This historic €335k Youghal townhouse comes with a front-row seat to the sea

The 160-year-old terrace home offers four bedrooms, coastal walks and a potential holiday rental opportunity within reach of Cork city

2 Gibraltar Terrace, Lighthouse Road, Youghal

Youghal, East Cork
€335,000
Size	115 sq m (1237 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	2
BER	C

The national pastime of conflating property ownership with success is neatly illustrated in a genealogy website referencing Henry Long, former owner of a dozen or so homes in Youghal.

“He was an important person who owned much property”, the website says, and while the first half of the statement is opinion-based, his credentials as a housing baron are copper-fastened in his Last Will and Testament of 1906.

He bequeathed entire terraces to his four children, grandchildren and extended family, including five homes on Longsville Terrace, Knockaverry, and four more on Gibraltar Terrace, Lighthouse Road.

The house featured here, No 2 Gibraltar Terrace, he left to his granddaughter, Lizzie Torrens, but alas the complexity of the will led to much disagreement, according to website contributor, Richard John Torrens. It took 14 years after Henry’s death to broker a peace settlement.

As an historical document, the will provides a valuable insight into who once owned and lived on the terrace, where the houses are more than 160 years old, with photographer Robert French to thank for that information as he captured the terrace in black and white in 1865 (see the National Library archives).

It’s an elegant row of townhouses with tremendous sea views, directly opposite Moll Goggin’s Corner where the Moll of the legend waited in vain for her sailor sweetheart to return.

Around the bend is the promenade and a sandy stretch of beach that leads to the Front Strand and beyond that again is the 2km boardwalk that tracks all the way to Redbarn.

Auctioneer Noel Mackey is selling the 115 sq m, three-storey, four-bed home, and he says the location “is a particular highlight”: close to 19th century Youghal Lighthouse (see pic below) and its new viewing platform, and to the new greenway that links back to Midleton. Youghal town centre is a short stroll downhill.

Mr Mackey notes that the terrace has a “superb outlook” and for sure in the frame of ever seaward facing window is Youghal Bay and the green hills of Monatrea, across the bay in Waterford.

Accommodation at No 2 includes kitchen-cum-living and a utility on the ground floor, a sitting room and en suite bedroom on the middle floor and three more bedrooms and a shower room up top. A small rear yard has a storage shed.

The guide price is €335,000, making it a first-time buyer option.

Home hunters looking coastwards and hoping for good value should find much to like here, and it’s certainly a commuter option for those who work in Midleton (a 20 minute spin), while Cork city is a 40 minute drive.

Mr Mackey is expecting interest from overseas clients looking to return to Ireland, from families looking for a coastal family home and from investors.

VERDICT: Lots of options at this property, including as a fulltime residence, a holiday home, or possibly an AirBnB investment, given the superb seaside location.

View this property on MyHome.ie