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I passed in my thesis this past Sunday, so on Monday I went to Westport for the day. Westport is widely touted as a picturesque village, and they aren't wrong. After a lukewarm lunch, I went to Westport House, which easily garners rave reviews:

Westport House sits on the footprint of the castle of Grace O'Malle, who was a famous pirate: Grace O'Malle hassled the English, bargained with Queen Elizabeth I, and was the namesake of one of our family cats (my favorite, and aptly named).

Highlights from the interior:

Honest-to-God medieval dungeons.
I judge fancy houses by their libraries; I dislike the ones that don't actually have books in them. This one gets a bonus because I could imagine spending time in here.
This room is set up with the likenesses of famous Irish people (who presumably stayed in the house). I didn't linger long in this room, as the person who set it up had fun: no matter where you stand, one of them is always looking at you.

Some of the rooms were unfurnished (and thankfully sans lifelike mannequins), and had exhibits that showed the details of the people who have lived in the house.

Naturally, as it's Ireland, there was a room dedicated to The Famine (a fatal lack of agrobiodiversity if ever there was one) and the role of the people who lived in the house at the time: the Third Marquess of Sligo and his family. The marquess - and his wife - turned out to be better than the average landlord; while he did evict people, he only evicted the 'idle and dishonest,' and brought in shipments of food for people in need. During the 1846-47 winter, Lady Sligo told the marquess that he should provide blankets, as it was the coldest year on record in the last 100 years; in addition, the household staff was cut by half to minimize expenses, and charity functions were held to raise money for the estate.

The family stood out in a landscape of disinterested landowners and a sluggish government; I don't think they did everything they could have done, but I'm sure that they saved hundreds - or perhaps thousands - of people's lives.

Fortunately, these days the Marquess of Sligo doesn't have to worry about these matters: rather, he has to worry about making sure his daughters inherit his estate - and that no one causes a stampede by the swan boats. (I gave the swans a wide berth and escaped untrampled.)