The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Viewing heaven
MÁIRE MHAC AN TSAOI’S FAMOUS WEST KERRY CHILDHOOD RETREAT, ‘THE LAST HOUSE BEFORE AMERICA’, GOES ON THE MARKET AMID GREAT INTEREST, WRITES
THE ruin of the former west Kerry cliff-side holiday home of writerMáire Mhacant Saoi has been attracting international attention since it was recently placed on the market.
Built on a spectacular quarter-acre site on the edge of the Atlantic near Dún Chaoin in the early 1920s by her uncle, Monsignor Pádraig de Brún, ‘Tigh na Cille’ will go to online auction on July 9 with a starting bidding price of €120,000.
The small wooden-framed structure, with three brick chimneys, boasts spectacular views of An Bhlascaod Mhór and Dún Mór Head, and is just a 10-minute walk from the famous Kruger’s Bar.
Ms Mhac an tSaoi, who celebrated her 98th birthday in April, is the widow of the late Conor Cruise O’Brien and daughter of former Tánaiste Seán MacEntee.
Her mother, Margaret Browne, was a sister of Fr de Brún, and he had the house built for the MacEntee children so they could spend summers growing up in an Irish-speaking community.
Selling agent Mr Anthony Fitzgerald of Fitzgerland Estate Agent in Dingle said that, due both to its history and location on the edge of one the most westerly points of Europe, the property has been attracting interest from as far away as North America and the UK.
He understands a member of the MacEntee family sold on the property in recent years and he has been asked to handle the sale on behalf of the current owner. “The property is famous for its spectacular views, its popularity among the literati and is conveniently located to many amenities in the area, including The Great Blasket Interpretive Centre, Kruger’s Pub and Dunquin Pier and Ferry,” he said.
Admitting the house is in a dilapidated state, Mr Fitzgerald added that, historically, planners favour granting permission for developments on sites which have an existing structure.
“That (state of the house) has not put off potential buyers. Indeed, there has been very strong interest since it was placed on the market from people in America, the UK and from all over Ireland. This is a unique, historical property, the likes of which rarely come on the market.”
Fr de Brún – a priest, scholar and well-known academic administrator – was taught maths by, and later became a close friend of, Éamon de Valera.
He is said to have cycled to Dún Chaoin to find solace following the execution of his friend, Seán MacDiarmada, and fellow revolutionaries in 1916.
It was in the early 1920s that he built Tigh na Cille (The House on the Old Church Site), which he used during college holidays as the base for his studies and compositions in Irish.
In her 2003 memoirs ‘The Same Age As The State’, Ms Mhac an tSaoi described the house, built within an old religious settlement, as a modest, red-roofed bungalow ‘clinker-built of creosoted timbers to a Scandinavian plan’.
“It was, and remains, the most westerly dwelling on the mainland of Ireland, ‘the nearest house in Ireland to America’, as we would proudly assert as children.
“The house was built for us, his sister’s children, so that we would grow up speaking Irish naturally, in completely Irish-speaking surroundings,” she wrote.
The house was designed by the family’s close friend, the architect Tom Cullen. “Our bungalow was crested black on the outside with a green front door and white framed windows; it had a brilliant red, felt, pyramid roof and was anchored to its foundations by two massive brick chimneys; it looked like a child’s drawing of a very pretty house,” she added. For further information on the property, log on to www.westkerryproperties.ie or contact Fitzgerald Estate Agent on (066) 915 2684 or (087) 657 7369. Joint selling partners, The Munster Property Auction, can be contacted via www. munsterpropertyauctions.ie or 021 234 9696.
THE PROPERTY IS FAMOUS FOR ITS VIEWS AND ITS POPULARITY AMONG THE LITERATI