Best heritage homes in Ireland

A Medieval Tower with a Classical Companion

Emmel is two buildings and two centuries in conversation. The listing traces the tower house to around 1450 as a stronghold of the O'Carroll clan, and says a classical country house was added in 1683 by 'Long Anthony O'Carroll'. The agent also records the site as a National Monument on the Sites and Monuments Record. Inside the tower, a spiral stair climbs past vaulted chambers and broad hearths to a music room under a double-height vaulted ceiling, with a further stair to the battlements. The house offers a different register: a hall of elaborate plasterwork, a cantilevered staircase, fanlit doorways and sash windows. Photographs show both parts furnished and in daily use, with a garden-level kitchen and oil-fired heating noted by the agent. Woodland, a walled garden and a courtyard of stone outbuildings, one dated 1883 according to the listing, complete a setting near Cloughjordan that feels both defended and domestic.

Five Centuries Up a Spiral Stair

According to the listing, Ballytarsna was built in the late 1400s by Sir William Hackett as a family home. The agent says the Hacketts were ousted by Parliamentarian forces in 1655, after which the castle stood derelict for centuries until an eleven-year restoration, with the main works between 1999 and 2009. It is recorded on the Sites and Monuments Record, the agent notes. Life here runs vertically: a kitchen at the base, a Great Hall with a fireplace the listing dates to the 15th century, bedroom floors with garderobes, and a lofty top-floor suite looking towards the Rock of Cashel. A dungeon lies at the end of a narrow passage. Much of what you see is the work of the modern restoration, and the line between medieval and new stonework is not always easy to read; that layering is part of its story. A detached mews and manicured grounds soften the tower's severity.

A Tribal Family's Parkland Seat

The Tribes of Galway were the merchant families who dominated the medieval city, and the listing presents Castle Ffrench as the ancestral home of one of them. It states the house was built in 1779 by Sir Charles Ffrench, Mayor of Galway, on the site of an earlier castle, and describes it as listed Grade A. Approached, the agent says, a mile up a shared entrance through old trees, the ashlar block appears suddenly in open parkland. Within, a Portland stone hall floor leads to a drawing room whose bays carry octagonal panelled shutters, and an original winding stair rises beneath fine plasterwork. The vaulted basement is the surprise: a working kitchen with flagstones, stone arches, an Aga and a recess holding an old bread oven. A cobbled courtyard, coach house, guest cottage and stables suggest a household that could still run horses, guests and country life together.

Georgian Grandeur on the Black Oak River

Newport House sits at the edge of a Mayo town, its seven-bay front cloaked in Virginia creeper that the agent says turns crimson towards late summer. The listing dates it to around 1785 and notes its years as a country house hotel, a past still legible in the bar, the commercial-scale kitchen and the courtyard guest rooms. The architectural heart is the oval inner hall, where a curved staircase rises to a galleried landing under a great glazed lantern, pouring daylight down through the house. Reception rooms with tall shuttered sashes look over lawns to the river. As a private home it would be generous to the point of theatre, suited to a large family, frequent guests or someone with hospitality in mind. The Great Western Greenway and Clew Bay are close, and the listing describes exclusive fly-fishing on the Black Oak River and Lough Beltra West.

Worth checking: The fishing rights are described by the agent; the listing does not explain how they would pass with the property, or which parts of the grounds and lands are included.

A Wexford Glebe with Its Orchard Still Bearing

Glebe houses were built across Ireland to house clergy of the established church, and they tend to share a calm, square-set dignity. The listing dates Horetown Glebe to 1860, describes it as protected and listed, and says it has been restored with respect for its heritage. The three-bay front, with porch and multi-pane sashes, gives way to rooms with ceilings the agent measures at just over three metres downstairs. Working shutters, stoves in the main rooms and a run of terracotta-floored pantry and scullery behind an Esse-warmed kitchen speak of a house that still works as its builders intended. Outside, the listing points to a stone coach house adjoining the residence, a courtyard outhouse, a substantial greenhouse and an established orchard. A short stroll from Foulksmills, with the south Wexford coast close by, it offers a quiet, rooted kind of country life.

