IRELAND and SCOTLAND - Day 10 - October 10, 2023

 LOUNGING AT THE LOUGH - Day 10 - October 10, 2023

It was a wet and blustery day today. We all slept in late for the first time since we began our trip. After breakfast we took a short guided historical tour of our hotel.

Lough Eske Castle is named for the nearby lough (lake). The short version of its history is this:

• The site dates back to the 15th century, where an early castle stood on the shore of the lake. Some ruins are still visible among the forest growth;
• The castle and surrounding estate (several hundred acres) fell into decay in the 17th century, and remained this way until the middle of the 19th century;
• The present external structure was built in 1861 as a private estate manor and was passed down to heirs until it was sold in the 1930’s;
• It was run as a hotel until it was gutted by a fire in 1939;
• In the 1980’s a semi-governmental agency gained ownership for the purpose of developing commercial forestry in the area;
• A local entrepreneur bought it in 2006 and invested over €40M to restore the castle and turn it into a 5 star luxury hotel.

We spent the late morning and afternoon out in the rain walking through the woodlands surrounding Lough Eske. 

After a very fine dinner at the castle,  we went downstairs to ‘Father Browne’s Bar’ to play some cards. The bar is named for Francis Browne, a Jesuit priest based in Dublin in the early 20th century.

Browne was an accomplished photographer who became somewhat famous in 1912. A relative gave him the gift of a ticket to ride on the maiden voyage of the Titanic from Southampton to Cork, Ireland. During the trip, an American passenger befriended Browne and offered to pay for passage all the way to New York. When Browne telegraphed his boss, the bishop, for permission to go, he was flatly denied.

The Titanic sailed on without him, and we all know what happened next. Browne took several photographs of people onboard during his leg of the trip and these became among the only photographic records of the voyage to survive. The walls of the cozy bar are covered with photos Browne took throughout the remainder of his career and until his death in the early 1960’s.

NEXT: Portrush, via Donegal Town and Slieve League