A blast from our past

WE’VE come a long way since families of 10 or more were reared in small thatched cottages such as this.

Sprawling mansions are the signature of the new En-suite Ireland, but the old thatched cottage is a reminder of whence we came.

This two-bedroomed house near Castletownbere in North Cork, has been the seat of the Keating family for the last 300 years or so, and is now to pass into other hands.

With the direct male line now extinguished, the old farmstead is being placed on the market by its present owner, Dick Nash, whose mother was a Keating.

Mr Nash inherited the house and a small farm of 20 acres or so, in the 1970's and worked as a part-time dairy farmer up until recently, when he sold most of the land and quota.

Following the death of an elderly aunt and uncle, he restored the old thatched farmhouse and had plans to use the property for summer lets.

Unfortunately, he now feels he can't give enough time to the project and has put the cottage on the market with Paul O'Driscoll of Sherry FitzGerald O'Driscoll.

Offers of €114,200 are being sought for the house, a half acre of gardens, including an orchard, two outhouses and an old lofted barn.

The cottage is still two-bedroomed but has been given a total makeover, including the installation of central heating.

"It was always a cosy little house, but with the central heating, it's even warmer now," says Dick Nash.

The walls of the cottage are two and half feet thick and the vendor remembers the mud and straw filling of these stout supports when the house extended in the 1960s.

A particularly expensive addition was also made then: a concrete floor was poured in the sitting room around the hearth, making it all the better for dancing, on those evenings when neighbours gathered.

This old room still has a crane and bellows and the so-called modernisation that took place in the 70s has been reversed by the vendor.

While it's rewired and plumbed, pains were taken to ensure the original features were left intact, to the extent that Mr Nash pulled down a flat-roof extension to the rear.

The thatched roof was replaced seven years ago and at that time, Dick Nash soaked the rushes in blue stone to preserve them in the traditional manner.

This is still sound but the ridge will need to be replace shortly however, there are grants available for this type of repair.

The casement windows were kept, despite not being entirely original, since they do allow more light into the interior than the narrower sashes, and the half-door was re-instated.

There are no openings to the North and East, a standard feature of the vernacular dwelling, where glazing and openings were kept to the southern, warmer sides of a cottage.

Right now, the house is in good condition, and while it is still small, it would be perfect as a weekend home or a retirement property.

It comes with two tidy bedrooms and a kitchen of 15' by 15' with Belfast sink and dresser. The sitting room measures 14' by 11'. All the rooms have timber floors.