Lindville's country cousin, Rosewood Manor, is just as sophisticated and less expensive at €1.2m

No 4 Rosewood Manor in Innishannon is spread across two sites making it the roomiest home in the estate

Fri, 24 Oct, 2025 - 06:00

Catherine Shanahan

Innishannon, Co Cork
€1.2m
Size	445 sq m (4750 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	5-6
BER	B2

ROSEWOOD Manor in Innishannon isn’t a dead ringer for Cork City’s Lindville, but it is a country cousin. Both schemes consist of painstaking recreations of a classic Victorian design, plied with 21st century creature comforts.

The only thing ‘country’ about Rosewood Manor, though, is its rural location. While city slicker Lindville is on the upscale Blackrock Rd, Rosewood Manor is on a leafy hillside, above Innishannon village.

That the two schemes look alike goes no deeper than the ambitions of Celtic Tiger-era developers who built what they believed the market wanted: In this case, super-sized, nostalgia-laden tributes to the heft and grace of solid Victorian design. Lindville, delivered in the late 1990s, arguably kickstarted that demand, such was the fanfare around its launch.

Lindville homes on Blackrock Road, Cork city

While some headlines focused on the original developers’ financial difficulties, the houses themselves were the talk of the town. Designed by Hogan Architects to reflect the charms of the many original Victorian villas along the Blackrock Rd, they stood out as a successful blend of modern construction standards wrapped in a Victorian aesthetic. A measure of how well they went down with home buyers is reflected in the dozens of imitation estates that sprung up post-Lindville. While not all matched the Blackrock original’s finesse, Rosewood Manor did.

The history of Rosewood Manor’s development is straight from the Celtic Tiger playbook: It got off to a great start under Kerry builder Brian Gallivan, of Brian Gallivan Developments/KPH Construction, and hopes were high for €1m-plus ‘manor home’ sales. Marketing brochures described them as “premium homes in a private, gated development”, highly insulated, with concrete first floor and stairs and energy efficient, air-to-water thermostatically controlled, zoned heating systems”. However, as happened to so many housing estates following the economic collapse, construction slowed. By 2012, just four of the proposed 14 homes (Nos 1-4) had been built. No 4, the house featured here, was unfinished, when its current owners bought it in 2012. They subsequently bought the undeveloped neighbouring site (earmarked for house No 5) in the hope of combining the two.

With both sites in their ownership, they successfully applied to have the original site boundary altered, to extend the existing dwelling at No 4 and to build a detached garage. They also secured planning consent to convert the attic. No 4 is now a whopping 445sq m (4,750 sq ft), the biggest home in the scheme, but it isn’t shoehorned into the site. At more than one third of an acre (0.36a), the double site can easily accommodate it, and then some. It delivers the kind of space not often found in modern estates.

As it stands today, seven homes in the scheme are finished and occupied at Rosewood Manor, with a further half-dozen in the pipeline under a new developer — Kurland Properties, linked in planning documents to Seward Lynch, formerly of Cork Plastics. Mr Lynch also has involvement in a number of residential schemes along Blackrock Rd.

While Kurland Properties’ new-builds are only now rising from the ground, the remainder of the estate has a mature look. Expensively landscaped gardens front onto a central green and trees are in strong supply around the estate’s periphery.

Tucked into an out-of-sight cul de sac up behind a broader development known as The Spires, on Church Hill, near Innishannon National School, Rosewood Manor is one of the village’s more exclusive developments. Any notion of it being Lindville’s gauche country cousin is quickly dispelled.

No 4 Rosewood Manor is larger than the largest Lindville property. Exquisitely finished and not subject to the Blackrock Rd premium, it’s also better value. In May this year, No 17 Lindville, a 250sq m five-bed property, sold for €1.225m. By contrast, No 4 Rosewood Manor, which is nearly 200 sq m bigger, is guiding at €1.2m.

There’s an overwhelming sense of no-expense-spared at No 4. It’s reflected in both the house design and the impressive line-up of premium brands featured throughout the fit-out. While early homes in the scheme were designed by Barry and Lehane Architectural Ltd, Mark Dignam, of PLM Architecture, (since rebranded as Meitheal Architects) came on board at No 4. The house is superbly laid out. A draught lobby opens into a central hallway that runs the depth of the house, separating day-to-day living from a more formal setting.

The back of the hallway, overlooking a south-facing patio and tree-ringed rear garden, is fully glazed. Light floods in through tall windows that frame the garden view.

A fish pond is embedded in the patio and stocked with koi carp and goldfish

The fronds of pond lilies are visible; a feature pond built into the patio is stocked with colourful koi carp and goldfish who are there to stay.

