On the edge of Rosscarbery's town square, this Old Library-turned-townhouse is just the (library) ticket

Bidding is intense on this €410,000 five-bed townhouse in West Cork, writes Catherine Shanahan

Sat, 17 Jul, 2021 - 00:00

Pictures: Niamh Whitty

Rosscarbery, West Cork
€410,000
Size	205 sqm (2200 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	4
BER	E1

LYING in the face of the notion that property markets are traditionally sluggish at Christmas, the Old Barracks in Rosscarbery sold within a fortnight in 2019.

The woman who sold it is back now with a nearby property, this time the terraced Old Library, remembered by older generations as a former Drapery Store/Tailors, and, before that, although long gone physically, as the town’s bakery.

The ancient and lovely high walls of the old bakery, including an outdoor fireplace, frame the Old Library’s fabulous tiered rear garden, which sits on the edge of the town square in one of West Cork’s prettiest villages.

The five-bedroom, four-bathroom, 205sq m townhouse, which includes a one-bedroom self-contained duplex apartment, was a library in the 1980s, but while a mobile library subsequently did away with the need for a stationary premises, the Old Library kept its name, as the owner, Gail Butler, who inherited the building from her parents, explains. Her father had also bought the Old Barracks as an investment property many years ago — he was living at the time in the UK — but it was Gail who renovated and restored these historic Georgian buildings, turning them into in-demand holiday homes, in a village that overlooks a sandy inlet along the Wild Atlantic Way.

Having sold the Old Barracks for €410,000 (€21,000 above the guide), and having seen the youngest of her kids off to college, Gail is now divesting herself of the second property for a well-earned rest.

“We’ve had very few new families coming here over the years because the same families book for the following year on the day they are leaving. I’ve seen kids go from pushchair stage to running around and from that point of view, I’ll be sad to see it go,” Gail says.

Martin Kelleher of Martin Kelleher Property is handling the sale, guiding at €410,000, and bidding is intense. He says it’s a “flexible property”; the separately accessed apartment could easily be incorporated into the main house.