The Town
Bantry sits around a long square focused at the head of the bay, distinguished by a pretty Regency Gothic church, a statue of St Brendan staring out to sea, and a rather refined one of Wolfe Tone further inland. In the immediate surrounds are lush wooded slopes - a safe haven indulged between the ravages of the sea and the wilds of the rocky mountains. The Sheep's Head Way starts here, passing through the grounds of Bantry House before heading west for the low hills of the Sheep's Head Peninsula . The town itself is the chief fishing port and commercial centre for the area, and the traditional market is held on the first Friday of every month. Bantry House (March-Oct daily 9am-6pm; house, armada exhibition and gardens GBP6/?7.62, gardens only GBP2/?2.54), nowadays provides an elegant vision of the rarefied life led by the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. Sumptuously decorated and packed with art treasures, it deserves some time. Much of the furniture is French Napoleonic, and there are Gobelin tapestries and Aubusson carpets; but what makes this house such a gem is the sheer variety of artefacts that have been collected, many of them during the second earl's European wanderings in the nineteenth century. The setting is superb: ordered landscaped gardens look down over the bay, calmly asserting the harmony of the aristocratic order, unruffled by the ruggedness of the surroundings. The Bantry 1796 French Armada Exhibition Centre (June-Aug daily 11am-4pm; this may change and it is advisable to phone ahead or check with the tourist office; tel 027/51796), housed in one of the courtyards, gives a blow-by-blow account of Wolfe Tone's failed mission. You can see artefacts recovered from the wreck of the frigate La Surveillante , scuttled on Whiddy Island in 1797 and excavated in 1982. Another aspect of the past is remembered with relish by the ladies who run the Bantry Museum , behind the fire station on Wolfe Tone Square (June-Aug Tues & Thurs 10am-1pm, Wed & Fri 2-5pm; 50p/?0.68). The museum is the collection of the local history society - domestic paraphernalia, old newspapers and everyday trivia of every sort - which the curators willingly demonstrate with an entertaining blend of history and gossip. The modern library, at the top of Bridge Street, was built in 1974 and, at first glance, looks like some sort of spaceship, though the design was in fact inspired by a prehistoric dolmen: as adventurous a piece of public architecture as you'll find in the west of Ireland, it's let down by a white facade that already seems thoroughly tacky. One final thing worth going out of your way to see is the fine, early Christian Kilnaruane Pillar Stone just out of town. Its worn carvings depict four men rowing, an apostle and the cross; two of the men are thought to represent SS Paul and Anthony, and the boat is considered to be an early representation of a currach. Follow the main road south out of town and take the first turning on the left past The Westlodge Hotel : the stone is in a field 500 yards further on the right.
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