Dramatic coach-house plans at West Cork’s home of live theatre

A dramatist’s "treasure trove" of artefacts, some of which date to the Second World War and which are housed in farms around West Cork, is to be moved to a custom-built ‘coach-house’.

Old oil-lamps and cooking utensils, vintage clothes, record players and suitcases, antique bicycles, period costumes and even a 1950s cooker will be brought together under one roof next summer in a tiny village renowned for live drama tradition which stretches back more than 50 years.

For decades, the colourful stage props — which also include old car wheels, furniture, and radios — were carefully stored in sheds and outhouses on five farms in the countryside around the village of Rossmore on behalf of the Kilmeen Drama Group and the West Cork Drama Festival Committee.