A Named House on the Palmerston Estate

Houses with names carry a particular pride, and Kincora has held its name for a long time. The listing places it on the Palmerston Estate developed by the Dublin builder Henry Coghlan, dates it to around 1888, and says it was one of the first six homes there, keeping the name Coghlan gave it. The current owners, the agent notes, have cared for it for over three decades. Inside, ceilings of around 3.8 metres at hall level frame three reception rooms with marble mantlepieces, elaborate cornices and polished floors, while a top return adds the sense of a house that unfolds as you climb. The south-facing rear garden runs to a reported 133 feet, ending in a garage onto Palmerston Lane that the agent suggests could support a mews, subject to planning. It is a family house in a leafy Dublin 6 setting, ready to be lived in.

An Estate Above the Nore

Dysertmore unfolds slowly. A woodland drive passes a stone gate lodge the listing dates to the mid-19th century, a former workers' village, and a stable yard before the main house appears, dated by the agent to around 1815. A columned porch and fanlit doors open to a grand staircase hall, and photographs show marble chimneypieces, classical arches and fine cornicing in rooms that are clearly lived in. The gardens in front were laid out, the listing says, by Marguerite Solly-Flood, who the agent notes also designed gardens at Mount Juliet. Beyond lie a walled garden, pasture, mature woodland and a path lined with wild garlic leading down to the river and what the agent calls the estate's private boat quay. This is a house for someone who wants to manage land and landscape, not merely own it, with a basement, staff annex and outbuildings offering room for estate life.

Worth checking: The agent states the house needs modernisation, including a new heating system, as background heat currently comes from storage heaters. The listing also notes a right of way marked on its map and confirms there are no fishing rights on the river frontage.

Granite Steps, a Short Walk from the Strand

Granite steps and a fanlit doorway announce a classic Dublin terrace house, set a short walk from Sandymount Strand and the village green. The hall floor holds two interconnecting reception rooms, each with original shutters, a picture rail and an open fire, now arranged as a living room and a kitchen-dining room filled with light. A tall window on the return lifts the stair. The agent notes the front was recently repointed and that the windows are double glazed throughout, and photographs show the period detail well cared for alongside modern bathrooms. The garden level, with its own entrance, works as a self-contained space for family, guests or work. To the rear, a stone-walled lawn leads to a detached garage reached from Beach Avenue. It is a house that suits the rhythms of coastal city life: an evening walk on the strand, the DART, and a fire in the grate.

Crampton Craftsmanship Beside the Park

The listing credits No. 20 to the builders G&T Crampton, and the Edwardian house wears its quality openly: half-timbered gables, a tiled roofline, generous bays and red brick. An original hall door with stained glass opens to an inner hall warmed by a marble fireplace with a brass hood, a detail repeated in the drawing room. More stained glass lights the stairwell, and cornices, picture rails and turned balusters carry the period character up through the house. It sits on the sunny south side of Herbert Park towards Donnybrook, so a front gate leads within minutes to the park's lawns and ponds, while the walled rear garden faces south. Photographs show a well-maintained family home with updated kitchen and bathrooms that leave the joinery intact. It suits a household that wants Edwardian generosity of space with the city on its doorstep.

One of Six Behind a Shared Courtyard

Upper Leeson Street is a busy artery, but No. 67 belongs to a small Victorian group: the listing describes a terrace of just six homes fronted by a landscaped communal courtyard, which gives the approach an unexpectedly private, village-like feel. Granite steps rise to a fanlit door and a hall arch, beyond which two interconnecting reception rooms keep their ornate plasterwork, marble fireplaces and sash windows. The garden level has been opened into a large kitchen and family space, and a bedroom on the hall return steps out onto a balcony over the south-facing garden, which the agent says is bordered by cut granite walls. Its exact date is not given, and some decorative detail may have been carefully reinstated, but the house reads clearly as a Dublin period home. Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club sits across the road, and St Stephen's Green is within walking distance.