Inside the window, a giant egg chair is easily accommodated.

Space is at a premium at No 4, accentuated by ceiling height and room proportions. An open-plan kitchen-dining room off one side of the hallway has a partially raised roof above patio doors, where light pours in through a cluster of Velux windows.

French doors off the kitchen to the patio

It’s a favoured spot to linger with a morning coffee. Another set of French doors extends the dining area onto the patio.

The kitchen, by House of Coolmore, features a substantial island topped with quartz, an American fridge, and double ovens.

An adjoining utility provides additional storage.

The dining area flows easily into a family room, the two spaces divided by a Bodart & Gonay, double-sided, solid-fuel stove.

A generous bay window in the family room frames views of the front lawn and cobblelock driveway.

For those who prize quality entertainment space, the main reception room at No 4 delivers in abundance. Double doors open from the hallway into a lounge area with a Wanders wood-burning stove.

Deeper into the room, a side bay accommodates the dining area, set on a rich walnut floor by Bearfoot Flooring.

French doors lead out to a south- and east-facing patio —ideal for morning or afternoon gatherings. Privacy is assured by mature trees encircling the rear of the property.

Expertly landscaped and tiered to follow the natural slope, the garden is a serene retreat with multiple spots to sit out and unwind.

There’s scope for guests to stay over, too. A ground-floor guest bedroom has the benefit of a big bay window and access to a ground-floor shower room from the hallway. It’s a room easily adapted for other uses.

Luxury touches are everywhere in evidence at No 4, down to the light switches and sockets, from Schneider Electric, imported from Hong Kong. Cornicing was commissioned and designed specifically for the house. All bathroom ware and downstairs tiles are from Villeroy and Boch.

Upstairs bathroom tiling is by OB Cork. All internal doors are solid-fire, as part of the fire alarm system. Plantation shutters are solid wood, too, from Shutter, in Co Dublin. Carpets are wool, curtains are handmade — all come from Casey’s Furniture.

Hand in hand with the high-end fittings are high-end finishes. Among the modern conveniences is underfloor heating throughout the ground floor. Bathrooms on the first floor have electric underfloor heating. A solid-concrete staircase does away with the creaks and groans associated with timber.

The main bedroom/suite has a feature electric fire, a dressing room with excellent storage, and a premium en suite with his-and-her wash-hand basins, and a shower unit and WC behind separate opaque doors. Heated towel rails are a feature of all en suite bathrooms — of which there are four in total. One en suite is reached via a walk-through wardrobe. The spacious landing feels like a room in itself and it’s laid out as such, with shelving and seating and a great deal of comfort.

Despite its size, cosiness is a theme at No 4, helped along by underfloor heating and other energy-efficiency measures (BER is B2), like solar panels to heat the water.

Just when you think the house tour is over, the selling agents, Malcolm Tyrrell and John Corbett, of Cohalan Downing, point to additional stairs leading to the top floor and a converted attic space that has to be seen to be believed.

There are three rooms at this level: A laundry room laid out with the professionalism of a boutique hotel; a study and games room that must be the envy of everyone in the park; and a playroom that will blow your children’s minds. For good measure, there’s a gym in the loft above the detached garage.

The agents selling the house describe it as a “remarkable family home” just a few minutes walk from main street Innishannon, where there’s a broadening mix of artisan shops, like Wild Flour bakery — demand there for freshly baked artisan bread is through the roof — and more established venues, like Rohu’s, once a garage, now a country market-style foodie destination. There’s a sense of community about the place, too, buoyed by a diligent Tidy Towns committee, with a multitude of colourful flower displays and floodlit walking track by the Bandon River and a Linen Garden near the riverside GAA pitch to mark Innishannon’s industrial heritage as a village with a linen mill.

Michelle and Thomas Sewell at Rohu's country market Picture: Dan Linehan

Given that it’s only a 20-minute spin from Cork City’s western suburbs and property prices offer better value for money, Innishannon is an increasingly attractive location for those working in areas such as Bishopstown or Wilton or Model Farm Rd, or Cork Airport Business Park. Mr Tyrrell and Mr Corbett expect to see medics and academics among those viewing No 4 Rosewood Manor, as it’s on the right side of the city for anyone working in Cork University Hospital or the Bon Secours or University College Cork or Munster Technological Universiy. It’s a handy spot too for commuting to pharma plant Lilly near Kinsale.

VERDICT: It took a while to get there, but No 4 delivers fully on its Celtic Tiger promise. You won’t get anything of this size/quality for €1.2m in Cork City. Don’t bring the children to the viewing unless you intend to make a serious offer.