Dairy farmer takes home the cream from Laois auction
writes Jim O’Brien. A DAIRY farmer bought Skeirke House on 139ac at Ballybrophy in Co Laois after it was withdrawn from auction last week. The place had been bid to €1.225m.
Located between the M7 and the M8 motorways the farm is 4km from Borris-in-Ossory, 12km from Roscrea and 24km from Portlaoise.
According to Julie Fogarty of Roscrea based selling agents Sherry FitzGerald Fogarty, the holding was a renowned beef farm and had been leased in more recent years.
The property has frontage on to three roads and was available in lots or as an entire. Set in a series of large fields serviced by well-water the land is level, well fenced and in very good heart. It is sheltered by fine stands of hardwood trees and bounded externally by well-trimmed hedges.
Skeirke House is a period residence built in 1760 and is thought to have been the Glebe house for the local Church of Ireland, now in ruins. Set in mature gardens and extended in 1995 it comprises two distinct but inter- connected houses extending to 3,875sqft.
The accommodation includes three reception rooms, two kitchens, a utility, pantry, three bathrooms and five bedrooms.
The yard to the rear of the house is typical of Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian times.
It includes many period features such as stone arches and the original hand pump. Some repair work to the roofs of the outbuildings was completed in recent years.
Auction
Adjacent to the courtyard is a range of farm buildings including a four-bay hayshed, a cubicle shed, silage pit, two crushes and a loose-bedded shed.
At auction last week there was little interest when the farm was offered in lots, the action centred on the entire. It opened at €800,000 and by the time it was withdrawn at €1.225m two bidders remained in contention, a local beef farmer and a local dairy farmer. It sold after auction to the dairy farmer.
Auctioneer Julie Fogarty described the transaction as the most substantial farm sale in Laois this year.