A Vicarage Built to Frame the Mountains

In the early 19th century the Board of First Fruits helped fund new churches and glebe houses across Ireland. The listing says Bunavaunish was built with its support in 1819 as a Church of Ireland glebe for the incumbent of Neale Church, and it remains a striking example of that tradition. The agent highlights the design: a T-shaped plan centred on a single-storey porch, round-headed cheek windows at ground level, and window openings that shrink from floor to floor, giving the façade its rhythm. The listing notes the roof was re-slated in natural slate in 2007 and that the house has stayed in one family for over a century. It also cites census associations with the Egan family and with Edward Joseph Conran, an RIC District Inspector. Fallow deer graze the land, and the views reach towards the Partry mountains and Croagh Patrick. A coach house, gate lodge and walled orchard complete the group near Ballinrobe and Cong.

Red Walls and Fresh Thatch in East Cork

Fairgreen Cottage is hard to pass without smiling. Red-painted walls, eyebrow dormers in the thatch and green half-doors give it the look of a picture postcard, yet it is a working home. The listing dates it to around the 1840s, says it was restored in the early 1990s, and notes it was most recently thatched in 2023. Inside, slate flagstones, thick, uneven walls and pine ceilings carry the vernacular feel, while two multi-fuel stoves, one heating the water, keep the cottage warm in a traditional way. Rooms are modest, as cottage rooms should be, but photographs show them furnished and comfortable. The site of around 1.77 acres includes mature planting and a hidden 'secret garden' with views, according to the agent. Knockadoon's cliff walk and the beaches around Youghal and Garryvoe are close, so this could equally suit a permanent home or a long-loved retreat.

A Cast-Iron Balcony Over Cork Harbour

Cobh's waterfront terraces rise in tiers above one of the world's great natural harbours, and No. 13 Westbourne Place has a front-row seat. The listing dates it to around 1855 and says the terrace was designed under a master plan by the architect Decimus Burton. Climbing through the house is a lesson in Victorian hierarchy: a wide curving staircase with a volute scroll, a dining room with a marble fireplace and harbour views, and a first-floor living room whose paired doors open onto a decorative cast-iron balcony over the promenade. The agent reports that the roof has been replaced and the original floorboards restored. Upper bedrooms keep their shutters and fireplaces, and the top rooms look straight out across the water. A private walled garden lies to the rear, and the train station and town are close by.

Worth checking: The listing describes the upper four levels as restored but presents the lower ground floor, which has its own street access, as an unfinished space for future development.

A Guesthouse Pedigree in the County Town

Ivy softens the classical front of this townhouse on a leafy street just off the centre of Portlaoise. The agent calls it 'a true Georgian original', although its exact period is not established and parts of the decoration may be later work in period style. Its recent history is clearer: the listing says Ivyleigh was named Ireland's Guesthouse of the Year by Georgina Campbell in 2011, and that standard shows in the meticulous presentation. Elliptical arches in the hall, ceiling roses and cornices in the reception rooms, and a hand-carved staircase set a polished tone. The guesthouse layout, with en-suites throughout the bedroom floors, gives a family unusual privacy, and the bright lower ground floor could take an office or consulting rooms. The arts centre, cinema and train station are within easy reach, which suits someone who wants period living without leaving town.

A Bifurcated Stair in the Blackwater Valley

A symmetrical, double-fronted house among mature trees in west Waterford, Ballynaparka is described by the agent as a 19th-century Georgian estate of two storeys over a basement. Its showpiece is the hall, which the listing measures at about 40 feet long, and the staircase that splits into two flights beneath decorative metal balustrades. Reception rooms are on a grand scale and keep their ornate plasterwork, deep cornices, pitch-pine floors and substantial mahogany doors, with tall sash windows and working shutters looking over the grounds. Upstairs, photographs show bow-ended rooms and fireplaces in comfortable, lived-in order. The agent notes a modernised heating system combining a wood-fired boiler with oil. A stone-walled garden, woodland and pasture bordering a stream make the setting feel genuinely private, yet Dungarvan and its food culture are only a short drive away.

Thatch and Secret Gardens in Fingal

Thatched cottages have grown scarce within reach of the capital, which makes Genista Cottage all the more appealing. Its white walls, deep-set windows and a curved, arched porch tucked under the thatch give it a gentle, rounded presence among the fields between Ballyboughal and Oldtown. The listing gives no construction date, and the garden rooms and greenhouse are modern additions, but the cottage itself keeps its thick-walled, low-slung character. Photographs show interiors in tidy, walk-in condition, with a separate kitchen, a utility room and a simple timber stair to rooms under the roof. The gardens are the real joy: the agent describes a romantic cottage layout with colourful planting, secluded secret corners and wide lawns. For someone who wants a quiet country home with room to garden, and the airport, Swords and the motorway close by, it is a rare find.

