Pictures speak louder than words at for sale Chaplin Cottage 

Christened Chaplin Cottage by Josephine Chaplin, the richness of the setting more than compensated for the low-key nature of the property, which has just come to market for €205,000.

“The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury,” was one of many memorable Charlie Chaplin observations, and perhaps his daughter took it to heart when she bought this tiny, whitewashed, weather-beaten cottage on Kerry’s Valentia Island.

Christened Chaplin Cottage by Josephine Chaplin, the richness of the setting more than compensated for the low-key nature of the property, which has just come to market for €205,000.

About 100-years old and in a row of about half a dozen homes that were at one time Coastguard cottages, the stone-hewn building has been in Chaplin family ownership since the 1990s, but remains relatively untouched — perhaps because they had a second home on the Kerry mainland, in nearby Waterville, another exceptionally lovely setting on the Iveragh Peninsula.

Chaplin Cottage is being sold now by the late Josephine’s son, Arthur Gardiner, who remains a regular visitor to Waterville, although his mother passed away in 2023.

Charlie Chaplin walking along Waterville Strand while enjoying his summer holidays in the early 1960's in Waterville, Co Kerry. File picture: Harry MacMonagle

Auctioneer Pauline Sugrue is handling the sale and she says the dramatic setting, on the headland of Dohilla, with jaw-dropping views across the Atlantic and towards the historic Valentia Lighthouse, would have made a big impression on Josephine.

“The Chaplins purchased extra ground to the rear of the cottage too and it goes all the way back to the foot of the mountain, measuring c 800 sq m,” Ms Sugrue said.

The agent added that while the cottage requires extensive internal renovation (vacant property grant?), it presents a “wonderful opportunity to restore a piece of Valentia Island’s rich heritage” — not to mention sharing in the legacy of one of the most globally recognised and culturally enduring figures of the silent movie era.

The legendary British-born actor, comic, and filmmaker was introduced to Waterville by his good friend Walt Disney, who recommended that he pay a visit, which he did in 1959.

He fell hook, line, and sinker for its knock-out natural beauty — not to mention the chance to go salmon fishing away from the public glare. He stayed at the Butler Arms Hotel and returned there almost every summer for the rest of his life, bringing his wife Oona O’Neill — daughter of celebrated Irish playwright Eugene O’Neill — along with his children, including Josephine.

She later recalled that her father loved Waterville, not just for its unspoilt beauty, but because it was a place where he could simply be himself rather than ‘Charlie Chaplin the movie star’.

The affection in which he was held in the village is captured in a life-size bronze statue of the actor on the village promenade, as well as at the annual Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival, established in 2011, with the support of Josephine, who passed away in Paris two years ago, at the age of 74.

while the cottage requires extensive internal renovation (vacant property grant?), it presents a 'wonderful opportunity to restore a piece of Valentia Island’s rich heritage'.

She was also an actor, and appeared in films from a young age, including her father’s Limelight (1952), and later worked in French, Italian, British, German, and Canadian films.

The cottage she left behind has just one downstairs open-plan room, with flagstone floor and open fireplace, and a loft, as sleeping quarters over head. A bathroom was added on.

There may be scope for a new owner to do more to the rear. Other houses on the row have been upgraded and extended to make the most of the views and are all used as holiday homes. Holidaymakers are spoilt for scenery, and there are some nice swimming spots, at Glanleam Beach, or around coves in Knightstown.

About 100-years old and in a row of about half a dozen homes that were at one time Coastguard cottages, the stone-hewn building has been in Chaplin family ownership since the 1990s.

Beautiful Ballinskelligs beach is a 20-minute drive away. Other notable attractions on Valentia Island include the dramatic Geokaun Mountain and Cliffs; the Tetrapod Trackway, one of the world’s oldest fossilised footprints and the historic transatlantic cable station, where the first successful permanent telegraph cable between Europe and North America came ashore in 1866.

• Catherine Shanahan is Property Editor.