The Kelly homestead is the ruins of a house in the

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

of Drumilra (sometimes misspelled ''Drimurla'') near the town of

Newport, County Mayo Newport (), historically known as Ballyveaghan and for many years also known as Newport-Pratt, is a small town in the barony (Ireland), barony of Burrishoole, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The population was 626 in 2016. It is locat ...

. The cottage has three rooms and overlooks the Leg of Mutton Lake. It is situated on a

boreen A boreen or bohereen ( ; , meaning 'a little road') is a country lane, or narrow, frequently unpaved, rural road in Ireland. "Boreen" also appears sometimes in names of minor urban roads such as Saint Mobhi Bóithrín (), commonly known as ...

off the R311 road from Newport to

Castlebar Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th-century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. Wi ...

The cottage

The cottage is a small rectangular stone cottage with pointed gables and a central chimney, divided into three rooms. It lies in the townland of Drumilra (Irish ''Droim Iolra'', "Eagle Ridge"), immediately southeast of Drumgoney Lough and about east of

Clew Bay Clew Bay (; ) is a large ocean bay on the Atlantic coast of County Mayo, Ireland. It is roughly rectangular and has more than a hundred small islands on its landward side; Ireland's best example of sunken drumlins. The larger Clare Island guar ...

. Its age is uncertain, but it does not appear on the 6-inch

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

map which was the product of an 1837 survey. Writing in the ''American Journal of Irish Studies'', Mary Burke felt that the cottage "is not a conventional tourist attraction" and its location has "almost certainly intentionally" remained unsignposted due to its dilapidated state " rawingattention to aspects of Irish history often effaced or downplayed by tourism interests".

Association with Princess Grace

The house is the ancestral home of the family of the actress

Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982), also known as Grace of Monaco, was an American actress and Princess of Monaco as the wife of Prince Rainier III from their marriage on April 18, 1956, until her death in 1982. ...

, who upon her marriage to

Prince Rainier III of Monaco Rainier III (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi; 31 May 1923 – 6 April 2005) was Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years. Rainier was born at the Prince's Pala ...

became Princess Grace of Monaco. Her grandfather, John Henry Kelly, had emigrated from Drumilra to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in the United States in 1887 in the wake of the Great Famine.

1961, 1976 and 1979 visits

Grace and her husband visited the house on 15 June 1961 during their state visit to Ireland. The owner of the cottage, the elderly 'Widow Mulchrone’ had spent the morning on the day of Kelly's visit baking

griddle cake A pancake, also known as a hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack, is a flat type of batter bread like cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk, and butter, and then cooked on a hot surface such ...

s for her guests and polishing her china and glassware. The roof of the cottage had been freshly thatched and the hedges had been cut prior to the royal couple's arrival. Mulchrone's bedroom, which she called "the good room" was set for tea with cups and saucers which she served with cakes and soda bread. A large black kettle hung boiling over an open fire. Mulchrone told her visitors stories and ordered an "on-duty policeman" to "wet another cup of tay, the prince could murder another drop". Mulchrone regarded the day as the most important of her life and recited a special poem for the occasion. Grace subsequently sent Mulchrone an annual Christmas card. Grace subsequently visited the cottage in 1976 and 1979. Grace visited Mulchrone in the MacBride Home for the Elderly on her 1976 visit. She bought the cottage and its 35 acres of land for

IR£ The pound ( Irish: ) was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the symbol was £ (or £Ir for distinction.) The Irish pound was replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999. Euro currency did not begin circulation until ...

7,800 from Mulchrone in June 1976. The Mayo County Council granted Grace planning permission to build a 2,000 sq ft house on the site in 1978. A holiday home was planned and architectural and landscaping plans drawn up by architect Simon Kelly were examined by Grace and her husband on their 1979 visit. Construction never began on the house and Grace was killed in a car crash in 1982. The local residents of Drumilra sent a wreath of wild flowers picked in the fields around the village to Monaco for Grace's funeral.

Recent history

Grace's three children, Princess Caroline,

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Alb ...

, and Princess Stéphanie, inherited the property after their mother's death. In 1995 they announced that they would consider plans for the protection and potential restoration of their homestead. The house has been regarded as derelict in recent years and was described in a 2011 article in the ''

Irish Examiner The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Republic of Ireland, Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork (city), Cork, though it is ...

'' as "little more than a heap of stones". Prince Albert visited the house with his wife, Princess Charlene, in April 2011 and later met distant cousins in Newport.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in County Mayo Houses in the Republic of Ireland Grace Kelly