Category Archives: Places

The Amythest 2

image1For thirty years the Noel and Joan Scanlon occupied the historic Amethyst Hotel. Before they purchased the hotel from the Boyd/Blackburn family in the Seventies the couple traveled around the Middle East and India, where Noel worked as a banker and Joan as a secretary for the British Consulate. But they had a dream, away from the corporate world. When Noel took very early retirement around the age of 40, they moved back to Ireland, first to Clare and then on to Achill, where they purchased the Amethyst Hotel, but there was more to their dream and that was to fully realise their creativity, he as a writer and she as an artist. That they did very successfully. Sylvia Thompson in her Irish Times article captures their journey from their lives as expats to their last days as hosts of the Amethyst Hotel. http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/the-gulf-between-two-worlds-1.435383

When the article went to print in 2005 the days of their days at the Amethyst Hotel were drawing to a close. The moved to a more urban setting shortly afterwards. They have not been forgotten on Achill and are fondly remembered by the people of Keel.

Even though Noel and Joan, took up ownership at the Amethyst, two decades after Emily’s death, there was still a thin thread connecting both era’s, almost invisible to the eye. The structure of the main hotel remained true to its origins, give or take a modern additions. The atmosphere, particularity in the dining room was full of old world charm, just like stepping into bygone era. It was easy to imagine Emily and her friends talking and laughing. It was like the walls held these conversations long after the party was over. image3

The Amethyst Hotel

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“Paul Henry (1876-1958), Irish artist lived and worked here and at other locations in Achill 1910-1919”.

According to a plaque mounted on the wall of the Amethyst Hotel near the main entrance, Paul Henry lived at the location some time between 1910 and 1919. The plaque was unveiled in 2002, tells only of one famous resident, but the hotel saw its share of celebrities over the years.

The building itself dates back to the 1890’s. It was owned by the Barrett family, who sold it to Thea Boyd in the 20’s, who opened it as a guesthouse. The Amethyst, was owned by the Boyd family for many years, it was given as their address when they married and children were born. In November 1928 – Northern Whig – Belfast, contained the following birth announcement

DEATHS BIRTHS BOYD—June 17, 1947, at Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Blackham’. wife of R. D. Boyd, Amethyst Hotel, Keel, Achill son (Charles Robert).

MARRIAGES- Headquarters, Dublin, elder son of Mr. and the late Mrs. A. J. Boyd, Malone Road, Belfast, to Thea Marguerite Blackham, Amethyst Hotel, Achill, County Mayo, younger daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Blackham, Orwell Park, Dublin, was announced on 01 January 1946 in the Northern Whig.

Emily attended parties there over the years. A lady who lived on Achill in the 1940’s recalls one of those parties, where she Emily and Major Dermott Freyer, the then owner of Corrymore House spent the most of the night arguing a point. A friendly argument of course, however at the end of the night the argument was unresolved and all parties agreed to disagree.

The most renowned guests had to be former Beatle, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who dined there in 1967. The couple were staying at the Great Southern Hotel Mulranney at the time. They were shopping for an island in Clew Bay, which they bought but never got to live on. Just before his death in 1980, he was looking to build a house on it when his live came to an abrupt end, after being shot by a fan outside his apartment in New York. To read more on John Lennon and his time in Mayo, vist Jim Reilly’s post on Facebook

John Lennon and Robert Shaws visit to Achill 1967

Jim Reilly

October 30, 2013 ·

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JOHN LENNON planned to turn a remote island off the Irish coast into a hideaway retreat, shortly before he was shot dead in December 1980 outside his apartment block in New York… https://www.facebook.com/WhatsOnInAchill/posts/490766844354993

 

Perhaps the longest standing owners or “parents” of the Amethyst Hotel were Noel and Joan Scanlon, who lived there for thirty or so years.

 

Sources
15 November 1928 – Northern Whig – Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland
01 January 1946 – Northern Whig – Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland
lhttps://afterpaulhenry.wordpress.com/2014/06/21/
THE WHITE STAG GROUP
S B Kennedy, former Keeper of Art at the Ulster Museum
https://www.facebook.com/WhatsOnInAchill/posts/490766844354993: by Jim Reilly

Bath

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When Paul Henry arrived on Achill in about 1910, indoor plumbing was not commonplace. Emily Weddall may have owned one of the few houses with such facilities. Always ready to help a friend Emily shared her facilities with the Henry, as Paul Henry relayed of his time on Achill,  in his autobiography An Irish Portrait.

 

“I had made the acquaintance of Mrs. Weddall, the widow of a sea captain. She introduced me to the people and initiated me into many of the ways peculiar to the island, and it was to her kindness I was indebted to the only baths I ever got there.”

Sources
Henry, An Irish Portrait, 1951

The Storyteller

Paul Henry through Emily had made the acquaintance of an elderly woman, who lived near Keel. Bedridden for some time, she welcomed visitors to her room entertaining them with tales from her vast collection of stories.

Paul Henry, listened attentively to the elderly storyteller, making sketches but nothing that would produce a proper painting. Then one day out of the blue she put it to Henry that she would like him to sketch her.fullsizerender-2

“I would like you to make a drawing of me if no one knew it was being done, I would not like anyone to know.”

Was her instruction. Delighted to have a sitter at last Henry called in the assistance of his and Emily mutual friend, the district nurse

“I called to my aid the District Nurse who was a friend of mine, and also a friend of the old woman and Mrs. Weddall. I hated worrying the old dear but I hated the thought of leaving Achill without seeing that marvelous old lady again, and we made our plans: the Nurse and Mrs. Weddall to screen our movements. I began to talk to her about general things and then mentioned the drawing.  ‘Alright Mr. Henry,’ she said ‘you have been good to me, as no one will see us I will sit for you but I don’t like doing it.'”

Paul Henry did not want to force her and before he got his pencil ready, but she burst into tears and said ‘I can’t do it, Mr. Henry I can’t do it.‘ was all she said. Another portrait that never made it to the canvas. All was not lost  however, he got to sketch the locals, however in a group rather than individually. The painting ‘Old People at a Dance‘, was the result.

Sources
Henry, An Irish Portrait, 1951

Birthday

Emily Arabella Maynard Burke was born on this day in 1867. The third child and second daughter of Rev. William John and Emily Burke. She was called after her mother’s sister Emily, Maynard came from her mother’s ancestors, who emigrated to the West Indies and Arabella, was after Maria Arabella Armit, who married into the local Joly family who were friends of her father. Emily always singed the English version of her name as Emily “M” Burke/Weddall.

Birthplace of Emily

Birthplace of Emily

Emily's Birth Announcement

Emily’s Birth Announcement