rather than against the English, which she did until her death in 1603 when she was buried on Clare Island nearby. Following the Civil War Sir Owen O'Malley a diplomat and descendent of Grace restored the castle and lived nearby in a Georgian house. The latest owner is the former American ambassador to Ireland.

Castleburke is a townland located in County Mayo, in the west of Ireland, situated in the barony of Carra. Like many Irish townlands, it is a small, ancient administrative unit of land whose name carries within it centuries of Gaelic and Anglo-Norman history. The name "Castleburke" derives from the presence or historical association of a castle connected to the powerful Burke family — one of the most dominant Anglo-Norman dynasties in Connacht — whose influence across Mayo and Galway shaped the political and cultural landscape of the west of Ireland for centuries following the Norman invasion of the twelfth century. While the townland itself may not draw large numbers of tourists in the way that nearby Croagh Patrick or Lough Mask does, it holds genuine historical resonance for those interested in the layered story of Irish settlement, lordship and conquest. The Burke family, originally de Burgh, arrived in Ireland in the wake of the Anglo-Norman conquest and over time became so thoroughly absorbed into Gaelic Irish culture that they were described as being "more Irish than the Irish themselves." Their castles and tower houses were scattered across the limestone and drumlin landscape of east Mayo, and Castleburke as a place-name is a direct echo of that legacy. The exact castle structure associated with this particular townland may be ruined or entirely vanished — as is the fate of many such structures that were made of less durable materials or stripped for building stone over the centuries — but the name preserves the memory of a fortified presence that once asserted territorial control over this corner of Connacht. The physical landscape around the coordinates places this area firmly in the drumlin belt of east Mayo, a terrain characterised by small, rounded glacially deposited hills separated by boggy hollows, small lakes and sluggish streams. This is a quiet, intimate landscape rather than a dramatic one — the sky tends to feel large here, and the land rolls gently in every direction. Fields are typically small and bounded by old stone walls or overgrown hedges of hawthorn and blackthorn. The light in this part of Ireland is famously changeable; a morning of heavy grey cloud can give way by afternoon to extraordinarily luminous golden light that makes the wet fields shimmer. The sounds one encounters are typically those of rural Ireland: birdsong, the distant lowing of cattle, wind moving across open ground, and the occasional passing of a tractor on a narrow road. The surrounding area is rich in both natural and historical interest. Lough Mask lies not far to the south, one of the great limestone loughs of Connacht, famous for its trout and pike fishing and its dramatic scenery. Lough Carra, a smaller and botanically exceptional marl lake, is also nearby and is considered one of the most important freshwater habitats in Ireland, with its pale, almost turquoise waters and extraordinary biodiversity. The town of Ballinrobe lies within reasonable distance and serves as a local centre with shops, services and accommodation. Partry and the Partry Mountains provide a more dramatic upland backdrop to the west. The entire region sits within a landscape that was profoundly affected by the Great Famine of the 1840s, and the ruins of pre-Famine settlements are not uncommon across these townlands. For the visitor, Castleburke is best approached as part of a broader exploration of the Carra and Mask lake district rather than as a standalone destination. The area is accessible by car via minor roads branching off the regional road network in east Mayo, though signage for individual townlands is often absent or minimal. The lanes here tend to be narrow, and passing places are frequent necessities. Visiting in late spring or early summer offers the best combination of reasonable weather, long daylight hours, and the green landscape at its most vivid. Autumn can be equally beautiful, with the boggy ground taking on rich amber and russet tones. Those with an interest in genealogy may find the area particularly meaningful, as the townlands of east Mayo were heavily populated before the Famine and many families of Irish diaspora trace roots to precisely this kind of quiet, named place. One of the quietly compelling aspects of visiting a townland like Castleburke is the act of paying attention to a place that conventional tourism entirely overlooks. Ireland has over sixty thousand townlands, each with a name, a history and a community of people who once lived, worked and died within its boundaries. The townland system itself is one of Ireland's most ancient and enduring geographical structures, predating the Norman conquest and in many cases preserving Gaelic language and memory in fossilised form. To stand in Castleburke is to stand in a place whose name is itself a document — recording the encounter between two worlds, the Gaelic and the Norman, and the slow fusion that produced the culture of Connacht. That is, for the right kind of traveller, more than enough reason to visit.