Stone-built Earendil an ideal place to drop anchor in Crosshaven

CALLED after a character in JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings and The Silmarrillon, the house Earendil is itself a bit of a creative invention.

Tolkien’s Earendil, a mariner and lover of the sea, carried the morning star (as well as a decidedly Anglo-Saxon name) across the skies on his brow: in Cork’s Crosshaven, this Earendil carries the prospect of living near the sea, in a romantically-styled lofted stone building conversion, complete with Gothic-shaped timber windows in a fiery red colour.

A new market arrival just a few years after its extension and conversion work was done, it carries an asking price of €325,000 via Cork city agent O’Donoghue Clarke.

Location is on Grabball Road, just leaving the village near Cronin’s bar, with all of the burgeoning Cork harbour village’s amenities on the doorstep, and a range of beaches up over the hills. Cork city is about a 30 minute commute, and getting there by boat is a more leisurely option, although most lovers of the sea will be tempted to turn right from Crosshaven’s Owenabue river mouth and to head to Roches Point and the open sea.

Earendil is a safe, stone-built place to drop anchor, originally a lofted stone out-building or hay barn, down to the traditional Irish vernacular detail of the external staircase, although in this case it is up the front of the property, not running up the gable as is most common.

Square footage or floor area here is about 1,000 sq ft, thanks to a grafted on front porch/sunroom, and the layout is simple, working with the building shape.

Thus, the two compact bedrooms are at the lower level, which is most easily divided for this use (one has a deep, gable bay window), along with a bathroom and a study.

Overhead, pretty much the whole first floor is given over to an open-plan kitchen/dining living room, with kitchen with painted units at one end; the stairs is in the middle with a bank of Gothic-shaped widows looking into the high-ceilinged, lean-to sun room, and heating comes from a solid fuel stove on the far gable. Ceiling height is quite good, open up towards the apex, with recessed lighting, while the floor is in dark-stained timber boards.

Although on a small site, there’s off-street parking in front, the back is walled in with some landscaping and includes a timber shed. The roof on both the renovated main portion, and sun-room is in natural slate.