Guide Price:  €575,000

This two-storey, historic property in a most scenic area offers a tremendous opportunity for a restoration project.  It is situated on c. 29 acres with views of Kenmare Bay.  Available in 3 different Lots.  It is very convenient to the thriving town of Kenmare, which has many amenities including a supermarket, post office, school and hotels.  It has frontage to the Clonee River.  Great opportunity for salmon fishing.

BER Rating:  G

Lot 1 The Old Presbytery on c. 3 acres

Lot 2 The remaining lands – c. 26 acres

Lot 3 The entire property

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Mention is made in Samuel Lewis 1837, “A Topographical Directory of Ireland ” that ” at Ardea is a house for the priest, built by the Marquess of Lansdowne, who has also, in conjunction with the National Board, lately erected school houses at Carks and Cloney”.

A structure and outbuildings are shown on the 1st and 2nd Edition OS Maps of the area which confirmed that a substantial building occupied the site prior the Famine. Griffith’s Valuation in the 1850’s recorded a Reverend Callaghan McCarthy as leasing a land and buildings from the Marquee of Lansdowne (the buildings were rated at £5, most of the other holdings in the town land were rated around 10 shillings) and this comparison underlines the significance in terms of size, finish and social standing of the Reverend’s house. The site has an important historical and social impact on the area and the design of the dwelling is very unusual for the locality and makes a unique contribution to the vernacular architectural heritage of the area.

The original Lease from the Marquess of Lansdowne was for a period of 99 years and the lease stipulated that the parish priest or the resident parochial clergy were prohibited during the term of the lease from ever using the premises as a school, barrack, monastery or infirmary, asylum or hospital nor as a shop tavern or public house, nor for the purpose of any trade or business whatsoever nor of any offensive, noisy or objectionable purpose but solely as a private dwelling house as the ultimate successor to the Bishop of Kerry.

While the original lease is long expired the Successor in Title to the Marquess of Lansdowne, the right honourable Catherine Evelyn Constance Baroness Nairne disposed of the freehold of the Presbytery Dwelling House at Ardea and the surrounding two acres to the Bishop of Kerry for the princely sum of £5. Catherine Evelyn Constance Baroness Nairne was the eldest daughter of Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, the 6th Marquess of Lansdowne and the 10th Lord Nairne. She married the third viscount of Mersey and their eldest son is the current 4th Viscount Mersey and the 13th Lord Nairne.

One of the predecessors of Baroness Nairne was Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne (1766 -1845).
Carolina Nairne and her contemporary Robert Burns were influenced by the Jacobite heritage in their establishment of a distinct Scottish identity, through what they both called, national song. Perhaps in the belief that her work would not be taken seriously, if it were known that she was a woman, Nairne went to considerable lengths to conceal her identify (even from her husband) when submitting her work for publication. Early on she called herself Mrs. Bogan of Bogan but feeling that gave too muc h away, she often attributed her songs to the gender-neutral B.B, S.M or Unknown. Many of her songs such as
“Will ye no come back again”, “Charlie is my darling” and “The Rowan Tree” remain popular today almost 200 years after they were written.

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