Constructed in 1849 for Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, Guilcagh Church and Rectory were designed by well-known Clonmel architect William Tinsley. He also designed the local police barracks before he, his wife and nine children emigrated to the United States in 1851 as a result of a decline of business due to the famine.
Tinsley designed a substantial number of college buildings in the US, including Bascom Hall, the iconic centrepiece of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He fathered 17 children by three wives before his death in 1885, and part of his legacy in Portlaw, Guilcagh Rectory, has now been launched to the market, though estate agents Brophy Cusack, seeking €600,000.
When its current owners purchased the house in 2008, “it had been lived in by an elderly man who had spent most of his life here. It was pretty much untouched and needed a lot of work”.
The part of the house you see on one level (to the right of the entrance) was almost completely rebuilt: “We took out all the stone, beams, windows and tiles and stored them while we knocked down and installed new foundations. This goes to explain why the house has a B3 Ber, which is an excellent reading given its age (as a protected structure it is technically Ber-exempt, but the owners wanted a reading after installing so much insulation).
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Much of the character in this four-bedroom 251 sq m (2,701 sq ft) property has been preserved including its original casement windows (with their original glazing) along with beams and original ironmongery.
Internally lots of stone is now exposed with materials supplied by the Traditional Irish Lime Company in Tullow: “It was done so well on day one all those years ago that it needed little or no pointing, while externally the lime render meant the building was breathing.”
Some of the rooms have their original pitch-pine floorboards, and the building retains its original front door in addition to four original internal doors.
“Again it was so well built originally, where we now have Velux in the kitchen were originally Victorian skylights. What was also incredible was the old part of the house had a damp-proof layer in a line of slate so damp was never a problem. We went overboard on insulation, and every window to the back is double-glazed, so it feels like a new build”.
It’s a most interesting house, not just that it was well built in 1849 but the exposed walls, double-height atrium and bright kitchen really add to the place. Four reception rooms in the form of a livingroom, good-sized office, lounge and dining area sit off a double-height vaulted ceiling reception hall.
Upstairs there are four double bedrooms, and the principal has two walk-in wardrobes and is en suite.
Lying on an acre of grounds just outside the village of Portlaw, it has a paved courtyard to the rear and three stone outbuildings including a garage. A garden path leads across the road to Guilcagh Church, which was constructed at the same time by the same craftsmen as the rectory.
The owners love their home office and kitchen which overlooks a 200-year-old oak tree where gulps of swallows and swifts flitter about the place having returned home for the summer.
A mixture of a bygone era and contemporary comforts, the property was last on the market in 2011, but failed to sell. With that recession well and truly over it has now been launched again and will appeal to those who want a home with a difference.
