Help needed to save historic homes

Perched high above the harbour and as picturesque, quaint and historic as the town itself, Kinsale’s Southwell Alms Houses are being put out to tender today with a view to preserving their antiquity and architectural integrity while giving them a new lease of life.

The alternative is for them to fall into disrepair, something that neither the trustee of the properties nor the estate agents handling the sale want to see happen.

“A lot of people have looked at them already,” says Malcolm Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing auctioneers in Cork. “They are absolutely lovely, an historical monument and they will be preserved, but they are not fit for purpose as they stand.”