Salmon fishing comes free with 60-acre farm
Scenic, historic and with great salmon fishing — there are a number of stand-out attributes to this farm at Bridgetown, Castletownroche, Co Cork — making it a very rare sale indeed.
A fine residential property, it sits on the banks of the Awbeg and the Blackwater at what’s known locally as ‘the meeting of the waters’ and comprises 60 acres with a good house and outbuildings.
With excellent road frontage and in one single block, the property has been leased for some time, but now comes on the market for sale through auctioneer, John O’Connell of Mallow.
And the quality of the property is signified in the guide price, which is in the region of €700,000 for the entire. The property is for sale by private treaty.
And another indicator of the quality of the land is that it is the site of the 13th century, Bridgetown Abbey, (the farm wraps around the Abbey’s site), founded in 1202 by the Augustinians, who weren’t known for choosing poor land or bad sites.
In fact, the monks followed the Norman feudal lords into Ireland and in this case, the land was granted by Alexander Fitz Hugh, the Norman lord of Castletownroche.
He generously donated 1,560 acres to the order and the revenue from fisheries and mills as well as receipts from the river crossing at the site.
The abbey was destroyed in Gael versus Norman warfare in the later 14th century and by the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, under Henry V111, the Priory was already in ruins. Now a national monument, it’s open to the public and free to visit.
Today, that vast estate is now down to 60 lovely acres, mostly in grass and used for drystock up to now.
The property is being sold in one lot, says John O’Connell, who’s had a couple of interested parties from overseas, he says, as well as local and county viewers.
The land is highly productive.
It includes a railway viaduct and comes with fishing rights onto the river, which back in the day would have made as much as the farm, says O’Connell, but which command more modest sums today. A new owner could sell, or lease the rights if they so wish, he adds.
Likewise the farm house, which has direct access from a country road and isn’t integral to the land.
A good quality farmhouse, in good condition and offering four bedrooms, it comes with a range of outbuildings, including old stone byres and houses, as well as a hay shed, lean-tos, cattle sheds and machinery sheds.
The property also has extensive road frontage, says O’Connell and is well laid out and easily worked, he says.
