Paddle your own canoe to Kinsale's €950k waterfronting River House

BYOB: bring your own boat. Owners prepare to a-bandon their Bandon river holiday home with pier, and slip, within an easy stretch on the waterways of Irish property hot-spot Kinsale

Does exactly what the name says: River House Kinsale is right on the water, a few miles upriver of the town and harbour and accessible by boat

River House, River Bandon, Kinsale
€950,000
Size	110 sq m (1,200 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	2
BER	E1

THE tide has risen and fallen over 4,100 times since Kinsale’s River House last featured in these pages — in fact, the main thing that has seemed to have stayed static is the price it comes back up for sale at.

River View House is aptly named

Last seen here in August 2017, this waterfronting 1970s bungalow located a few miles upriver from Kinsale town, harbour, and marinas was offered six years ago with a €950,000 price tag, but didn’t sell.

It’s been a holiday home for a Dublin-based owner, who bought it in the early 2000s, says estate agent Trevor O’Sullivan of Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty, who explains it’s now being sold as it doesn’t get enough use any more, but has been much enjoyed whenever it was visited.

He can, quiet realistically, expect a buyer to come for it from almost anywhere, given it’s in the ever-hot Kinsale catchment, has direct access to the water with its own slipway, small pier and sturdy mooring bollard: buyers could be local or international, or come up the river, or down it, to make an offer and tie it up.

Sublime setting

Location-wise, it’s at a spot called Tisaxon Beg, close to where the old R600 road towards Garretstown crossed the River Bandon on an eventually rickety cast iron bridge. That old bridge was blown up after the newer, wider replacement came along closer to the town in 1977.

The “new” bridge was called after a local cleric, Archdeacon Thomas Duggan, from nearby Dunderrow who served as a military chaplain in the two world wars and who received a Military Cross for bravery.

Later explaining his role as a chaplain to Irish troops in the likes of Flanders, he notably observed: “My generation in Maynooth embraced the ideals of Easter Week 1916 with a 100% fervour. That did not prevent us from becoming chaplains in the British Army... Everyone admitted that these boys were spiritually intractable to anyone, save an Irish priest.”

Archdeacon Duggan Bridge at Kinsale Co Cork during covid 19 lockdown garda checks

Now, in the decade of centenaries, it’s more likely that the “new” bridge is better recalled as a food service area, with several food trucks plying their wares, with an increase in choice (Fish and chips? Pizza?) and more is on offer en route to Tisaxon Beg and Tisaxon More, now literally a backwater since the old bridge nearby met its fate.

That backwater status will charm the next owners of River House, and it’s one of just a half a dozen detached homes on this bend in the river stretch with waterfrontage, while there’s another dozen or so detacheds on the inland side of the cul de sac road.

Ballywilliam House

The road comes to an end by the Georgian home, Ballywilliam House, and a farm. Ballywilliam House was sold by previous owner, singer-writer Tori Amos, in 2019 for €1.19m, having owned it since the 1990s. It has been upgraded and rented as a luxury Airbnb.

Preparing to perform her Ocean to Ocean album in Cork on St Patrick’s Day 2022, Celtic-blooded Amos said in an interview with Irish Examiner: “I spent a lot of time by the River Bandon in Kinsale, [the house is] very much on the water and surrounded by this ancient land and I loved that… I’d take in the energy of the land.”

Kinsale and the River Bandon’s River House has some 0.66 of an acre of land with it, nicely landscaped.

Apart from the water aspect and proximity the Lisney SIR sales description for the c 110 sq m/1,200 sq ft four-bed bungalow says: “As you approach the property, the mature landscape gardens are the first thing that catches your eye. The gardens are expertly designed and meticulously maintained, providing a serene and peaceful oasis that adds to the charm of the home.”

Sweet dreams

At present it’s a quite modest size, so new owners might seek to alter or extend, subject to planning. In fact, since it was last offered for sale in 2017 there’s been quite the turning of the tide in terms of a new appreciation for traditional Irish bungalows of this era, and how adaptable they can be — case in point: Architect Hugh Wallace’s successful RTÉ show My Bungalow Bliss.

Internally, Riverside is quite the simple property, with open-plan L-shaped main living/dining area with 7kW stove in a stone chimney breast, a recently fitted Kube kitchen too with simple, white units, and utility, four bedrooms with one en suite and a main bathroom.

Sensible alterations along the way include the large, double sliders in the oak-floored living area, opening to the view, patio and gardens, while another smaller sliding door set up is found in the far end of house, in the double-aspect main en suite bedroom.

Now up for the taking, the waterside setting is the star attraction, and River House joins just a select band of Kinsale district homes with direct water access.

Others include the 175 sq m Edgewater, right next door to the Trident Hotel Kinsale, a two-bed chalet on a long and slender site near the “new” bridge for €750,000, the revamped eight-bed Ballywilliam House itself with a €2.15m AMV, and Summercove’s The Anchorage, at €2.5m.

Daddy of the waterside Kinsale deals was the sale in late 2021 of the period Raffeen House in Scilly, for a recorded €4.75m, and it’s now getting further investment

VERDICT: River House’s overall condition is very good. Vendors followed selling agent Trevor O’Sullivan’s advice to have it staged for sale as it had been vacated. Designer Shirley O’Neill did the business creating just the sort of “look” the likely buying cohort will admire. In fact, about the only trick missed is to have a small flotilla of family-friendly craft laid out on the slip, kayaks for the kiddies, or a RIB for the grown-ups. (Only in Kinsale does BYOB also mean “bring your own boat....”)