Lodge played host to a king

A PROPERTY which could be said to chart the changes in the upper echelons of Irish society is now on sale in Connemara for the princely sum of €400,000.

Gowla Lodge, near Cashel in Co Galway, is about 300 years old and was once part of the Ballinahinch Estate. It was used as a fishing lodge for the Gowla Fishery, once renowned for sea trout, but alas, this is no longer the case as stocks were decimated in the early 1990s and still haven’t recovered.

However, there were plenty of fish around when King Edward VII cast his rod here and the property was then owned for a while by the Guinness family.

They passed the lodge on to the manager of their Zetland House Hotel, and then the property fell into disrepair until the late 70s.

Cubby Knight, a Dublin interior designer oversaw a total revamp of the property in 1979 and then later sold it on again.

Bono and the Edge both stayed here in the 80s to complete an album and the dining room was converted into an ad hoc recording studio.

And although now it’s a little tired in the interior, the lodge is still a spacious and gracious house with high ceilings and lots of original touches, especially the Roman pillars incorporated into one of the fireplaces. And there are those rock star finishes, like the gold plated taps in both bathrooms...

Rooms are large: the dining room is 20’ by 14’ and has a barrel vaulted ceiling, the drawing room is 22’ by 13’ and there’s a well fitted kitchen with a quarry tiled floor. Also on the ground floor are two bedrooms and a main bathroom with a spiral staircase from an inner hall leading to the first floor.

Here, there are three more bedrooms and a bathroom. The south and west sides of the house have terraces and the gardens of one and half acres are ranged around the house. Mature trees offer protection from the prevailing winds.

Another unusual inclusion is a fairy rock, which, according to agent Rod Spencer, of Spencer Auctioneers, was carefully protected during reconstruction. Gowla Lodge also comes with a one fifteenth share of 2,235 acres of commonage.