On the right track for €1.75m
CO MEATH was once criss-crossed by railway lines until the arrival of the motor car and bus service put paid to its viability. It may be called back into service sooner than we think.
The line between Drogheda and Navan bisects a 102ac residential farm for sale at Drumman in Co Meath. Once a thriving passenger line it was part of a busy rail network connecting Navan with its hinterland and had spurs to Kingscourt and Oldcastle with another to Trim and Athboy and on to the mainline to the west. In recent years it has been used to transport zinc ore from Tara Mines to Drogheda.
Drumman farm is neatly divided by the line into a 58ac and c.44ac parcels with plenty of accommodation given that the farm comes with three residences. Located 4km from Duleek, 12km from Drogheda and 47km from Dublin Airport, the property is on the market as an entire or in a range of lots with a guide price of €1.75m set by selling agents, Savills.
Dating back to the 1700s, Drumman was completely restored in 2002. It is approached by two avenues from different roads, with the main tarmac roadway meandering through the lands over a hump-backed railway bridge to the front of the house which is set in lovely mature gardens with fine stands of trees. The second avenue leads to the house through the farmyard.
The residence, which maintains many of its original features such as ornate plasterwork, includes a drawing room with timber floor, a wood -burning stove and a carved timber mantelpiece.
The dining room is also timber floored with a carved mantelpiece and leads on to the kitchen which is fitted with traditional units, a Belfast sink and a granite worktop.
There is also an office, a guest WC, a cloakroom and a fully equipped utility on the ground floor. Upstairs are three bedrooms, a bathroom and a master bedroom with ensuite.
The property has a renovated stone gate lodge that is in itself a fine house. The accommoda- tion comprises an open-plan living room and kitchen, a solid-fuel stove and some lovely features including a fully-fitted new kitchen, a bathroom and utility room. There are two bedrooms, one ensuite.
Another building on the property with residential potential is the sporting lodge that was used as a clubhouse for the shooting range, but could be converted.
The yard is made up of a mix of traditional and new buildings, with the old courtyard containing a two-sto- rey structure with a range of rooms, including store rooms, workshops, a tack room, an old cow byre and an open lean-to suitable for machinery storage.
A large, more modern barn measuring about 45’ x 110’ is located to the rear of the yard and includes concrete walls and floors and cladding. The lands, extending to 102ac, surround the property and are of good quality, free-draining soil presently laid out in good-sized divisions.
Well fenced and looked after, the ground is mainly in grass with about 11ac in tillage and 8ac in forestry and natural habitat.
A single railway line to Tara bisects the farm leaving 58ac at one side and approximately 45ac at the other. The land can be sold in lots according to these divisions, with the house, yards, outbuildings and sporting lodge on 58ac as one lot, while the 45ac portion of tillage and grass makes up another.
The gate lodge can also be sold on its own and the last lot comprises the entire.