A quiet slice of Wayne’s world
The arrival here for sale of a stone-built cottage, a former railway crossing keeper’s home for €150,000, will bring a tidy-sized crowd, a small bustle of bidders redolent of the 1950s when the John Ford movie was filmed here.
The Quiet Man, released in 1952, featured John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in the leading roles, along with Barry Fitzgerald, though, truth be told, the scenery was really the star of the show.
It then brought visitors flocking to Connemara, to Cong and to Ashford Castle, and these locations still trade on the association with the Quiet Man 55 years on.
Right in the mix of the movie action back then the scenic Leam Bridge is now re-named the Quiet Man Bridge. Nearby is a former level crossing keeper’s cottage, off the N59 Oughterard/Clifden.
On a third of an acre, enclosed by rough stone walls, the 650 sq ft cottage has attractive rural views, with mains services nearby, but the cottage is only a starting point, it needs full renovation and possible extension as it only has a couple of rooms under a slipping slate roof.
It dates to the early 1890s as part of the Midland Great Western Railway Company, on the 49-mile-long Galway to Clifden route, which closed in 1935.
“The company was renowned for the quality of the stonework used on all its constructions and the crossing keeper’s cottages are no exception. Most of them still exist on the old railway line, having been converted and extended to larger dwelling houses,” says estate agent Rod Spencer, based in Oughterard.
“This property is one of the few that remain in their original condition, and offers the purchaser the opportunity to create a home of some character with a historical connection.”
The vendor bought the cottage as part of his heritage some years ago as his mother was born in it.
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