Newport House
A 240-year-old Georgian estate on eight miles of wild Atlantic salmon river, at the edge of a heritage town on Clew Bay. It has been closed since 2017. We believe it should not stay that way.
The House
Newport House was built in the 1780s by Neale O’Donnell, first baronet, whose family — descended from the fighting Earls of Tyrconnell and cousins of Red Hugh O’Donnell — had been transplanted from Ulster to the western coast by Cromwell.
For two hundred years the O’Donnells held the estate, the river, and the town itself. Their crest hung over Newport’s fairs. Their library sheltered the Cathach, the so-called Battle Book of the O’Donnells — a sixth-century psalter believed to be the handiwork of St Columcille and one of the oldest surviving manuscripts in Ireland.
The house is a seven-bay Georgian masterpiece cloaked in Virginia creeper that turns crimson in late summer. Inside: a light-filled reception hall, an oval inner hall with a curved staircase rising to a galleried landing beneath a magnificent skylight, drawing rooms with Adams fireplaces and three chandeliers, a dining room built for banquets, and nineteen bedrooms — eleven en suite on the first floor, two more on the ground floor, five in the courtyard guesthouse. One of those courtyard buildings was once the holiday residence of Seán Lemass, Taoiseach of Ireland.
In 1945, Henry Mumford Smith — a devoted angler — purchased the property and converted it into a fishing hotel of quiet renown. In 1985, Kieran and Thelma Thompson took it further still, establishing Newport House as one of Ireland’s finest country house hotels, where the dining room served wild salmon from the river below, vegetables from the garden beside, and wines from a cellar of international reputation. Princess Grace of Monaco and Prince Rainier stayed here on their 1961 visit to the Kelly ancestral home just six kilometres away. Their son, Prince Albert, has returned many times since.
The hotel closed its doors in 2017. The house stands empty.
The asking price is three million euro.
The River
What makes Newport House extraordinary — and what makes this opportunity singular — is the fishery.
The estate holds exclusive fly-fishing rights to eight miles of the Black Oak River, both banks, as well as the entirety of Lough Beltra West, a pristine lake stretching three miles by one. The river carries a wild population of Spring Salmon, Grilse, and Sea Trout — no farmed fish, no hatchery stock. It is one of the few rivers in Ireland where Spring Salmon can still be fished from a boat.
It is the difference between a heritage property and a living one.
This is not merely a sporting amenity. It is an ecological inheritance, and it is the foundation on which everything else can be built. A restored fishery is a working landscape. It is education, conservation, and revenue in a single current.
What a House Can Become
Ireland has seen what happens when the right people take hold of a sleeping country house and refuse to let it remain a museum piece.
One family buys a Georgian estate. They open the dining room. They cook from the garden and the surrounding land. The reputation grows. A cookery school follows, then a farm, then a shop, then a publishing arm, then an entire movement. What began as a family home becomes the birthplace of a national food identity — a place so influential it reshapes how a country thinks about what it eats and where it comes from.
That story unfolded in the south of Ireland over the course of half a century. It required vision, stubbornness, and the belief that self-sufficiency and luxury are not opposites but expressions of the same principle: that the best things come from the ground beneath your feet and the water at your door.
Newport House has the same bones. The same potential. A wild salmon river instead of a farm. A town at the heart of the Great Western Greenway instead of a crossroads in the countryside. Clew Bay on one side, Croagh Patrick on the other, and a direct air link to London, Edinburgh, and the continent forty-five minutes away at Knock.
The precedent exists. The question is whether we will act on it.
The Vision
We want to acquire Newport House and return it to purpose — not as a replica of what it was, but as a living demonstration of what a heritage property can become when it is rooted in the landscape that sustains it.
A country house that feeds itself. The river provides wild salmon. The kitchen garden provides the table. The surrounding farms and the waters of Clew Bay provide everything else. No supply chain that cannot be walked or rowed.
A restored Atlantic salmon fishery. Eight miles of river and a glacial lake managed for conservation, education, and responsible access. A programme of habitat restoration, water quality monitoring, and wild stock protection that becomes a reference for other Irish catchments under pressure.
A school. Not just a cooking school — a place to learn the skills that underpin everything we put on the table. River keeping, smoking, foraging, fermentation, animal husbandry, soil. Short courses and seasonal intensives open to anyone willing to learn how food is actually produced.
A museum. The house itself is the first exhibit — two and a half centuries of architecture, craft, and stewardship made visible. Dedicated galleries will tell the story of the Atlantic salmon, the Black Oak River, and the people who lived and worked on this estate. A living archive, not behind glass but woven into the fabric of a working house.
