Near a Viking stopover, charming €595k Bere Island home can be your very own Valhalla
Clues to a Viking stopover are on your doorstep at lovely Seahaven
Seahaven, Ardaragh East, Bere Island, County Cork. Pictures: H-Pix
Fri, 23 Oct, 2026 - 06:05
Catherine Shanahan
Bere Island, West Cork
€595,000
Size
172 sq m
(1851 sq ft)
Bedrooms
4
Bathrooms
3
BER
A
Swarms of Norsemen — Erling Haaland types, only handier with a coastline than a football — left their mark on Bere Island, a tiny islet (55 sq m) with sizeable Viking credentials.
Some of the handiwork of these fearsome seafarers can be traced from a home called Seahaven, a delightfully renovated ruin-cum-new-build overlooking Lonehort/Longphort Harbour, where those same hardy sailors are believed to have sheltered their longboats.
Whether Bere Island doubled as a base for raids on the mainland is up in the air, but there are tantalising clues as to what the Scandinavian coastal traders/raiders got up to during their island stopover. In an impressive piece of early medieval engineering, they created a substantial artificial breakwater to deflect waves and protect vessels entering the harbour using stones quarried from a nearby headland and dumped on the seabed.
Discovered by an underwater team from Queen’s University Belfast, working alongside archaeologists from UCC in 1995, it emerged that they also excavated the shoreline as evidenced by a hollow found above the high-water mark which the archaeologists identified as a ‘naust’. For those unfamiliar with Scandinavian maritime culture of the Viking age, a naust is a purpose-built boat shelter for storing or repairing vessels and the dimensions of the Bere Island find suggest it could accommodate a long boat.
Forget Sutton Hoo — a trip to Bere Island will teach you just as much.
All of this stoney evidence — along with the name of the harbour itself, Lonehort, which is Norse in origin — suggests that our Scandi friends sailed into Bantry Bay, and spent a fair bit of time there, leaving a lasting mark by adapting the harbour to make it safer for boats in the longterm.
It’s an intriguing tale for history buffs and one the owners of Seahaven like to share. An appreciation of the past is evident in their own Bere Island home, an amalgamation of expertly renovated ruin and substantial new build, on land that once belonged to the vendor’s uncle. She has fond memories of playing around this former “ruinous dwelling” in the 1970s, near her mother’s homeplace on the same part of the island, Ardaragh East. Eager to retain the connection, she bought the 1.3 acre site and ruin from her uncle in 2011, with a long term plan to retire there.
Some years later, Glengarriff-based planning and architectural consultants John J O’Sullivan & Associates were hired to come up with a design that would unite the old stone ruin with a new build to create a high quality hybrid. What they produced — with the help of island-based building contractor Ability Contracting Ltd — is quite delightful: a four-bedroom property with a zero-walls policy across the main daytime accommodation where a vaulted ceiling with feature beams adds height and volume, and where a handmade stone fireplace is a striking focal point.
Kitchen, dining, and living are in an unbroken run in the new single-storey extension, which faces south, towards historic Lonehort Harbour and Bantry Bay and Sheep’s Head Peninsula. For those unfamiliar with the West Cork landscape, this is a good as it gets, and trust me when I say it gets quite spectacular in places. Think mountains (Hungry Hill), sea (Atlantic) and all the rugged beauty in between. It's photogenic on a National Geographic level.
Seahaven, a roomy 172 sq m property sits comfortably into this fabulous landscape, and it’s an unpretentious, warm, inviting, home designed to keep life simple. Two ground floor double bedrooms to the rear of the new build each have their own en suite; one also has a walk-in wardrobe.
The remaining two double bedrooms are upstairs and downstairs in the renovated ruin, which also has a back kitchen, which makes it ideal for visitors staying over as it creates a sense of privacy for both guests and home owners. There’s a guest loo nearby too, just off the entrance hall, which separates the old ”ruin” from the new build. A pantry/utility runs along the back of the hallway.
The land Seahaven is built on is wrapped in a storied past: previous owners included members of the clergy (a Reverend George Tate) as well as up standing members of British high society (a Lord Charles Pelham Clinton who transferred it to her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State in 1894). When the British government finally handed back the Treaty Ports — among them Bere Island — in 1938, the British flag was lowered for the last time at Fort Berehaven on Bere Island and Irish forces took control.
The Irish government subsequently acquired the land Seahaven is built on and the vendor’s uncle bought it in 1981, having previously held it as a weekly tenancy from the Department of Defence. It’s on the south eastern side of the island, near Lonehort Battery, a legacy of British presence, that includes two six-inch artillery guns, an infantry trench, engine house, and various underground structures.
The southeastern side of the island is “the best side”, says Lawrence Sweeney of Savills who is selling the property of behalf of the couple who barely had a chance to relish it.
Despite building it for their retirement, their enjoyment of it was shortlived as one of the two developed an ongoing medical condition, prompting a move closer to family.
The house they leave behind — only completed in August 2026 — has lots of little luxuries retirees would enjoy such as underfloor heating and terrific insulation, all feeding into a super-efficient “A” energy rating.
Essentially brand-new, it’s generating interest “above and beyond what you might normally expect this time of year,” says Mr Sweeney, adding that the good weather has been a help.
“I expected a moderate response, but it’s been busy all week with viewings, with more booked next week. I think the fact that it’s a brand new house on an island where most of the housing stock is much older is a big factor. Add in that it’s the finished product, A-rated and on 'the right side of the island' as everyone tells me, and you can see why the interest is so strong.” US-based buyers are particularly keen, and there are enquiries too from international agents, as well as buyers from Cork, Dublin and those living locally.
“We are seeing people looking at it as a second home, which may eventually turn into a permanent home”, says Mr Sweeney.
It’s appealing too to those in the market for a holiday home suitable for use by extended family. Given all Bere Island has to offer, there’s something for everyone in the audience: spectacular views, breathtaking walking trails (Seahaven is on the Beara walking route), and a rugged coastline (nearby access to Lonehort beach and harbour and endless scope for on-the-water activities ). Add in the island’s rich history and the scope to get kids off their phones (who wouldn’t be seduced by tales of longships, even if Seahaven does have E-fibre broadband) — and it’s easy to see what is whetting buyers’ appetites.
All it takes to get there from the mainland is a short ferry crossing. A service run daily year-round, with one route linking the island to the harbour town of Castletownbere and the other from Rerrin village to the Pontoon near Glengarriff and beside Berehaven Golf Club. A freight service also operates between the island and mainland.
VERDICT: You’d put up with four walls and a leaky roof in a setting as special as this one, but the good news is you don’t have to. If you fancy getting away from it all, Seahaven is the perfect escape — timeless charm and modern luxuries in a truly knock-out location.
