Rare historical home is right on the riverside

THIS kind of grand and historical house is rare indeed - original windows, lovely arched doorcase and a position facing the street in Killeagh, Co Cork.

Usually when impressive townhouses like Killeagh House come on the market, they’re in thee1 million bracket, and if not, need a complete overhaul.

Not so here where this three-storey east Cork townhouse comes in at the €800,000 mark with minimal work required.

Dating from the late 1700s, Killeagh House had been occupied by various members of the Davis family for generations and was only sold out of the family in the 1930s.

When the present owners bought the house in 1973, it was in almost the same condition as it was in the 1800s.

Betty and Paddy Power have taken very good care of Killeagh House since then and it’s now on the market through Margot Foy of Brennan and Foy Auctioneers.

This includes the house and 2.5 acres of grounds in a riverside location in the village. As is common with houses of this provenance, there’s a large courtyard with a 10-ft wide cobbled mews entrance from the village. This leads to a range of stone-built outhouses that run to almost 2,200 square feet.

And the house isn’t too small either: it has five bedrooms on the first floor and three bedrooms at attic level, which will need some work, says Ms Foy.

The ground floor rooms are logically laid out with the dining room and drawing room at opposite sides of the main entrance hallway.

A large fitted kitchen lies to the back, along with a range of smaller rooms that would probably once have made up the servants’ quarters.

On the first half landing, there’s a main bedroom and a large, family bathroom with four piece suite and hot press.

The main bedroom has it’s own dressing room and is en suite, along with a second bedroom and the remaining rooms are all generous doubles. A wide mahogany staircase leads to the attic and the rooms here would need a minimum amount of work to bring them up to standard, says Mrs Foy.

The walled-in gardens have fish ponds, gravelled walks and lots of borders and shrubs: a private, riverside walk near Glenbower Woods is a huge attraction.

Ten minutes from the sea, and 30 minutes to Cork city, this is a house that even after 250 years still has plenty going for it.