Overlooking the Square Since the 1850s

Belgrave Square is one of Dublin's quieter Victorian set pieces, a green rectangle between Rathmines and Ranelagh, and the listing dates No. 15 to the 1850s. Granite steps climb to a hall of elaborate plasterwork and a banister the agent describes as carved with lion feet. Two interconnecting reception rooms keep their marble mantlepieces, twelve-pane sashes and rich cornices, and on the first floor the principal bedroom spans the full width of the house, looking straight across the square's trees. The garden level has been reworked as a front-to-back kitchen and dining room opening onto the garden, the practical heart of family life here. The rear garden, which the listing puts at around 170 feet, is framed by cut-stone walls and includes a stone shed and a garden room. It is a house where children can grow up between the park, the villages and a long back garden.

Seventy Years in One Family's Care

The listing says St Mary's has been in the same family for over 70 years, and that long continuity shows. Half-timbered gables, pebbledash over red brick and a glazed-roof porch give the detached house a clear Arts and Crafts flavour, typical of late-Victorian and Edwardian villas along Dublin's southern coast. Inside, a tall reception hall and a fine timber staircase lead to a drawing room with a bay window and marble fireplace, a formal dining room opening to the side garden, and rooms that keep sliding sashes, working shutters and panelling. A secondary staircase down to the kitchen hints at how the household once ran. Photographs show a sound, occupied home with some mid-20th-century fittings, and the agent suggests scope to modernise to taste. The walled rear garden is private, and Blackrock village and the DART are a short walk away.

A Villa with a Split-Level Secret

From the gate, No. 20 Mulgrave Terrace looks modest: a low, symmetrical front with a central doorcase flanked by bay trees. That is the charm of the Dublin villa type, which often hides more space than its façade suggests. Here, a wide hall with timber floors leads to a split-level staircase, the defining feature of the design. A drawing room and dining room, linked by folding doors, keep their open fireplaces, cornices, ceiling roses and working shutters, and the dining room has stained glass above its garden doors. Bedrooms on the entrance level, a raised sleeping platform tucked into an upper room, and a lower-level Shaker-style kitchen opening to a walled patio show how flexibly the house is used. Photographs show it immaculately kept, and the town centre, piers and coastline of Dún Laoghaire are within walking distance.

Three Generations on Grosvenor Road

The listing dates Rosaria to around 1874 and says three generations of one family have looked after it for almost a century. A flight of granite steps leads to a fanlit door set in ornate plasterwork, and the hall-level rooms open with marble fireplaces, high ceilings, cornices and a bay window in the dining room. At garden level, the kitchen still holds what the agent calls the original range in its granite surround, a rare survival that anchors the room's character beside modern units, while a conservatory opens to the garden. Upstairs, a gracious front room serves as either drawing room or main bedroom, and an arched stained-glass window lights the return. A south-west-facing rear garden has gates onto Leicester Avenue. It is a family home that has quietly absorbed a century of everyday life, between Rathgar and Rathmines villages.

The Parochial House on Drogheda Street

The listing places this detached house within a mid-to-late Victorian phase of building along Drogheda Street in the centre of Monasterevin. Its most distinctive feature is the full-height canted bay on the front, set off by red-brick string courses against the render. Inside, marble fireplaces with cast-iron inserts, window shutters and cornicing survive in the main rooms, including a bow-shaped sitting room and a matching bedroom above it. The agent notes that the windows are mainly PVC double glazing. Photographs show an intact, roofed house with working services that would suit occupation after a refresh. The setting is generous for a town house: the listing describes a site of around 0.8 of an acre with outbuildings, one with a slate roof. The train station, schools and the town's shops are all within a short walk.

Worth checking: The listing states the house has been vacant for more than two years, and photographs suggest it would benefit from a cosmetic refresh before moving in.

