Island retreat with cottage in west Clare for £1 million

A price tag of £1 million has been put on Mutton Island, a 185-acre island off the coast of west Clare. It is for sale through Ennis agent Phillip O'Reilly.

A natural wildlife sanctuary, the uninhabited island was purchased last year by a Belgian businessman based in London, Jacques Alexander.

However, he has now decided not to use it as a holiday home as intended, hence the sale. Situated one mile off Seafield Harbour on the west coast of Clare, the island is about 35 miles from Shannon airport and is ideally reached by helicopter.

With a watch-tower at one end and a cottage at the other, it will appeal to someone who wants total peace and privacy.

Alternatively, it has potential as a holiday venue for wildlife interest groups. The north and western shores are dotted with numerous areas that are home to rare species of birds. However, the prospects for future development are fairly limited. While the existing buildings could be refurbished, and the ruins of two further cottages could be built on, there is likely to be little scope for further building on the island. Mutton Island has a colourful past and local architect and publican Patrick Egan has written a short history of the island. The earliest records date back to 1215, when it was granted to the Archbishop of Cashel by the Normans.

"In the early 1700s, it was used for wine and tobacco smuggling, hence the name of one of its beaches as Port Tobacco Cove. The island was then owned by Sir Edward O'Brien of Dromoland, a well-known customer of wine smugglers," he said. In the late 1700s, a watch-tower and keep were built there by the coastguard to keep vigil for a French invasion. Since then, Mutton Island has had a quiet history. It was continually inhabited up until the 1940s, supporting up to 12 families. Most of the families took a living from the seashore collecting sea grasses that were then processed and exported.

The last of the families left the island in the late 1940s and since then it has changed hands several times. In the 1960s it was part of the Dromoland Castle estate and was visited by a number of celebrities, including John Lennon.