A bedroom for every night of the week? €485k 1850s Cobh detached house is a sleeper

Dated seven-bedroomed Ringville will repay renovation investment and may even have site potential on its large grounds

Ringville is near the top of the hill above Cobh town with cathedral views: DNG Spillane agent Conor Spillane has it under early offer at €490k

Cobh, Cork Harbour
€485,000
Size	283 sq m (3,000 sq ft)
Bedrooms	7
Bathrooms	3
BER	Exempt

THERE’S an appealing old-world charm to Ringville, a detached and quite sizeable mid-19th century home on a height above Cobh and Cork Harbour, but... it needs work now.

Ringville's views over Cobh towards the harbour

Punching in at about 3,000 sq ft or 283 sq m, on c 0.65 of an acre, it has up to seven bedrooms, one at ground level, one in a self-contained annex, and some fine reception rooms, with lots of retained original features such as fireplaces, sash windows, shutters, and a particularly fine staircase, with curving hardwood handrails.

Curves in the right places

Now an executor sale after many years in private ownership, it’s guided at €485,000 by agent Conor Spillane of DNG Spillane who has it under early offer, just over the AMV at €490,000, who says “it’s got limitless potential”.

Ringville needs work now but has many original features

That includes internal restoration, the possibility of a second house on the large grounds, and also the option or providing guest accommodation given Cobh town’s heritage appeal (there’s a B&B, Mountview, already just up the road by the entrance to St Benedict Priory, a convent on large grounds with tea rooms), and the house has views to the water over St Colman’s Cathedral from its perch on Cobh’s John O’Connell Road).

Happy landings

Dating from c 1850, the five-bay Ringville, with its arched central porch window, is a protected structure, and has “a unique blend of historical allure and limitless potential, making it a dream project for those with a vision for restoration and a love for the past,” says Mr Spillane, adding it has a great location plus a tranquil setting, and lots of original features to enhance.

One of the seven bedrooms

VERDICT: Needs work, but is more than the ‘blank canvas’ its sales description suggests, as it carries its own sense of what will bring it back to a state of domestic grace, with scope to pay its way into the future as a guest business or as a large and accommodating family home.