Charlotte Bronte and Arthur Bell Nicholl's Honeymoon, 1854.

 In Kilkee we went to find the location of the West End Hotel. A little more research before turning up would have been advisable! The hotel circled to the left is the correct West End Hotel. The one in pink to the right is the later West End and Golf Links Hotel...the incorrect one. Robert French's photo taken in 19th century   Erroneously, we had thought that a photo taken in the 19th century by Robert French titled 'West End Hotel, Kilkee' and now part of the Lawrence Collection in the National Library of Ireland was the very hotel that Charlotte and Arthur had stayed in. I could imagine the pair of them sitting underneath the lovely veranda on the terrace, sipping a good Irish cup of tea, enjoying a slice of tasty Irish tea brack, watching the world stroll by and admiring the waves rolling in across the wide sweep of the sandy bay before them. But they didn't!!!!                                ...

- went to the coast…..with such an ocean-view I had not yet seen - ….. ‘ I did not want to talk - but I did want to look and be silent.’ Charlotte and Arthur arrived after a long day of travelling from Banagher at their hotel on the west end of Kilkee. They must have felt rather jaded, just as my Brontë travelling companion Alison and I felt following our similar journey.  Charlotte’s and Arthur’s journey would have taken 11+ hours from Banagher to Kilkee travelling on two paddle steamers and along three horse drawn sections of road. Our 2022 journey could have been done by car in 2.5 to 3 hours had we gone direct from Banagher to Kilkee, but we stopped off en route to enjoy, or attempt to enjoy, other places and views on the way. On leaving Banagher we went to Clonfert Cathedral (see earlier blog post) then to nearby Birr Castle, the home of the Parsons family. I think Charlotte would have enjoyed a visit to the castle with its amazing telescope but we shall never know if she actu...