€320k home in Cobh's centre offers panoramic perch for stunning harbour and Cathedral views

A nicely priced home with a view unlike its peers

12 Lower Midleton Street, Cobh, Co. Cork

Cobh, Co Cork
€320,000
Size	96sq m (1,034sq ft)
Bedrooms	2
Bathrooms	1
BER	C

If you could choose any home on Cobh’s Lower Midleton St, No 12 would be the one: it’s the only house in a steeply sloping row of six to have an exceptional harbour outlook, also enjoyed from a gable-end terrace.

Its good fortune is down to the funnel-like shape of the street which narrows on the downhill towards Cobh’s town centre. While the upper end of Lower Midleton St had enough room for two opposing rows of homes, the lower portion didn’t and so the terrace stops right at No 12’s gable end. Glazed double doors in the gable end wall catch every floating skyscraper/majestic cruise liner that glides into the harbour. Even residents of celebrated West View, the Deck of Cards’ homes that back onto Lower Midleton St, don’t have anything like the view.

The double doors were installed by the chap who bought it in 2000, when it wasn’t in great shape. His dad was in the building trade and he was an apprentice, so they got stuck in.

“We gutted it, re-plumbed, re-wired and put in the double doors,” he says.

He reckons the street he lives on is one of the oldest in Cobh and he should know as his own family has roots in the town going back about 300 years. He looked into the history of No 12 and previous inhabitants included the theatrically named Richard Shakespeare whose daughter Mary lived to be 100.

She was due the presidential bounty — a cheque from the president marking her centenary — but her family turned it down, “as it feared knowing her true age could kill her”, according to a news report at the time.

It’s fair to say she would hardly recognise No 12 if she saw it today, because the traditional two-up two down layout is well gone, albeit a kitchen extension was done in the 1960s. The current owner did some more extending during covid, moving a bathroom upstairs. In addition, a new kitchen was fitted, and kitted out with Smeg appliances and a Quooker tap. Two small rooms downstairs were opened into one. Then, a year or so ago, a garden room/office was added on the terrace, tucked away from the main south-facing sitting out/sun spot, and tucked away even further is a sort of indoor/outdoor utility.

Every inch of space is put to work in this immaculate and characterful 96sq m home, where a second bedroom is currently a dressing room and where both bedrooms have windows that look down over Haulbowline, Spike Island, and the wider harbour. Sublime St Colman’s Cathedral looms large in the view too.

Johanna Murphy of Johanna Murphy & Sons brings No 12 to market with a €320,000 guide price which gives first-time buyers a chance. Because of its Cobh location and its turnkey condition, she says it will also appeal as a holiday home.

“Moreover, there’s obvious Airbnb potential, given the demand in Cobh for short-stay accommodation,” the agent adds.

Cobh town centre and the train station are mere minutes away and there’s an excellent light rail service to Cork city. Parking is by permit on street.

VERDICT: Cobh’s celebrated harbour panorama and famous cathedral are in full view from No 12, a nicely-priced neat little gem by the town centre.