Waste-not, want-not, in 'Best in class' conservation and creative renewal in lovely Lismore's €345k Old Stone Cottage

Crow the stones, or stone the crows, at young, second  generation stone mason's four-year long labour of love in Lismore

Join the Masons? €345,000 Old Stone Cottage in Lismore is a work of exceptional craftsmanship. Agents Sherry FitzGerald Reynolds guide at €345,000 -  you could not buy work to this standard for that price right now, and it's in postcard-pretty Lismore to boot,

Lismore, West Waterford
€345,000
Size	132, sq m (1,412 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3/2
Bathrooms	1
BER	B2

NO stone was left unturned — literally — in the impressive renewal and recreation of the Old Stone Cottage, reckoned to be one of the very best renovations in the heritage town of Lismore in many’s the long year.

Interior is a charmer, and a property paragon of attention to detail (PS wood column is an old P&T telegraph pole, sanded down)

Just about every stone got repurposed and found a kind, sympathetic resting place for another century, or two to come, along with a doubling in size, full style upgrade, and hitting a highly impressive B2 BER which even qualifies it for a “green mortgage” (lower interest rate) for its buyers.

It’s all down to the professional handiwork of owner Alan O’Callaghan, a second-generation stone mason and conservation specialist who’s worked in Bath in the UK, and across Munster, and who has brought his multi-ability craft skills to bear on his family home front, seen here in all of its glory.

Front wall gives nothing away - and it's all that's left untouched, but nothing at all was wasted, in this case of reuse, recycle, reimagine

Set on New Street, dating to 1860 (or earlier) and originally associated with Lismore Castle employees, it has been finished by Alan and his partner Rachel, to the Nth degree. It’s got utter character, and quite a few quirky touches, which if you had to pay a tradesperson an hourly rate to do, well, you’d be buying at twice this knock-out home’s €345,000 guide.

Impressive? Alan’s empathy with old buildings, skills, and work ethic would put most to shame, and he’s as adept with lime render, carpentry, and interior fit-out (as well as cookery, photography, video, bluegrass musicianship, and banjo playing) as he is with his O’Callaghan inter-generational masonry skills, seen here in abundance (see also his website munsterstonemasons.ie).

But, none of this is visible from the modest-appearing and low-set facade and front door on Lismore’s New Street, through which everything had to be wheel barrowed in, while, paradoxically, very little came back out again.

Main bedroom

Every original feature inside got reused, cannily and craftily, including more interior stone than ever seemed possible to unearth in an original dwelling that wasn’t large to begin with: It’s now a surprising 1,400+ sq ft, however, but you’d never guess there’s a Tardis beyond the street facade.

It has been a happy home to Alan, partner Rachel — who has the decor eye and isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty (her dad Paul Owens also rolled up his sleeves) — and their little boy Ralph, with another baby on the way.

Back garden with shed/outhouse/home office

Oh, and another project: A barn conversion, appears on the cards, currently being outlined and sketched by the duo who say “we will be very sad to leave the house but are looking forward to doing it all over again... well, kind of!”

The end result of this four-year restoration job, Old Stone Cottage, or No 61 New Street, is fresh to market with agents Cormac Curran and David Reynolds of Sherry FitzGerald Reynolds who rave about the quality of the work and the imagination of the place, as well as the sanctuary of the south-facing back garden, entirely now bound in hand-worked stone, in two tiers, where all of the workmanship that’s on display here is best appreciated.

Look carefully for clever and secret touches: example? an aesthetically handsome wall has some other barely glanced, but eminently practical protruding stones, as knacky stepping stones to clear the back boundary.

Step up?

“People come in and just as they start to admire the inside, they get invariably get drawn to the back, and are blown away by it,” says Mr Reynolds, having already shown it to Irish relocators, and even home hunters from the US.

No 61 may very well end up being bought by someone just because they fall for it, and not just due to Lismore’s many lifestyle attractions.

Details to admire include the low rise and fall of a side wall with upright stones, known as a “Dragon’s Tail”, or other top coping stones in a pattern known in the north of England as cock and hen, and immaculate masonry work also rings an old, retained white rose bush.

Coming up roses

Original Bangor slate now adorns the roof of a small, block-built shed/study/workshop, faced in stone and brick with power supply and galvanised gutters and downpipes, and the property’s original front door with the number 61 on it now graces this additional wee building.

Then, spot the clever touches on all of the fascia boards back here: They’ve all been finished in neatly shaped slate, effectively weather-proofing the timber boards behind for decades to come, never needing painting to treating. Not surprisingly, Alan has an utter antipathy to PVC.

Inside, roof timbers for the lofty main extension were the house’s original purlins, now braced into pitched trusses.

Kitchen

Nothing at all got wasted or chucked out if it had a new use and a new home as Alan very modestly claims: “It was nearly easier than having to wheelbarrow everything back out the front door to a skip.”

Clearly, anything good and honest and true was kept and rehomed at this home, and more again was imported, such as oak floor boards being jettisoned on another project Alan worked, destined for skip after being replaced with laminate flooring.

So, he reworked the quality old oak boards, and they now feature in the stairs, in the bathroom’s sink console, and in several other built-in furniture and shelving ‘solutions.’

Elsewhere, shelving brackets are repurposed old cast-iron brackets, used a century ago for supporting toilet cisterns: Neat.

Main bedroom opens to charming south-aspected back garden

It’s all an object lesson in “waste not, want not” and in best conservation practice, all in a home with a B2 BER, effectively all-new from the front wall in, only with lots and lots of old and sympathetic materials.

Slate, stone, oak, light: what's not to like?

Location wise, No 61 New Street is right in the old heart of Lismore where a string of commercial building are now also finding new users: The town’s venerable hotel is now a multi-million euro work in progress after selling via agent David Reynolds last year, and this home is just 100m from the extended and amalgamated Blackwater Community School.

No 62 next door is currently also a work-in-progress, having sold last year as do-er upper for €70,000. Top price to date on the street is No 76, which fetched €197,000 in 2018.

Heat from stove is barely needed in B2 rated 19th Century recreation

Now, the price bar is going to be significantly raised, as the quality bar has gone so high here too.

Guided at €345,000, No 61 is a three/two-bed home, with optional use of a top-floor bedroom (or home office) off a mezzanine living room, along with two ground-floor bedrooms, one to the front and original in cottage proportions (it’s currently a child’s bedroom) while the larger, rear one has a vaulted ceiling and French doors to the sunny back garden.

The main core is the open-plan kitchen/living/dining room, airy (yet cosy, thanks to a rarely used stove) in the extreme, part-overlooked by the mezzanine to the side and floored, like the main bedroom, in old, salvaged and sealed slate.

The kitchen proper has painted timber units, silent-shut drawers, Rangemaster oven, the island has a polished concrete work surface, and, looking over it all — appropriately — is an oversized old rail station clock, rebuilt by Alan who haunts French brocante market as well as Irish ones, with new hands, and a new quartz movement... Another timepiece, with new heart, just like No 61.

VERDICT: A four-year labour of love, sweat, talent, and good taste.

What's in a name? Old Stone Cottage