Selling the Hilser family jewel on a magical site above Inniscarra Lake
Knockfree, Drispey, Inniscarra
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Dripsey, Co Cork |
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€795,000 + €250,000 (14 acres) |
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Size |
215 sq m (2309 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
4 |
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Bathrooms |
3 |
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BER |
E2 |
BACK when tick tock was the sound a clock made and not a snappy video sharing app, a clockmaker called Richard Hilser arrived in Ireland equipped with a skillset honed in Germany’s Black Forest.
He came from a resilient people whose response to harsh winters included carving clocks using local timber as a means of boosting their income.
Such native industry - later global as the region became one of the world’s largest producers of wooden timepieces - involved a high degree of craftsmanship. Precision and an eye for detail were key and those were the qualities Mr Hilser brought when he opened a jeweller’s in Cork city in 1865, on North Main Street, before relocating to Grand Parade.
It is said that Mr Hilser has the distinction of being the man who introduced Ireland to the cuckoo clock.
A couple of generations later, his granddaughter Rita Hilser married Michael Foley, a butcher in the nearby English market. They had a son called Harry Foley and he entered the family business in 1953. When the time came for Harry to build a home for his own family, he drew on his Hilser creative genes to design it and on his Black Forest cultural heritage to inform what it would look like. The result was Knockfree, a house that could have been transported from the mountains of southwest Germany and deposited at a site that is surely unrivalled in the Dripsey area.
“Dad was very good at art and drawing and he designed the house. He even made a large cardboard model of it and planned the garden around it,” says his daughter, Miriam Hilser-Foley, a fifth generation Hilser.
Her late dad bought the 1.4 acre site in the early 1970s, after his wife, Terry, spotted it for sale in the then Cork Examiner.
“We were living in Bishopstown and mum was from North Cork and wanted to be out the country. She mentioned to dad about the site above Inniscarra Lake and he said she must be mistaken, that it was a greenbelt, and you’d never get plannning,” Miriam says.
However, Harry followed up on the ad and it turned out his wife was right. A site with planning consent for a home was on the market as a local man, who received it as a wedding gift, decided to sell it instead.
The build began in 1974. Miriam recalls that there was a cement strike in Cork and her father would go down to the docks and collect bags of cement off the boats himself. They moved into their new home, with outdoor 14m swimming pool, in 1976 “a week after Elvis Presley died”.
“Mum wanted a tennis court and myself and my brother wanted a swimming pool, and we won,” laughs Miriam.
It was a truly singular home, split-level, redolent of Bavaria, with imitation wooden shutters, a wooden overhang and exposed brickwork.
“We had pots of geraniums everywhere,” says Miriam - the main choice of flower for exterior displays in Bavaria.
“It’s a Germanic-looking house and dad was proud of his heritage,” she adds.
The double front doors, with faux-bronze overlay, came from Germany. Solid oak internal doors - originally meant for a church and sourced via another newspaper ad – are round-topped.
The wrought-iron stair rail along the steps that lead from the upper bedroom floor to entry level are delicately curved.
There’s more delicate wrought iron detail in the double doors to the main living room, off the wide hallway.
It’s a fine room that could be made bigger by knocking through to the adjoining garage. The view from the living room is extensive: west-facing over Inniscarra Lake, with spectacular sunsets.
There’s no question but that the 215 sq m four-bedroom property needs considerable investment. As it’s been empty for two years, it may qualify for the vacant property grant. New owners will at the very least gut it. They may even knock it and start again, although that would seem a pity given how distinctive it is. As it stands, every room has a view.
Look west down Inniscarra Lake to see the mountains of Mullaghanish and Derrynasaggart, 40km in the distance. The side of the house is south-facing. A sliding door from a family room at the lower level opens onto a south-facing terrace, with swimming pool, high above the lake.
There’s garden on all sides, circular out front, where a fish pond, like the swimming pool, needs to be drained, cleaned up and reinstated. It’s an open space, kept so for the views. Other sections of garden have lots of mature trees and shrubs. A private walkway that leads to the lake needs clearing.
It’s hard to overstate the beauty of the Curraleigh setting. Robert O’Keeffe of Irish & European is selling Knockfree and he says the site, in Dripsey, is “the best inland site I have seen in 20 years”.
“I’ve been to most houses around the lake and this is the best view. A site like this won’t come up here for another 50 or 60 years,” he says.
The land runs right back to the Inniscarra Dam, as Harry bought 14 more acres as an investment. It was used for a time by horse breeder, the late George Williams, who bred the 1974 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Captain Christy at his stud in Inniscarra. Agricultural land, it’s under permanent pasture and may suit a family with equine interests.
The land has its own access from the main road and enjoys a southerly aspect, with extensive north-south water frontage. It’s for sale for €250,000, as a separate lot, or jointly with the house, which has a separate guide price of €795,000. While the setting is rural, Cork city is just a 20 minute drive away. A bus stops at the top of the road, which is how the kids travelled to school in Bishopstown. Ballincollig town centre is 10 minutes by car. Inniscarra Lake/sailing club, Muskerry Golf Club and the National Rowing Centre are all easily accessible.
Miriam’ s parents enjoyed Knockfree for 40-odd years but both have passed away and it’s too big for her. She has her own home and runs Hilser Bros in Bandon.
She will miss Knockfree a great deal.
“I have wonderful memories of summers with the cousins, playing in the pool and eating outdoors and our Pyrenean Mountain Dog having the run of the place.
“But most of all, I will miss the sunsets,” Miriam says.
Setting is hard to beat. A family home worth the effort if you can afford the upgrades.
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