25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Former school house turned four-bed in Wexford is a lesson in sympathetic renovation
Address: Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford
Asking price: €375,000
Agent: DNG McCormack Quinn (053) 912 1977
Based on a true story, the movie A Love Divided made international headlines on its release in 1999.
Set during the 1950s in the Wexford town of Fethard-on-Sea, it charted the backlash against a young Protestant mother Sheila Cloney (née Kelly) and her Catholic husband Sean Cloney, when the couple defied the local priest's insistence that their children be raised in the Catholic faith – a diktat that ultimately prompted Sheila to leave Wexford with her children rather than comply.
Starring top stage and screen actors Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) and Orla Brady (Star Trek: Picard), the film is widely considered an important piece of historical cinema, capturing the religious strife that beset the nation, and its impact on families and communities.
In the heart of Fethard-on-Sea, a coastal village in 'the sunniest corner of Ireland,' the former Protestant national school is now a stylish family home.
Dating back to the 1800s, the 2,550 sq ft property is steeped in history, yet while it has been restored and upgraded with underfloor heating, an air-to-water heating system and a toasty B3 BER, it's lost none of its original character and heritage.
High vaulted ceilings with timber beams, exposed stone walls and a flagstone floor in the entrance hall are among the period features you'll find here.
The former classroom is now a spacious kitchen/dining/living space. There's a utility room, guest WC and two bedrooms at ground level, while stairs with a lift lead up to two more bedrooms (one en suite) and a family bathroom.
