Transformed fishing lodge in picturesque Limerick village could be yours for €2.25m

IT WAS John Donne who penned the poem “No Man is an Island” but he hadn’t seen Island House in Castleconnell.

The six bedroom Greek Revival style luxury abode overlooking the Shannon has been brought to the market this month by Murphy Gubbins Auctioneers. They are guiding at €2.25m.

It is thought that it was built in 1826 and was described in 1837 as “a handsome newly erected cottage on the island”. The island is formed by an ‘anabranch’ of the River Shannon and is accessed by a stone castellated bridge.

The village of Castleconnell is a stroll away yet you feel like you are in a world of your own hidden behind mature trees, stone walls and electric gates on the nine acre Cloon Island or in Irish Inis-cluan – the island of the meadow.

The house was originally built as a fishing lodge for a Welsh coal mine owner. By 1866 it was the last residence of Sir Richard Donnellan de Burgo, 4th baronet, who originally owned large tracts of Castleconnell. When he died in 1873 the title became extinct.

When the current owners bought Island House in 1985 from a Mrs Levy, the house was in good condition but was old fashioned in layout, with bedrooms both upstairs and downstairs. Also, because the kitchen was downstairs and the dining room upstairs, there was a dumbwaiter for bringing the food up from the kitchen.

In 1989, a major building project commenced to transform the house into a home suitable for modern family living. The six bedrooms and three bathrooms are downstairs.

The kitchen and reception rooms are now all upstairs to maximise the views. And if you enjoy a glass or red or white while enjoying the sight and sounds of the Shannon there is a wine cellar. 

A study created between the valleys of the roof and accessed by a spiral staircase case is particularly suitable for modern remote working. It’s not a bad home to be working from.

Unique touches are a two-storey conservatory and an upstairs balcony with double stairs to the garden. And if you are working from home at lunch time you can clear your mind on the beech walk along the riverbank.

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The price Island House realises will be an insight into the higher end of the market in Castleconnell. Property in and around the village is much in demand.

A detached house guided at €335,000 recently sold for €412,000, according to the Property Price Register.