Overview
The Kelly Homestead is the roofless stone cottage in the townland of Drumilra (Irish: Droim Iolra, ‘Eagle Ridge’), near Newport in County Mayo, associated with the family of Grace Kelly, the Hollywood actress who became Princess of Monaco. John Henry Kelly, her paternal grandfather, came from the Drumilra area. The ruin stands on private land and is deliberately left unsignposted, so it is not a place you can visit. There is no visitor centre, no plaque and no public access.
Be honest with yourself before you plan a trip: the draw here is the story, not the stones. The place to appreciate it in public is Newport, where Mark Rode’s sculpture of Princess Grace stands near the town’s seven-arch viaduct.
From Drumilra to Hollywood
John Henry Kelly emigrated to the United States and settled in Philadelphia, where he built a successful brickwork and construction firm. His son, John B. Kelly Sr., won three Olympic gold medals for sculling and raised a prominent family in Pennsylvania, and it was John Sr.’s daughter, Grace Patricia Kelly, who became one of cinema’s most celebrated actresses before marrying Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956. For all that, she kept the Mayo thread. The Princess Grace Irish Library records the family’s link to Mayo and Grace’s visits to Ireland.
The 1961 visit
Grace’s most famous visit to the area came in 1961, when she travelled with Prince Rainier, long after her grandfather had emigrated. By local accounts the cottage was then home to an elderly local woman known as Widow Mulchrone, who prepared for the day by baking griddle cakes and polishing her best china, served tea in her ‘good room’ with a black kettle on the open fire, told stories and recited a poem written for the day, later calling it the most important day of her life. Grace is said to have sent her a Christmas card every year after.
Grace died in a car accident in Monaco in 1982, aged 52; locals from Drumilra gathered wildflowers from the fields around the homestead to send to the funeral. In March 2023 a bronze statue of Princess Grace was unveiled in Newport by her son, Prince Albert.
What to see
- The statue in Newport – Mark Rode’s sculpture of Princess Grace near Newport’s seven-arch viaduct is the town’s permanent public tribute, and the best place to start.
- The setting – the Drumilra area looks down over Drumgoney Lough, the Leg of Mutton Lake, with open fields and hedgerows running off toward Clew Bay. It is quiet west Mayo countryside, best enjoyed from the public roads.
Practical information
- The cottage – the ruin is on private land. Do not enter fields or approach the building; leave it undisturbed and respect the landowner’s privacy.
- The statue – it is in Newport, where you can eat and refuel, with Westport nearby for more choice.
- More background – the Princess Grace Irish Library is the best place to read about the Kelly family and Grace’s visits to Ireland.
Start in Newport, see the statue, and read the story first. The cottage itself is for the family and the landowner, and the story is better told in town.