The landmark Olde Railway Hotel was built in 1780 as a coaching inn for the guests of Lord Sligo. William Makepeace Thackeray, the British novelist, once described it as one of the ‘prettiest, comfortablist inns in Ireland.’ as one of the ‘prettiest, comfortablist inns in Ireland.’
The hotel sits on the tree-lined bank of the Carrowbeg River in the centre of Westport. The hotel is protected by a preservation order. When the hotel closed in the mid-2000s, many artifacts were sold by auction including a rare collection of film memorabilia relating to John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in the 1951 classic The Quiet Man, a superb William IV mahogany serving table attributed to Williams and Gibton, and a nineteenth-century baby grand piano by John Broadwood as well as original Marilyn Monroe posters.
Here is an interesting look at the history of the old Midland Great Western Railway from Westport.
https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2020/08/28/history-of-the-old-midland-great-western-railway-part-1/
