01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Killeagh's No 1 - and it's a contemporary home going for a song
EAST Cork's Killeagh is having its moment of fame.... and here's a high-end home with a down-home price in which to bask in its sudden stardom.
Home to c 1,000 souls, living along the N25 between Midleton and the sea at Youghal, Killeagh took its latest leap to increased recognition and appreciation when the local leg of the 23km-long East Cork Greenway connected in Killeagh along a former rail line, with a trail head link for cyclists, walkers, and buggy pushers to the lovely, local Glenbower Wood.
The Killeaghs? Kingfishr have put Killeagh on the map far beyond East Cork
Then, as if that was an omen of things to come, a song called 'Killeagh', written in 20 minutes about the local GAA club's love of all things hurling, shot to No 1 in the Irish singles charts: it saw the band behind it, Kingfishr, heading two nights at the Marquee, where their anthem rang loud (twice, it also made their encore) as well as raised the roof at the All Ireland Cork-Tipperary hurling final the same month, sadly to no ultimate cup-lifting avail for Cork.
Raise a glass so to Killeagh's Glen Villa, a one-off home created a decade ago for his own family by builder Conor McNamara, of Absolute Homes, who is now selling as the clan enter the college-going years and he's got a site in the city to go again.
'I suppose we got a bit carried away,' he quips of the 3,250 sq ft East Cork home designed by architect Paul Horgan.
The house is full of crisp lines, engaging roofs, ridges and eaves profiles, fine finishes, and smart ideas (sliding 'pocket wall' divide off the kitchen for an out-of-sight work area, anyone?), along with an A2 BER, future proofing and low running costs, plus a site divided in two and giving two access options.
Man cave
There's even a 'man cave' in a garden corner, complete with stove and Jacuzzi for a touch of Love Island meets Big Brother meets Killeagh GAA and the Dissour river valley and all going for a song, relatively speaking?
Glen Villa is fresh to market with East Cork estate agent James Colbert, who prices it at what seems like a modest starter of €675,000 — accepting that it's under the cost of construction for anyone else but a builder to emulate and possibly underplaying Killeagh's newfound popularity?
At the size/price ratio it equates to €2,200 per square metre, at a time when one-off build costs are generally put at €3,000 psm and when Absolute Home's Mr McNamara says that a standard, A-rate bungalow currently costs the bones of €500,000.
Bespoke, like most of his builds, Glen Villa is far, far from bare bones, and was designed by Midleton-based architect Paul Horgan, of Horgan Carroll (now Ailtiri Architects), who got the planning back in 2013/14, when the McNamaras lived in a home next door on Killeagh's Cork Rd, sold to fund Glen Villa.
This house features Horgan's distinctive, exposed roof timbers under eaves, with mono-pitch and flat-roof sections on this deep, broken floor plan, where little or nothing is given away as to the scale of the home from passing glimpses over the front boundary wall on the Cork Rd (a handy back route towards Cork City via Mogeely and then Midleton, which avoids Castlemartyr's traffic snarls).
Finding eaves
It's built 'block on flat' with 220mm of exterior insulation for super warmth, with exact airtightness, Lotus wood panelling, triple-glazed windows and doors from Munster Joinery, heat-recovery system, warm-roof construction (Trocal membrane topped), and Swedish-style Supergrund 'Kore' foundations, typically used for passive builds.
Visited on Friday last with outside temperatures in the mid-20s, Glen Villa was more than warm, with doors pulled back to the vast limestone patio and with views over to the even hotter hot tub and entertainment/relaxation room: Next step, an ice bath?
The grounds are landscaped, with paving, planting at the perimeter, and gravel and astroturf, while a screened rear section is accessed via a gate by the entertainment room and has planning granted for a large garage or possible pod/home office, with independent gate access via Killeagh Gardens, and also allowing for a more greened garden, if next owners so wish.
Accommodation spans four en-suite, first-floor bedrooms, the main one super-large with three floor-to-ceiling windows facing south, while another, with a tall roof pitch, has steep steps up to a mezzanine with clerestory windows, something which will be embraced by slightly older children who'll manage the steps.
Step up?
On the ground floor is a main, open-plan living/dining/kitchen, built with entertaining in mind, plus a second family reception room, a large, airy hall with glass-balustered stairs and service kitchen/utility linking to an integrated garage/hobby room, which is easily converted to more residential usage, if desired.
Fittings and finishes are at the sleek and luxury end of the scale, with granite-topped kitchen units and island.
There's an integrated garage at the front of the house, once you have passed the electric access gates, there's CCTV, a vent by a garden wall for the main living area's wide, integrated flame fire (necessary, as the house is air-tight) and, a first in this reporter's experience, a water trough (for a pet dog) that is self-refilling, and is sort of a canine equivalent of a farmer's cattle trough: 'It's built with longevity and lifestyle in mind,' observes agent James Colbert.
Suite dreams
VERDICT: Killeagh on the crest?
Family living lifestyle in East Cork, near the greenway, with a creche next door, Killeagh village nearby, GAA grounds, and Glenbower wood on the doorstep, heritage homes along the main street, bookended by The Thatch bar, and beaches beyond along the East Cork coastline, all for the price of a decent, suburban Cork City semi-detached house and going for a relative song called 'Killeagh'?
