Unconventional Cobh home with peerless views is on the market for €550,000

You'll be spoilt for choice when it comes to harbour vistas at Fort Lisle East, where a garden deck and an independent home office are part of the package

Fort Lisle, Cobh

Cobh, Co Cork
€550,000
Size	225 sq m (2422 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	4
BER	Exempt

FORT LISLE, with its castellated roof, has the look of a fortified dwelling which may have appealed to Charles O’Callaghan, a retired warrant officer with the Royal Navy who, as a military man, would have appreciated it’s fine solid structure and superb elevation, back in the days when Cobh was a key strategic defensive hub for the British armed forces.

He was just one of the many inhabitants of Fort Lisle East in its 200-year history and while it’s exterior is largely unchanged, much has been done internally to make this a home suitable for 21st century living. The current owners, Michelle Gray Mooney and her French husband Jean Francois Michel, bought it in 1998, after it had been rewired, replumbed and heating installed by previous owners. Michelle and Jean Francois did some major work too, refurbishing two bathrooms, adding an ensuite, replacing the roof, the hot tank and solid fuel boiler, double glazing front windows and adding a Nest unit to control the heating via app.

Initially, Michelle, who was hellbent on a Georgian property, was unsure about the house on East Hill, but after the sale of Fort Lisle to another buyer fell through, the couple went and had a look.

“We both wanted an old house and we’d bidded and lost out on a few in Cobh. We were looking for somewhere to live but also somewhere to run a small B&B because that was what my husband was interested in.

“Other houses we looked at were either too big or would have needed more money invested, Michelle says.

At the time, Michelle was actually living next door to Fort Lisle East with the mother of Eddie English, the well-known seafarer who runs the sailing school in Cobh. She had worked for Eddie as a sailing instructor in previous years and the English family put her up which she initially returned from France to take up an offer of employment. When her husband subsequently arrived in Ireland with their young son, they set about finding their own home. It turned out that five-bed Fort Lisle was tailor made for their requirements, with enough bedrooms to offer a B&B facility, which proved popular among couples from the US.

It’s a beautiful home, particularly the two downstairs reception rooms, which have glorious harbour views, high ceilings, solid fuel stoves, marble fireplaces and original timber floors. 

Reception room 1

Reception room 2

The kitchen also enjoys those views but perhaps the best vantage point is from the outdoor deck that they installed, nestled into the front garden, which is just beyond a landscaped driveway that they share as a right-of-way with their neighbours on East Hill.

Kitchen

Also with a bird’s eye view of the harbour is Michelle’s home office, tucked into the corner of the garden, while the main bedroom is double aspect and catches sunrise through one window and all day sunshine through the other.

Office with harbour view

Double aspect main bedroom

The garden to the front runs the length of the property and can easily take the home office, a garden shed, two vegetable plots, a number of fruit trees and a hen coup, large enough for half a dozen hens. To the rear of the house, behind a courtyard, is a cliff face, worked on by Cobh Co Council in 2012 as part of major renovations along all the cliff faces above Cobh town, removing the danger of displacement of earth and/or stones.

Fort Lisle, Cobh

Back inside, there’s a playroom with mezzaine to the rear of the house, and upstairs, five bedrooms, two with ensuites. There’s also a separate bathroom. Back downstairs, a bootroom inside the entrance porch provides storage and there’s more storage space under the stairs.

Michelle finds it hard to pick her favourite room in 2422 sq ft Fort Lisle East, but when pressed, she says it’s the living room “with a morning coffee watching the ships sail by”.

“The other place I will miss is my office, in the front garden, tucked out of sight but with fabulous sea views. I’ve been working remotely now for 11 years, and it’s a wonderful place to be based,” she says.

Johanna Murphy of Johanna Murphy & Sons is selling Fort Lisle, which has a guide price of €550,000, and she says it’s “a once in a lifetime opportunity”.

VERDICT: Gorgeous period property with unbeatable views.