The sale of Glengarriff Castle, a half-restored pile on 87 acres for €2.7 million (€1.905 million is the listing on the Property Price Register, which is the figure achieved for the building on one acre) appears to have spring-boarded sales of high-profile homes in the west Cork coastal village. Since it sold in 2020, four additional houses near and over the million mark have sold in Glengarriff, the quaint little village nestled between the mountains and the sea on the Beara peninsula.
Lugdine Park, the former home on 35 acres of the late actor Maureen O’Hara, which sold for €1.6 million (for the lands and house) in 2015, was back on the market again in July 2021. It appears on the Property Price Register having sold for €2.525 million in March of this year. The house was largely untouched having been staged for sale, and this figure does not include the 35 acres of land that surrounds the 90-year-old villa.
Silverbirch House and Linden House both appear on the register as having sold for €1.576 million and €1.464 million respectively in 2022, as did a property in Bocarnagh that attained €900,000 in July last year.
The series of high-profile sales in the region is no doubt fuelled by a rush of wealthy individuals in search of safe havens after the pandemic. The latest high-profile house to come to the market is Church House, a converted former Church of Ireland property dating from 1860.
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Extending to 160sq m (1,715sq ft), the unique offering retains much of its original character with wood panelled walls, gothic windows and some attractive stained glass throughout.
The principal bedroom, which is en suite, lies off a mezzanine overlooking a large livingroom downstairs. Of further interest are vaulted ceilings, original doors, a bell tower and a vestry in the Ber-exempt property.
It has three bedrooms in total – two of which are downstairs – a kitchen accessed via the back porch, and a library-sittingroom, which is warmed by a stove.
The church sits on a mature site with specimen shrubs and trees, overlooking Glengarriff harbour. It is now on the market seeking €895,000 through Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill. This figure if achieved, after stamp duty, will add another property to the list of near million euro sales in a village where the population is less than a thousand people, showing the current voracious appetite for coastal properties in west Cork.
