Stout foundations in Celbridge
OLDTOWN WOODS Celbridge, Co Kildare Asking price: From €285,000 Agent: Coonan Property (01) 628 8400
August saw the death of Desmond Guinness, a greatgreat-great-great grandson of Guinness brewery founder Arthur Guinness, who was born in Celbridge. As an heir to the Guinness brewing fortune, Guinness used his wealth to help establish the Irish Georgian Society with his first wife Mariga. With the help of a loan from his father, the colourful aristocrat acquired Celbridge’s Castletown House and 120 acres of land in 1967, after finding it in a state of dereliction, with its doors hanging open, and set out to rescue it.
The 18th-century pile, Ireland’s earliest and largest Palladian-style house, was eventually bought by the OPW, which continued the restoration of the house and its land.
By the 1960s, Celbridge was earmarked for rapid growth, and the first housing scheme, Castletown Estate, was built in 1975 along the edge of the avenue leading to Castletown House. In the subsequent 30 years, more than 30 housing developments were built in
Celbridge, cementing its status as a commuter town.
Now the Cork-based O’Flynn Group is developing some 250 homes in Celbridge at Oldtown Woods, which is off the Oldtown Mill Road and Shackleton Road. The development mostly comprises two, three and fourbed terraced houses, as well as three and four-bed semi-detached properties.
There are about 35 houses for sale in the initial release at Oldtown Woods, which launches this week. The two-bed mid-terraced houses each span 915 sq ft and cost from €285,000 apiece, making them attractive to local downsizers and first-time buyers.
The starting prices for the three-bed semi-detached properties, which extend over 1,200 sq ft, range from €385,000 to €395,000, while the four-bed semis, which have 1,441 sq ft of space, are priced from €430,000.
Designed by Cork-based Hogan Architecture, the contemporary-style houses have front elevations finished in a mix of stone, brick and render, and there is powder-coated steel to the front and side railings.
There are high-performance doubleglazed UPVC windows throughout, and a composite front door. The front driveway is cobblelocked and there is post-andpanel fencing enclosing the back garden
and its paved patio. Inside, there are high ceilings to both the ground floor and the first floor, and underfloor heating throughout the ground floor. In some of the houses, there are glazed doors to the main reception rooms.
The kitchen, which is supplied by Co Wicklow-based Fitzgerald Kitchens, is in a painted shaker style and comes with a countertop, as well as soft-close doors and drawers.
Appliances such as a hob, a dishwasher, a fridge-freezer, an oven and an extractor fan are included in the kitchen if buyers return signed contracts within 21 days. To the rear of some of the house types, large aluminium sliding doors open out to the garden.
The separate utility room comes with fitted units and a countertop, and there is a centralised shut-off station for all services located in the utility room.
Upstairs, there are fitted wardrobes from Cawley’s Furniture to two of the bedrooms. The main bathroom, the guest WC and the ensuite to the master bedroom all have contemporary-style sanitaryware and floor tiling. The ensuite comes with a large walk-in power shower, a fitted shower screen, and tiling to the shower enclosure. The heating and hot water at the A2-rated houses is powered by an A-class air-source heat pump.
Oldtown Woods is a 25-minute drive away from Dublin — traffic permitting — via the Celbridge interchange on the M4 motorway. The 67 and 67X Dublin Bus services go to Merrion Square and UCD Belfield, while the Bus Éireann route 115 goes to Connolly Station. There is also a feeder bus from Celbridge to Hazelhatch train station, which is 3km from the town.
Viewings of the two Oldtown Woods showhouses, which were fitted out by House & Garden Furnishings, are by appointment through joint agents Coonan Property (01) 628 8400 and Lisney (01) 638 2700.