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IF YOU can afford the €3 million or so to buy it, the good news is…you’ll be able to heat and power your new home in Cork’s Lee Valley thanks to nature’s bounty.

Dripsey Castle Estate main house dates to 1777
Dripsey Castle Estate main house dates to 1777

A Munster riverside estate with 18th-century mansion, a 15th-century castle, land and buildings once associated with the Colthurst family of Blarney Castle fame, is right on trend in these energy and cost conscious times:  it’s carbon neutral, and generates enough power under its own steam to be comfortable to live in, and comfortably able to sell energy back to the national grid.

Hot to trot in a cool kitchen: it used to be the ballroom
Hot to trot in a cool kitchen: it used to be the ballroom

Able to stand on its own feet energy-wise is the Dripsey Castle Estate, on a tributary river of the River Lee in Co Cork, half an hour from the city and international airport, fresh to market this week with a €2.95 million price tag.

It’s got a 600-year-long, proud and sometimes bloody history, from McCarthy clans and Muskerry Lords, to Bowens, Colthursts, and the O’Shaughnessy family of Dripsey Woollen Mills, who bought it exactly a century ago, in 1922, and who sold it in 2014 for a recorded €2 million, on 110 acres.

Dripsey's Carrignamuck Castle dates to the 1400s as a McCarthy Lords of Munster Castle, one a number which included Blarney Castle
Dripsey’s Carrignamuck Castle dates to the 1400s as a McCarthy Lords of Munster Castle, one a number which included Blarney Castle

Set on the Dripsey, from the Irish Druipseach for ‘muddy river’, the estate generates hydroelectric energy from turbines by a weir;  heating comes from a wood gasification furnace, utilising wood from the 70-acre estate’s natural woodland cycle, and water comes from a private well allowing the compact residential landholding estate to claim top marks in the sustainability stakes and is, says selling agent Pat Falvey of Lisney/Sotheby’s International Realty, “carbon negative, it’s energy bills are unbelievably low and there’s the capacity to sell power back to the grid.”

He’s selling for it very, very  private buyers of  2014, a family said at the time to have been “international, based in the UK but with Cork connections”. At the time of that sale, all of the interest was from overseas, and it was reckoned refurbishment could cost as much as the €1.9m/€2m purchase price all over again.

Hallway
Hallway

Now, as a finished entity done to an international standard – think London interior design vibes meet Irish country house – its next occupants could come from anywhere, upriver, downriver, up country, over the border or water, a Brexit evacuee, a European fearing war times in the east, or a US buyer wanting a castle, with a luxury home 100 metres to the idea.

Or, paradoxically, a person who wants a mansion with low, low running costs – almost domestic, as it were.

How much was lavished on its renewal isn’t divulged (it might be vulgar, in fact, to pry) but it’s surely well north of €1 million, and possibly a multiple of that.

Think Grand Designs, on a grand scale, all overseen by a specialist conservation architect, and the work also saw the complex of courtyard buildings also reroofed and secured for future generations, and even further new uses.

Period detail and finery
Period detail and finery

“Dripsey Castle House is a historical home with a sustainable future,” says Pat Falvey of the new Lisney alliance with Sotheby’s International Realty. It’s their second major Munster/Co Cork offering since mid-summer, following the arrival of the far larger (24,000 sq ft) Longueville House near the Blackwater and Mallow to market with a €7 million price guide.

Dripsey Castle Estate and its €2.95m AMV chimes with the very recently concluded sale of the CastleGrace estate near Clogheen, Co Tipperary, offered several years ago with agent Michael H Daniels on 120 acres with several cottages, on the River Tar and, coincidentally, it also offered a hydro-electric power source. 

Castlegrace shows on the Price Register at €1.2m, but the overall price with the full tally of the land was closer to €3m, it’s reported locally with its buyers coming from North America. Mr Daniels declined to confirm the full selling price.

New meets old as Crittall windows make themselves at home in former ballroom annexe
New meets old as Crittall windows make themselves at home in former ballroom annexe

Back at Dripsy Castle Estate, the asking price just shy of the €3m mark is for the fascinating mix on 70 acres: 40 more acres of land is available at an additional sum if buyers want more, but if they don’t, then local Lee Valley farmers and neighbours “will snap it up,” says estate agent Pat Falvey.

Of the 70 acres, there’s lots of water and woodland, abundant wildlife and there are 20 acres of productive pasture, which will qualify for certification as fully organic within the next year, adds Mr Falvey.

A bathroom
A bathroom

There’s a herd of Boer goats grazing here at present, a large breed from South Africa and well-regarded for meat quantity and quality. the low profile owners have also grazed a herd of Belted Galloway cattle here according to Facebook posts, which also briefly listed portions of the estate and especially the 15th-century Carrignamuck Castle as an exclusive wedding/photography venue during Covid-times.

Who does what, next, why, and where they land up from is as yet a moot point.

Patio links to courtyard and 1.5 acre walled garden
Patio links to courtyard and 1.5 acre walled garden

But, the sale prospects appear high given the energy sustainability, the historical legacy, the many buildings including a  turreted gate lodge, other lodges, the vastly upgraded main Georgian era residence, and the five-storey 15th-century tower house, re-roofed in recent years, with several vaulted levels and chambers, and with an array of windows including one tall one from Aghabullogue Church.

The tower, Carrignamuck Castle, dates to the 1450s and was built by Cormac Laidir McCarthy, Lord of Muskerry. It suffered bombardment 240 years later, in 1694, by Lord Broghill and was forfeited by the McCarthys, and was later restored in 1866, with fireplaces inserted and windows enlarged.

