We arrived at our fifth stop, Bantry House. Mr. Egerton Shelswell-White had invited us to take a tour of his house and he also let us interview him.
Bantry House was built in 1720 by Samuel Hutchinson. It is a three-story mansion. At first it was called Blackrock House. The Whites moved into the house in 1746. The man who bought the house was Richard White, who was a farmer from Whiddy Island who had made his fortune in pilchard-fishing, iron-smelting and possibly from smuggling.
We started on the tour and the first thing we noticed was the ceilings. They are all Georgian. The tiled floors in the house are Dutch and Italian. The chairs inside the house are 18th century English. There is a pier table inside the house, it is a lovely marble and is from the George III period.
Here is an account of the rooms in Bantry House:
The Inner Hall
The clock in the inner hall is from the 18th century. It surprisingly still works. The over mantle is a piece from the 17th century.
The Rose Room
The tapestry was a wedding present for Marie Antoinette. She was marrying Louis the sixteenth. The carpet in this room is 18th century French. The chandelier is an early 18th century piece from Waterford Crystal. The fireplace and the mantle piece are 18th century French. There is an alabaster urn above the fireplace and that is also 18th century.
The Gobelin's Drawing Room
Most of the furnishings in this room are from the 18th century. The carpet is 18th century French. The fireplace is the same as what is in the Rose Room. Jane, 3rd Countess of Bantry, embroidered the beautiful chair in this room. It was a present for Louis the fourteenth.
The Ante Room
Ante means before. The Ante Room is were you would wait before going into the dining room. In this room the Mantle Place is Georgian. There is a 14th century mirror. There is also an English Clock.
The Dining Room
The table in this room is George III. The china in this room is Staffordshire Iron Stone. The fireplace was one of the few items in the house that is local. The iron is from Bandon. The sideboard in this room is from the 17th Century. The decorative models are made of plaster and are Dutch and very valuable.
The Libary
Out the door of this room is the 100 steps. The chandelier in this room is 19th century and is decorated in a Spanish style and has china flowers. In the hallway there are portraits. There is one of the 1796 fleet at anchor in the bay.
The East Wall Bedroom
Many of the beds in this house are four-poster beds. The one in this room is mid 18th century and is made of Irish mahogany. The cradle is from the Empire Period and is also mahogany. The dressing table is from the William the fourth period. There was a picture of Clodagh Shelswell-White, Mr. Egerton Shelswell-White's mother who lived from 1905 to 1978.
The Next Bedroom
The next bedroom along from the East Wall Bedroom has a lovely Victorian Mahogany cabinet.
The Rest Bedroom
This bedroom is were you would go if you needed rest, because you were ill for an example. There is a lovely view of the Bay from the window.
After our tour, we interviewed Mr. Shelswell-White in his office. He told us that most of the furnishings in the house are French or English from the 18th century, which the 2nd Earl of Bantry collected on his travels.
About 60,000 people visit Bantry House a year and the hotel there gets 3,000 visitors per year. Christie Moore once stayed here. The Queen of the Netherlands stayed here once as well. In order to preserve the furniture the house is kept cool. The biggest problem is woodworms. There are 4 cannons outside the house. The biggest is from a British Warship. The others are pretend and are just there for decorative purposes. In 1796 Mr. Egerton Shelswell-White's 4th grandfather stayed here. A long time ago Bantry Estates used to extend to Castletownbere.
The Curse
The bricks of the Abbey were used to build Bantry House, and it was said that Bantry House was cursed. The curse was that no boy would be born to carry on the family name but Mr. Shelswell-White told us that this curse was lifted when he was born! The most expensive painting in the house is Dutch. It is called "The Fruit Barrel Market".
Bantry House in War time
During the civil war, both Mr. Shelswell-White's mother and her sister Rachel were teenagers living in Bantry House. The house had become an emergency hospital. The rooms and hallways were always filled with the dying and the wounded from both sides. Mr. Shelswell-White remembers his mother saying years later "Sometimes the screams were awful but it was worse when they stopped". Bantry House has been used many times in different wars. In 1796 it was the Head Quarters of General Dalrymple and the British Garrison. In World War 2 Bantry House was the Head Quarters to the Irish Army, commanded Captain Buttimer.
We are very grateful to Mr. Shelswell-White and all at Bantry House for their kindness to us.