A farmer’s farm has come on the market in Co Offaly. It’s all of 221ac in one block and it’s good land. Then there’s a modest three-bedroom bungalow and a simple-enough cattle yard, also not too big. That could be right up the alleyway of a farmer who wants land to expand but who already has a house and yard and who is not looking for a period house or romantic castle.
The farm is the former Kilclare Demense Estate at Durrow, and it is being sold by James L Murtagh Auctioneers. It’s going for auction and the guide price for the entire is €2m. That’s €9,050/ac, including the value of the house.
Kilclare is between Clara in Co Offaly and Kilbeggan in Co Westmeath. It’s 4km from Clara, 5km from Kilbeggan, 11km from Tullamore and close to the M6 Galway to Dublin motorway.
The farm was originally owned by the Armstrong family who were involved in linen production from the mid-1700s on. Linen at one point accounted for over half of Ireland’s total exports. The remains of their family home – Belview House – is on the farm. It was built in the mid to late 1700s and was a notable house with a large surrounding estate. The estate was divided in 1912 under the 1909 Land Act, with much of it sold, and the house was subsequently abandoned.
There are also two walled gardens, stone boundary walls and a folly in the form of a limestone round tower, like an older monastic round tower but built in 1817. The original, elegant, bell-shaped entrance with wrought-iron gates is also there and still in use, running up to the farmyard.
The land
The 221ac is all in one rectangular block bounded by the Brosna River on one side and a local road at the other. In all, there is close to 1km of road frontage. The land in the area is free-draining and good-quality. The farm is all in permanent pasture. An esker crosses part of the holding and is believed to contain significant sand and gravel deposits. The farm has been run extensively in recent years.
The bungalow in the yard was built in the 1970s and is 1,400ft2 in area. It has a sitting room with open fireplace, a kitchen/dining area, a bathroom and three bedrooms. There is also a garage measuring 7m by 3m. The house is structurally sound but will need refurbishment and modernising.
The yard lies behind the house. It has a four-bay hayshed with full lean-to on each side. Two further lean-to sheds adjoin on one side and finally adjoining them in turn is an open, three-bay storage shed. The sheds are all in good working condition.
The farm will be offered in lots and the entire, as follows. Lot 1 will be the house and sheds on 23ac including the ruins of Belview House and the walled gardens with a guide price of €239,000. Lot 2 will be c96ac with a guide price of €850,000. Lot 3 will be c103ac with a guide price of €910,000. Lot 4 will be the entire. The auction takes place in the Tullamore Court Hotel, and online on LSL, on Friday, 7 July. CL
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