From derelict to a work of art with a porch by the artist complete with time capsule, Tearmann has an inglenook fireplace and timbers from Croke Park's Hogan Stand. Seeking €595k, it includes a guest cottage, studio, outbuildings and gorgeous gardens, and is 72 kilometres from Dublin.
Want to escape to the country but need easy access to Dublin?
An artist whose work you may recognise rehabilitated this property from a derelict cottage with an asbestos roof to a work-live property on 0.5 acres, just 72 km from the capital’s city centre.
When artist Betty Newman-Maguire was looking for grant funding from her native Meath County Council, she was told the stipulation was that her studio should be located in the county.
So she started searching for a work-live unit.
Address: Tearmann, Castlekieran, Carnaross, Co. Meath, A82 CF98
Asking price: €595,000
Agent: Savills
You may not know her name, but you know her work.
The Viking longboat Báite, on Essex Quay in Dublin, is one of the most readily identifiable. Others include the Maureen O’Hara bust and the Colmcille tree, both in Kells.
When she spotted Tearmann for sale, it was in a parlous state.
The turkey reed thatched roof you see now was covered in asbestos.
There were holes in the walls and the floor, and the outbuildings were in even worse condition.
The house dates back 200 years and is extant on maps from 1802.
What she lacked in expertise she found in the construction professionals she hired.
Master thatcher Jim Feeney did the roof and ridge.
She selected turkey barley as a thatching material on account of its life expectancy, 40 to 60 years, compared to more traditional materials that need to be rethatched every 20 to 25 years.
Locals directed her to salvage merchants.
One supplied beams that came out of Croke Park’s original Hogan Stand; pitch pine lintels came from Fairyhouse Racecourse while the windows were done by Kells Sash Windows.
Stripping out generations of plaster revealed an inglenook fireplace that is now a feature of the house, complete with its original cooking irons.
Inside the main house, a three-bedroom, one-bathroom detached residence of 103 square metres, it is charm personified.
The porch was an addition and was built by the artist.
Made of stone, it has a millennium time capsule embedded in it that includes a photo of her and her family and a newspaper of the day, vacuum-sealed in a butcher’s shop in Kells, which is about eight kilometres away.
The inglenook fireplace is now a key feature of the open-plan kitchen cum living room.
Fireside chairs gather around the hearth, and there’s a Belfast-style sink in the kitchen with stairs to the mezzanine level above where two of the three bedrooms are.
The primary bedroom is on the ground floor and has access to a Jack and Jill bathroom.
In addition to the main house, there is a one-bedroom guest cottage of 94 square metres that has French doors that open out to a terrace.
A separate studio she uses extends to 56 square metres.
There's a two-storey outbuilding, accessed by oxblood red steel steps, that has a further 48 square metres in size.
While it has utilities, it is in need of upgrading.
Tearmann is the name she has christened the property.
“It means sanctuary,” she explains.
And what a haven it is. Now arrestingly pretty thanks to her artist's eye, the property also offers an income stream and a workshop space, all just a 65-minute off-peak drive from Dublin city centre,
