53 acres of deep soil near Newtwopothouse
Its name instantly begs two questions: Why is it so called? Is there an Old Twopothouse?
In taking the second question first, the answer is yes, there is… or at least, there was.
The Twopothouse part of it comes from the name of an inn that was located nearby during the 18th century.
It was known as the Two-Pot House Inn (for reasons that are still unclear).
There was a coach stop in front of that inn on the old Cork-Limerick road and it shows up on maps from 1783.
When the new Cork-Limerick road was built during the 19th century, the coach route continued to have a stop close to the point of the Two-Pot-House Inn but to avoid any confusion, this became known as New Two-Pot-House so as to distinguish it from the now-defunct coach stop outside the inn on the old road.
This subsequently became known locally as Hazelwood.
The coach stop of New Twopothouse grew into a village and the rest is self-evident history.
And a fine 53-acre holding is now for sale with Mallow-based O’Connell Auctioneers adjacent to the village on the eastern side.
The property is in one block and enjoys plenty of good road frontage and ease of access.
Selling agent John O’Connell describes the farm as being of the best quality fertile land.
“It really is a top quality farm,” says John.
“It has a reputation as land with a high yield. During the boom times, this land was making €20,000 an acre.”
The non-residential property is laid out in seven divisions and has been let for a number of years by the current owners.
There are no entitlements going with the land, therefore.
“There’s no wastage at all with the land,” the selling agent also points out, “with mature oak trees around part of its boundary.”
There is a good water supply to the property, which is currently under tillage in an area where dairying dominates, but according to the agents, it will lend itself to virtually any farming discipline.
Indeed, another activity associated with this part of the world is that of horse-breeding and horse racing.
The deep soil and gently undulating land in this area made for the perfect location for the world’s first steeplechase — held cross-country just a couple of kilometres north of this farm in 1752 when thoroughbred horses raced and jumped their way from the steeple of Buttevant church to St Leger Church in Doneraile.
In the spirit of the sport-crazy, semi-autonomous Ireland of the 18th century, the race was as a result of a wager between two horse-owners but like all good ideas, it was to spread across Europe
About 9km from Mallow, 4.5km from Buttevant and about 30km from Mitchelstown and Fermoy, this farm is well placed to attract a wide range of interests, with its close proximity to the N20 (main Limerick-Cork road) giving it great ease of access.
The asking price for the farm is in region of €12,000 per acre. Current market conditions appear to be strong, coloured with a strong degree of caution.
This should be an achievable price, therefore.
According to the selling agent, there is already a good deal of local interest in the farm and this will surely be gathering over the coming weeks as the business of the New Year takes off in New Twopothouse.
