Fall asleep to the pulse of the lighthouse in the Kerry bolthole of Charlie Chaplin’s daughter.
This tiny storied house is for dreamers with deep pockets who have a love of the wild Atlantic landscape and its widescreen sea views.
On the side of a bóithrín, on Valentia Island’s northside, with views to its historic lighthouse, Dohilla is one of six coastguard cottages.
The one-bedroom, one-bathroom detached property, which belonged to Charlie Chaplin’s actress daughter, Josephine Hannah Chaplin, offers a great sense of escape from the freneticism of modern life.
Address: Dohilla, Valentia Island, Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, V23 YH21
Asking price: €205,000
Agent: Kerry Property Sales
Situated at the foot of Geokaun Mountain, the highest point on the island and the location of the island’s slate quarry, the oldest one in Ireland, it offers compelling views.
On a clear day, you can see north to Dingle Bay, the most southerly of the Great Blasket Islands, Inis Mhic Uibhleáin, once owned by former Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey. At night you can fall asleep to the pulse of the lighthouse.
But before you get too excited, you should know that it’s a tigín, a tiny house, for it extends to less than 50 square metres, including its mezzanine.
The back story is a big part of its appeal. The property was bought by Charlie Chaplin’s daughter in the 1990s.
The American-born actor was the sixth of eleven children fathered by the legendary silent film star.
Charlie Chaplin was aged 53 when he married her mother, his fourth wife, Oona O'Neill. She was aged 18 and a daughter of American playwright Eugene O’Neill.
They married in 1943 and remained married until he died in 1977.
As a co-founder of United Artists, establishing the studio alongside Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith, in 1919, toothbrush moustachioed, bowler hat and bamboo cane-carrying silent movie star, returned to Ireland following a recommendation by Walt Disney in 1959. He had first visited as a teenage music hall act in 1905 and toured the country.
Josephine spent summers as a child in Co Kerry at a house in Waterville that The Little Tramp rented. He loved to fly fish on Lough Currane.
She first appeared on screen aged three, in her father's 1952 film Limelight. In 1953 the family moved to live in Switzerland, to Corsier-Sur-Vevey, near Lake Geneva, following public outcry over Charlie Chaplin’s penchant for teenage brides and amid the McCarthy era in the United States. Their former home is now a museum.
She also appeared in the Charlie Chaplin film A Countess from Hong Kong in 1967. She went on to work in British, Italian, German and Canadian films, but was best known for her work in French films. She starred in L’Odeur des Fauves with Vittorio De Sica and Maurice Ronet, the German-language version of Jack the Ripper with Klaus Kinski, and in Daniel Petrie’s The Bay Boy with Liv Ullman and Kiefer Sutherland. She also starred in Pier Paulo Pasolini’s The Canterbury Tales.
From its western tip, Valentia Island has views of the Skelligs, immortalised in the Star Wars franchise, and while it feels remote, it is connected to the mainland at Portmagee by a bridge.
Which is a good thing, for you will need easy access to all sorts of building materials. Having to haul them in by ferry would only increase already extremely high refurbishment costs.
The house needs complete modernisation. Its pink sandstone flagstone floor is still intact, and there is lime plaster still affixed to the walls. All will have to be stripped back to the stone and insulated with a breathable material capable of withstanding the salt and batterings the exterior will endure during the winter storm season.
There is a loft, a mezzanine level above that traditionally would have been the warmest spot in the house. This is accessed by a very narrow set of stairs.
It has plenty of charm and good volume within. Its vaulted ceiling rises to the roof ridge.
Would-be buyers should know that the piece of land to the left of the property as you stand facing the door belongs to the neighbouring property. It means any extension ideas you might have had will need to be to the other side and to the back of the property, which includes about 800 square metres of land leading up to the foot of the mountain.
The septic tank is also located in a field that does not belong to you, so some legal wranglings will need to take place to ensure you can continue to have permission to use it, or you will need to install your own.
It is being sold by her son Arthur Gardin. Agents Kerry Property Sales is seeking €205,000.
