50-acre former estate land near Carlow Town for auction

The selling agent said of the 50-acre farm at Browneshill, Carlow: “It’s basically arable land but at present, it’s all in grass. It’s good land – there’s no question about that.”

Coming under the hammer at 3pm on Wednesday the 20th of July next at the Seven Oaks Hotel in Carlow Town, a 50-acre farm just outside the town will provide a rare opportunity to acquire a substantial quantity of good-quality land.

The farm is located in the townland of Browneshill, approximately 2.5km from Carlow Town. According to the Tullow-based selling agents REA Dawson, the holding was once part of the large Brown’s Hill House Estate. The main house of this estate was put on the market only two years ago for just under €1 million.

“That estate once had thousands of acres,” says selling agent John Dawson, who adds that there were 600 acres remaining of the estate when it was sold to the Land Commission in the 1960s.

“It’s on a slip road,” says John. “It’s two kilometres from Carlow town. If you came out of the property and turned left, you’d go straight into Carlow town.”

The lands are just to the east of Carlow town, adjacent to Browne’s Hill House and close to the famous Browne’s Hill Portal Tomb. There is just one point of access to the farm – a very wide entrance leading directly from Browneshill Avenue – but with the location so close to town and the proximity of both the N80 and the M9 (both intersecting at a junction just 3km south of the property), access is no issue for this piece of land.

“At the moment, the land is being farmed by a neighbour,” says John. “It’s basically arable land but at present, it’s all in grass. It’s good land – there’s no question about that.”

The interest appears to be tentative enough at this early point, but auctions are notorious for having latent interest that doesn’t show its hand until the day of reckoning itself, and this property will certainly attract some interest.

As for the price, the selling agents point out that good quality land in this part of the world normally fetches between €15,000 and €20,000 per acre and they expect this farm to achieve a price within that range.