Vaulted chamber in tower castle with window from Aghabullogue Church
Vaulted chamber in tower castle with window from Aghabullogue Church

It moved into the Bowen/Colthurst family after the marriage of heiress Jane Bowen (writer Elizabeth Bower was related) to John Colthurst of Blarney Estate and castle, consolidating links between the two castles north east of Cork city, and Bowen came from Oakgrove also along the Lee by Killanardrish: the more modern Oakgrove House shows this year on the Price Register at €2.2 million, having also featured in Irish Examiner Property several years ago.

The Bowen/Colthurst alliance saw the main 18th-century three-storey Georgian home built around 1777, described by Frank Keohane in his excellent The Buildings of Ireland: Cork City and County (Yale University Press) as a seven-by façade with “advanced pediment three-by centre with a central, round-headed first-floor window, mixed with other outsized Venetian and Diocletian window on the stairs, and substantial halls, also noting some detailed dentil and plasterwork, including a sunburst centrepiece in a drawing room.

One of the eight en suite bedrooms
One of the eight en suite bedrooms

Rooms here now include eight bedrooms (reduced from nine in previous ownership,) now all en suite with elaborate wetrooms; two have spa bathrooms, and bathing options include jetted baths under gothic windows, or dramatically sited cast iron ones, with steam facilities, enclosed WCs and a range of radiators, including vertically mounted specials.

Reception rooms under a mix of contemporary lighting span the drawing room, a library with extensive shelving, a music room, a family room, a snooker/games room and a home cinema.

Piece de resistance is the conversion of a side,  former 19th-century ballroom to an enormous kitchen and dining space with tall, projecting square bay with walls and ceiling painted an inky blue/black, with black Crittall style steel windows and door to the main drive. It has orange units and other free-standing large presses within, plus enormous table seating up to 20, narrow, strip maple floor (sprung) and 21st-century industrial-style lighting running off exposed galvanised metal trunking for cables etc.

Night rate? Sleep a bit more easily knowing the property geneartes its own heat and power
Night rate? Sleep a bit more easily knowing the property geneartes its own heat and power

This party-friendly former ballroom, now over-scale family kitchen, was used decades earlier by the O’Shaughnessy family for staff parties during the heyday of the woollen mills at Dripsey. That family’s business was founded in 1903 when existing local former flour mills were turned to weaving wool, and founder Andrew O’Shaughnessy also saw the business grow to take on mills in Sallybrook and Kilkenny, exporting widely, and employing hundreds into the first half of the 20th century.

Weir with turbine
Weir with turbine

It was in O’Shaughnessy hands that the electricity-generating turbines on the Dripsey river first went in, possibly around the 1940s/1950s, exploiting the expertise of engineers at the mills.

A fine catch. Angling for new owners on the Dripsey river
A fine catch. Angling for new owners on the Dripsey river

There are fishing rights on the Dripsey river too, notes selling agent Pat Falvey with a particular personal interest as he’s a competitive international angler when not landing wealthy clients, adding “the mellowing sound of cascading water flowing over the weir is never far away.”

The river, weir and slender crossing are visible from a public road, and a turreted gate lodge signals the entrance to the estate of house and castle and lodges within, which say Lisney SIR are centrally located on the grounds, with the castle on a high bluff or rocky promontory, for defensive reasons – as were the other 15th century McCarthy castles, include Blarney in its early, pre-tourism and stone-kissing honey-pot days.

House and courtyard buildings
House and courtyard buildings

Of the main Georgian era house, Dripsey Estate’s sales spiel says there’s a “delightful juxtaposition of a 20th-century wing comprising a spacious contemporary style kitchen space. Fully renovated by the present owners with a specialist architectural company to embrace the original period features while seamlessly incorporating modern facilities and design,” and they add that it’s fully wired for internet, with wifi connectivity throughout.

Then, behind a patio terrace sheltered behind the house links to a 1.5 acre walled garden, and onwards to a gym, an art studio and the cobbled courtyard of stone-built structures, now reroofed, dating to the same late 18th days as the residence, in local purple coloured sandstone.

How many did you say were coming for dinner?
How many did you say were coming for dinner?

The owners of the past eight years have been busy on house, buildings, castle and lands, showing a deft touch, advised by consultants but with an urbane décor from personal taste and “sustainability has been foremost in the renovation,” thanks in no small part to the presence of a small lake, weir and turbine and wood gasification furnace, generously supplied by windfall trees (lots of beech, but there a lovely mix) from the grounds.

The private well-sourced water is treated, pressurised and circulated all around the house for balanced water pressure and instant hot water….not a bad boast for a place with eight en suite bathrooms and big, big baths.

Slices of history, for sure
Slices of history, for sure

Creature comforts extend to the creatures outdoors, too, with river/water meadow and lake, as well as well-timbered parkland and grazing supporting a wide variety of habitats.

Birds present include sightings include the expected waterfowl, as well as birds of prey and even a nesting pair of peregrine falcons, while fauna includes rabbits, foxes, badgers and red squirrels, plus an occasional pine marten.

On the smaller level, insect life is said to be healthy; a mycology report listed over 50 species of mushroom and fungi, and cultivated beehives fed from soon-to-be certified organic and wildflower meadows produce abundant honey, whilst the walled garden has mature apple trees.

Lesser buildings also see a gardener’s cottage, needing restoration (at last! Something to do!), and there’s even a castle folly in woods by the house, known as Owl’s Tower.

VERDICT: Should generate lots of interest…..

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