A place to stay. Nineteen rooms of individual character in a house of extraordinary beauty, returned to the purpose for which they were built. Guests sleep in a house that feeds itself, on a river they can fish, in a landscape they can walk — and every night’s stay sustains the conservation, education, and community work that gives the house its meaning.
A bus ride from everywhere. Newport sits on the N59, twelve kilometres from Westport, which has a direct train to Dublin. Knock airport connects to the UK and Europe. This is not isolation. This is accessibility wrapped in beauty.
What We Need
The asking price for Newport House is approximately three million euro. To acquire the property, restore the house and fishery, equip the kitchen, and fund operations through the first seasons of opening, we estimate a total requirement of ten million euro. These goals have been set following detailed discussions with Westport hoteliers, Mayo business people, and those who know the local tourism economy. The consensus is clear: a property requiring this level of investment would not attract a private buyer who would need to put so much into it and wait years for a return. But it is a house that should not be allowed to fall — and it can be protected, permanently, through a registered charity.
We are raising this as a community — through founding contributions from people who believe, as we do, that a place like this should belong to the people who care about it.
We are in the process of establishing a charitable structure that will own and operate Newport House in trust, ensuring that the property, the fishery, and the programme it supports remain intact and accessible for generations. This structure means the house can never be sold off, broken up, or allowed to fall silent again. Contributions may be eligible for tax relief under the relevant frameworks in Ireland, the UK, and the United States.
Futures Stays
Every contribution of €500 or more includes a Futures Stay — nights at Newport House, reserved exclusively for the people who helped bring it back. These are not available to the general public and cannot be purchased after the campaign closes. They are our way of ensuring that the first guests through the door are the people who made it possible.
Your stay credits are held against your name in the founding register. Once Newport House opens, you book directly with priority over all public availability. Credits are valid for five years from opening night and are transferable to family.
Founding Contributors
Every contribution, at any level, makes this possible. But we want to recognise those who help us move decisively — the purchase window will not remain open indefinitely.
River Keeper — €25,000 and above
A named room in Newport House, lifetime priority booking, annual fishing rights on the Black Oak River, a seat on the advisory council, and fourteen Futures Stay nights.
Spring Run — €10,000
Priority booking for the first three seasons, two days’ fishing per year, recognition on the Founders Wall, and seven Futures Stay nights.
Grilse — €2,500
Priority booking for opening season, a day on the river, your name in the founding register, and three Futures Stay nights.
Sea Trout — €500
Early access to bookings and events, your name in the founding register, and one Futures Stay night.
Friend of the House — any amount
Our gratitude, regular updates on the restoration, and the knowledge that you helped bring Newport House back.
Futures Stay credits are subject to the property being successfully acquired and opened. In the event that the campaign does not reach its target and the purchase does not proceed, all contributions will be returned in full. Fisher & Farmer Travel tier members who contribute will receive matching credit toward their travel balance.
This House Is Waiting
Great houses do not save themselves. They require people who understand what they represent and are willing to act before the moment passes. Newport House has survived Cromwell, famine, two centuries of change, and eight years of silence. It is ready.
Fisher & Farmer’s founder has committed the first €500,000 to secure the purchase. Every contribution from here moves us closer to the keys.
River Keeper
A named room in Newport House bearing your family name. A permanent bond to the river and the house it sustains.
- Named room in perpetuity
- Lifetime priority booking
- Annual fishing rights, Black Oak River
- Seat on the advisory council
- 14 Futures Stay nights
Spring Run
The first salmon of the season — the ones that arrive with conviction. For those who want to see this through from the start.
- Priority booking, first three seasons
- Two days’ fishing per year
- Recognition on the Founders Wall
- 7 Futures Stay nights
Grilse
Young salmon returning to the river for the first time. A contribution that carries real weight — and earns a day on the water.
- Priority booking, opening season
- A day on the river
- Name in the founding register
- 3 Futures Stay nights
Sea Trout
Quiet, strong, and always underestimated. The threshold that earns a night in the house you helped save.
- Early access to bookings & events
- Name in the founding register
- 1 Futures Stay night
An Bradán Feasa
The Salmon of Knowledge swam the Boyne and gave wisdom to anyone brave enough to taste the truth. Wear the story. Keep salmon wild.
- Keep Salmon Wild cap shipped to your door
- Regular restoration updates
- Name in the founding register
Friend of the House
Every river is the sum of its tributaries. Your contribution — of any size — helps bring this house back to life.
- Our gratitude
- Regular restoration updates
- Name in the founding register
Contributions are processed securely through Stripe. All contributions are fully refundable if the purchase does not proceed. Fisher & Farmer Travel tier members who contribute will receive matching credit toward their travel balance.