Last season of Pirate Adventure Park

NEW ADDITIONS Next year Westport House will welcome a brand-new, active, and exciting adventure park which will include the largest Net Park in Ireland! It will also feature two 100m zip lines flying across dizzying heights.

Anton McNulty

For many generations of children growing up in the west of Ireland, a ride on the train around the grounds of Westport House or a slide on the Slippery Dip were often the highlight of the summer.
Since the Browne family opened the gates of Westport House to the public in 1960, millions of visitors and generations of Irish families have passed through the grand entrance gates and created memories to last a lifetime.
At a time when visiting a zoo was few and far between, the opening of Westport House Children’s Zoo in the early 1970s introduced local children to exotic animals like monkeys, llamas and much loved characters such as Rosa the elephant and Flipper the seal.
Over the years the commercial developments on the estate expanded with the installation of a lake side train running half a mile around the grounds and which still entertains passengers even now.
The Cannonball Run, also known as the famous Slippery Dip, was established in the late 1970s, and it helped to forge the beginnings of the famous Pirate Adventure Park.
However all good things must come to an end, with Westport House announcing that this summer will be the last for the Pirate Adventure Park at Westport House, which will close after the 2023 season.
The closure of the park will be a sad occasion for many generations who have long and happy memories of their summer days in Westport House. The current CEO of Westport House, Barry O’Connor, is well aware of the special attraction the adventure park has in the hearts of Westport and Mayo people.
“The Pirate Adventure Park has been an immensely popular and much-loved aspect of the Westport House story. Steeped in nostalgia, memories and countless years of fun, the Pirate Adventure Park has become a summer tradition for generations of families, and we are immensely proud for all it has achieved during its almost 50-year operation.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our visitors who supported the Pirate Adventure Park, as well as the ride operators who safely and successfully oversaw the management of the park. A special thanks to the Browne family who created such a wonderful experience for so many and whose passion, drive and imagination we bring with us as we begin this new project,” he said.
Westport House was bought by the Hughes family in 2017, who have continued to look after and carry on the story of Westport House. Recognising the importance of Westport House in terms of tourism for Westport and the entire Mayo region, they are significantly investing into the estate, helping to create hundreds of jobs for the local area and developing one of the finest tourist attractions in Ireland.

Thrilling new adventure attraction
While the decision to close the Pirate Adventure Park was not an easy one, they believe what comes next in the form of their new adventure attraction which will be even bigger and better and promises to be a truly exciting and momentous project.  
In June 2021, Westport House was awarded FΡilte Ireland’s Platforms for Growth grant for Heritage and Cultural Attractions. Worth €20.2 million, the funding is part of an overall vision to reimagine the entire offering within the 433-acre grounds as part of a €75 million strategy, including the redevelopment of Hotel Westport. 
This ambitious masterplan will transform Westport Estate into a world-class tourism destination and visitor attraction which will benefit the overall region. 
One of the key areas supported by the grant will be the creation of some very different and uniquely Irish landscape experiences.
Created in partnership with internationally acclaimed Irish gardener and landscape designer, Mary Reynolds, the experience will ‘connect the earth with Irish heritage and Celtic mythology’. Developed especially for Westport House, Mary has created a ferociously wild yet beautiful project rooted in Irish heritage, offering visitors a multi-layered, full sensory experience with nature, while exploring ancient Ireland through a series of accessible wild and natural spaces.
In addition to this, next year Westport House will welcome a brand-new, active, and exciting adventure park which will include the largest Net Park in Ireland! It will also feature two 100m zip lines flying across the dizzying heights of its quarry area, a multi wall-climbing zone with a double sided, see-through wall, giant swings propelling you over the quarry wall as well as many new outdoor attractions.
Visitors will also be delighted to know that a new Slippery Dip-esque slide complete with humps, curves and even corkscrew slides has also been planned, with all these thrilling new amusements landing next year.

Exciting new additions
However, there will be a number of new additions to the estate this summer with a new Glamping Village complete with five-metre Bell Tents, freshly made beds and new private decking is ready and waiting to welcome guests from June 1.
A stress-free, luxury camping getaway, the Glamping Village is the perfect place to relax, explore Westport and discover the magic of the Westport House estate with its exclusive glamper discounts!
Not only that, but they will be opening a brand new attraction this June where the world of digital gaming meets sports and active play.
Designed for all age groups and abilities, visitors will experience a life-sized video game in the futuristic Interactive Gaming Zone.
“We are so excited to officially launch our new game space this summer and for 2023 only, admission is free if you purchase a ticket to the Pirate Adventure Park,” said Mr O’Connor.
The new developments at Westport House would not have been possible without the foresight and the vision of the Browne family not only to open the house to the public but also develop the grounds.
When Denis Browne (10th Marquess of Sligo) and his wife José, along with their son Jeremy Browne (11th Marquess of Sligo) and his wife Jennifer all readied the house for its successful grand opening in 1960 little could they have realised the impact this decision would have on tourism in the west of Ireland town.
While the house had, and continues to have a draw for visitors, stately homes have had to grow their offerings to compete with the changing demands of the public. When Jeremy Browne and his wife Jennifer took over the running of the estate over 50 years ago they realised that a big house in itself would not be viable.
“A house or castle by itself very seldom or ever constitutes an attraction which brings in enough people to make the property viable,” Jeremy said at the time.

Investment
Determined to grow the estate, Jeremy researched further, contacting numerous leisure parks to get an idea of what attractions were most popular with families and overwhelmingly, the ‘Flume Ride’ appeared the most favourable. In the 1980s, it cost an estimated £500,000 to build a Flume Ride at Westport House which at the time, would have been a sizeable investment. It wouldn’t be until 1998 when the wheels for the Flume Ride were put in motion, creating the centre piece of an iconic leisure park.
Since then, the adventure park has steadily grown with the addition of new attractions every year, and officially became The Pirate Adventure Park in 2008. Themed after Grace O’Malley, the 16th century pirate queen whose castle forms the foundation of Westport House and a direct descendant of the Browne family, the Pirate Adventure Park has welcomed millions of visitors since the introduction of those first rides in the 1970s. Now a fully-fledged leisure park complete with rides, slides, boats and trains, attractions such as The Pirate Queen Swinging Ship, Mini Ferris Wheel and Westport House Express Train, have proudly entertained families for nearly 50 years, with generations of families visiting and revisiting Westport House for their annual trip to the Pirate Adventure Park.
To make way for these exciting projects and to continue to reimagine ways to evolve the Estate just like Jeremy had the foresight to do all those years ago, the Pirate Adventure Park will close its gates for the final time at the end of this season.
Mr O’Connor said that while this will no doubt be tinged with sadness, endings are not necessarily a bad thing and this ending just mean that something else is about to begin.
“While we share our visitor’s sadness that the park will be closing, we are very excited about this new chapter. We’re looking forward to welcoming our final Pirate Adventure Park visitors this year and hope they will continue to return and carry on creating those magical summer memories in our brand-new adventure park,” he said.