Grace and space are on offer at €1.1m Kerry period pile, across the road from Killarney National Park

Ballydowney House is a rare opportunity to buy a period home just minutes from the busy tourist town

Ballydowney House, Killarney.

Killarney, Co Kerry
€1.1m
Size	261 sq m (2,811 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	2
BER	E1

Ballydowney House in Killarney is a rarity. Why? Because period houses don’t come to market that often. And this one’s within minutes’ walking distance of the tourist town centre and right across the road from the National Park.

The approach is the stuff of dreams — as befits an ivy-clad 19th-century property, you sweep in through magnificent gates and up along a grand avenue.

The 1.1 acres (0.47ha) of landscaped mature gardens are private and peaceful — tastefully screened by mature trees and planting.

The building is L-shaped, with the original 19th-century structure augmented to the rear by an extension with a flat roof.

The elegant accommodation extends to over 261 sq m (2,811 sq ft) on two floors, and the property comes with an array of outbuildings, which offer potential for future use, and a courtyard, which makes for a super sun trap.

Scope for additional accommodation,  I venture?

Or scope for offices? suggests estate agent Tom Spillane, Killarney.

We go inside. Beyond the front door, the main hallway opens left and right into a dining room and reception room respectively.

The interiors of Ballydowney House have a light-filled, airy feel thanks to large windows and high ceilings.

The five-bedroom property is not shy about showing off its provenance.

Many of the well-proportioned period home’s original features are still intact — a case in point being the shutters on the large feature windows. “Most windows have the original shuttering,” notes Mr Spillane, who is the sole selling agent.

The extension was added in the past half-century, so as well as the opulent 19th-century structural shapes, there are sleek nods to 1960s design, including the generous-sized kitchen.

The last family who lived here moved in on November 22, 1963 — the date being memorable as it was the day US president John F Kennedy was assassinated.

Upstairs, the bedrooms are spacious, as is the bright modern en suite with a wet room adjacent to the master bedroom.

Walking between the sun-soaked master bedroom into an equally sizeable front first-floor bedroom, we spy a deer on the hill in Knockreer directly opposite in Killarney National Park.

The guide price for the property is €1.1 million.

In February of this year, further out the road from the town, in Fossa, another period residence, Aghadoe House, went on the market for €2.5m.

That property, with grounds of 60 acres (24.3 ha) had been in the ownership of An Óige, the Irish youth hostel association, since 1957.

Ballydowney House was built “sometime between 1851 and 1867”, estimates Damian Murphy of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, National Built Heritage Service.

A tenuous link to Robert Emmet is referenced but the agent believes this could refer to another property nearby.

Emmet’s mother, Elizabeth Mason, came from a merchant family at Ballydowney and there is speculation that Emmet himself may have been born there.

Historian Michelle O’Mahony of OM History believes the current house may be close to one connected with Robert Emmet and draws attention to a photo in the National Library of Ireland, in the Irish Tourist Association Photographic Collection, of a Ballydowney House. The caption states the photo displays “the ruined wall of the old house where Robert Emmet is said to have been born about 1780”.

Kerry historian Dr Owen O’Shea says he came across two well-known residents of Ballydowney House when researching his book Kerry 1916: Histories and Legacies of the Easter Rising — A Centenary Record.

These were the brothers Peter (Peadar) Blanchfield and Thomas Blanchfield. “Peter (Peadar) Blanchfield of Ballydowney House, Killarney and Lewis Road, Killarney was born in 1893,” says Dr O’Shea.

“He was active in the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Volunteers, with the B Company of the 1st Battalion of the Dublin Brigade. He worked as a cabinet maker at Anderson, Stanford and Ridgeway in Dublin.

“In 1914, he participated in the landing of arms at Howth in Co Dublin. He became captain of the Cycle Corps of the Dublin Brigade. During Easter Week, Blanchfield was based at several locations in Dublin.

“He was present at the Battle of Ashbourne in Co Meath under the command of Thomas Ashe. He was active in Dublin during the War of Independence. His brother, Thomas was also a member of the Irish Volunteers and was also present at the Battle of Ashbourne.”
Ballydowney House, which has double-glazed widows and a BER rating of E1, comes with monitored PhoneWatch alarm and high-definition security cameras.

VERDICT: Rare chance to snap up a private period dwelling within walking distance of Killarney town centre and National Park