Unique Cork home with private church gate hits the market for €560k

This well-kept Ballinlough home, with private church access and a large garden, offers peace, charm, and potential

Kiln an Oige on  cul de sac on Dunmore Lawn has Our Lady of Lourdes churcn next door. Agent Michael McKenna guides from €560,000

Ballinlough, Cork
€560,000
Size	132 sq m (1,320 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	2
BER	e2

THE location of Kiln an Oige was a godsend for its lifelong owners —it’s right next door to the RC Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Cork’s suburban Ballinlough, with a gate into the church grounds from the home’s garden for its owners, regular Mass-goers.

Large gardens

Set at the end of a cul de sac in Dunmore Lawn, it was named after the devout believers’ 1951 honeymoon hotel in Portrane, Northern Ireland, and was the ‘forever’ home of Séan and Nora Holland and their four children. Mrs Holland lived here independently until her passing in 2023 at the age of 101 years, capable up to the very end and enjoying sitting in her home looking towards the church, notes a son.

'Nearer my God to thee?' Church proximity mattered hugely to owners Nora and Sean Holland

The well-kept house on a large, tucked-away site was extended at ground level a decade or two ago for a bigger, brighter kitchen/dining area, underpinning and drains work was done prior to that, and it also has two reception rooms and a ground-floor bathroom.

Above are three bedrooms and a second bathroom, and the c 1,300 sq ft + home has oil heating, fireplaces, and double glazing, with a E2 BER for the moment.

On mature gardens of an eighth of an acre and which for decades grew abundant vegetables but was later lawned in the main, Kiln an Oige is guided at €560,000 by estate agent Michael McKenna, who says the location has just about every amenity, while the setting is very quiet and that the garden size allows for extensions.

A site recently sold alongside, with work just started on a single, two-storey house designed by Cook Architects.

Dunmore Lawn, a hill between the Ballinlough and Boreenmanna  roads, has little traffic and this is even more quietly set in a tiny cul de sac.

On the doorstep are primary and secondary schools, playing pitches and parks, O’Driscolls supermarket, and it’s within a walk of the city centre too.

Dino Cregan, then Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney and Brendan O'Driscoll at Taste of Christmas Event on at JJ O'Driscoll's Store, Ballinlough Road, in 2012

VERDICT: Will be the answer to someone’s prayers.