Fancy living in a Martello Tower? You'd run rings around the neighbours
Martello Tower, Belvelly
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Cobh, Co Cork |
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€750,000 |
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Size |
149 sq m (1600 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
3 |
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Bathrooms |
2 |
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BER |
Exempt |
THE mammoth task of converting a Napoleonic-era defence tower into a 21st century residence is not for the faint-hearted, but it was never likely to faze Peter Haughton, who calmly re-collects details of his near-fatal collision with a snow plough while on business in the US in the ’70s, which left him temporarily paralysed. He also worked in Nigeria during the Biafran war, arriving the day it started in 1967.
The engineer and conservation expert, whose ancestors founded the timber business Haughtons, later Brooks Haughton, travelled extensively in the Middle and Far East representing various Irish interests in the course of his engineering career, before curtailing his peripatetic lifestyle in the late 1990s to devote more time to restoration and conservation projects, along with his wife Gaye. Over the years, they bought, restored and re-sold two gorgeous Georgian era homes at Bellevue Terrace in Tivoli, Cork city; a sandstone stable/coachhouse also at Bellevue Villas; Castle Curious in Castleroche, for which Peter devised a restoration plan and which he re-sold, and the old Abbeyfeale railway station which they sold in 2012.
They also bought the Martello Tower, in Belvelly, near Cobh, from auctioneer Johanna Murphy c1998 for IR£70,000.
It was sorely neglected at the time — the acre it stood on had become a dumping ground, and they had to clear 80 loads, spending close to €15,000, to rid the property of tyres, car batteries and washing machines.
“A lot of people wrote to us to thank us afterwards, including Cobh Urban District Council, because the place had been such an eyesore,” Gaye says.
She then set about planting the grounds, spending the bones of €60,000, to create what is now gorgeous mature woodland with some striking specimen trees, including two beautiful olive trees and a walnut tree.
Many more beauties besides, ring the fortress and shield it from the road in a lovely green glade, dotted with pink and white cyclamen.
Against this leafy backdrop, the stout cylindrical tower stands solid and strong, built to withstand anything, except IRA explosives which blew away its internal partitions in the 1920s.
“Our understanding is that the IRA were using it for storing explosives and the explosives started sweating and it was too dangerous to move them. So they blew up the store,” Peter says.
The internal damage was a godsend — it gave the Haughtons free rein inside, while the outside remained unmarked by the blast.
The Haughtons did a sterling job employing Bernard Spillane of Little Island to create what’s essentially a modern-day drawbridge, an olive green exterior metal staircase which gives direct entry to the first floor through a prodigiously thick-walled curved passageway.
This leads into the vaulted main room which rises up dramatically into a domed roof of warm Belvelly redbrick.
A kitchen fills one part of the curved floor which is open plan, and a salvaged fireplace throws out heat in this main living area where the Haughtons dined and entertained during their five or so years of living there, with some fantastic music sessions thanks to startlingly good acoustics and terrific Christmas celebrations.
“We had a 14 ft Christmas tree and a blazing fire and all the family came and those are some of my favourite memories,” says Peter, while Gaye recalls decorating the tree on the oak floor and using ladders to hoist it amid the glow of fairy lights and whatever daylight came in through the small windows, and narrow gun slit, boosted by discrete artificial lighting under the dome.
From this main living area, an oak staircase leads down to the ground floor.
There are three bedrooms (one ensuite) at ground floor level and a main bathroom.
A sort of secret staircase leads from here to the rooftop.
A high parapet surrounds a central raised platform which still has the pivot used to hold a cannon in place.
While this area is currently just a viewing deck — albeit with great views of the estuary, Belvelly bridge and castle and Fota Island resort — with vision, architectural flair and planning, it could be transformed as per an award winning conversion of a Martello Tower in Suffolk, where a curved lightweight roof is tethered to the original structure and a deep curved skirt of frameless glass “floats” between the old fabric and the new, giving 360° views, and creating a whole new living space. This Suffolk tower has operated as a holiday let and Johanna Murphy, who is back selling the restored tower on behalf of the Haughtons, this time with an AMV of €750,000 (pre-Recession it was on the market with another agent for €1.5m), feels it could work very well as an exclusive holiday let, particularly if events like the America’s Cup came to Cork. Equally, it could be “an occasion destination” for special celebrations, perhaps for hire with its own chef and with musical entertainment given the acoustics, or as an impressive corporate let. Given its history and design, it will certainly appeal to those looking for a more arresting stay than your standard hotel, or those looking for a truly unique, historical home.
Whether it’s bought for private enjoyment or a more shared experience, the buyer will acquire an all round unique property, with great kudos due to the couple that restored it.
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