A Meath House with a Dry Moat

Gaulstown is a handsome five-bay house the listing dates to around 1830, set among mature hardwoods in east Meath, not far from the great Neolithic monuments of Brú na Bóinne. An enclosed portico leads to a fine entrance hall, and the principal rooms each enjoy a dual aspect, with cornices, ceiling roses, working shutters and marble fireplaces. Its more unusual features sit below and behind: basement rooms look out onto a dry moat, and the agent describes a tunnel leading from the basement to an adjacent courtyard. Attic rooms add space under the roof. Photographs show the house in excellent decorative order and clearly lived in, with a painted kitchen and Aga. Outside, a cut-stone stable yard, coach house and barn, along with gardens, paddocks and a tennis court, make it a natural home for a family with horses, within commuting reach of Dublin.

Stained Glass and a Restored Hall Door in Dublin 7

This red-brick Victorian house on New Cabra Road shows how careful refurbishment can strengthen, rather than dilute, period character. The listing says it has been extensively and sensitively refurbished since 2015. The original hall door with restored chrome ironmongery opens to wooden floors and a stained-glass bay, and a striking stained-glass window lights the stair at return level. The agent describes double-glazed timber sashes set within restored original window boxes, a practical answer to comfort that keeps the façade's character intact, and a Victorian tiled floor survives in the kitchen beside a solid-fuel stove. A terracotta-tiled path leads to the door at the front, while the planted rear garden, with old brick walls, ends in a garage and home office. Phibsborough, Stoneybatter and the Luas are close, so city life and a family garden sit side by side.

A Bay-Windowed Corner in Portobello

Portobello, by the Grand Canal, is one of Dublin's most characterful Victorian neighbourhoods, and this end-of-terrace house anchors a corner site. Red brick above a granite basement course, bay windows and ornate door surrounds give it a confident front. Inside, a mosaic-tiled hall leads to two reception rooms joined by folding doors, each with a marble mantlepiece, cornice and centre rose, and marble mantlepieces continue into the bedrooms upstairs. The garden level has its own entrance, a living room with a marble mantlepiece and flexible rooms, which together give a household many ways to arrange itself. Photographs show a well-maintained, occupied home. The south-facing rear garden leads to a large garage and store with vehicular access to Kingsland Lane, which the agent suggests offers development potential subject to planning. Schools, the Luas and the city centre are all within walking distance.

A Drawing Room Above the Square

Royal Terrace West is one of the stately Victorian rows that give Dún Laoghaire its formal character, and No. 13 saves its best for the first floor. There, a drawing room with a white marble fireplace, ornate cornicing and a graceful bay looks out over the park in front. Elsewhere, timber mantles with horseshoe cast-iron insets, shutters and a clawfoot cast-iron bath carry the period detail through the house. The hall level holds bedrooms and a study that opens onto a balcony over the garden. The garden level works as a self-contained apartment with its own door, and the agent notes that the internal staircase linking it to the main house remains intact, so the two could be rejoined. Behind, a west-facing garden leads to a double garage on a private lane, part of which the listing says is owned by the property. The town, seafront and DART are a short walk away.

Victorian Front, Modern Heart

Brighton Road is one of Rathgar's quietly grand streets, and the listing says No. 58 is one of only a few homes of its style. The upper floors keep a strong period identity: bay windows, interconnecting reception rooms with marble mantlepieces, cornices, centre roses and picture rails, and a stained-glass window lighting a mezzanine study on the return. The garden level is a deliberate contrast. The agent describes an extension designed by SOSullivan Design, with a double-height kitchen and a living room that opens through bifold doors onto the west-facing garden, warmed by a solid-fuel stove. The old and new parts sit alongside each other rather than competing. A one-bedroom apartment at garden level could, the listing says, be easily reinstated as part of the main house. A garage onto a lane and Rathgar village close by complete an easy family setting.

A Merchant's Villa Full of Limerick Stories

Few houses arrive with a story as crowded as Sunville's, and all of it comes from the listing. The agent dates the house to around 1845 and says it was leased to Edward Cruise of Cruise's Hotel, then home for generations to the Cleeves, the industrial family whose name lives on in their toffees. In 1959, the listing says, the minister Donogh O'Malley and his wife Hilda bought it, entertaining figures from politics and letters. It adds that an 1859 watercolour of the house by John E. Bosanquet is held in the Limerick Museum. Architecturally, a porticoed entrance, extensive plasterwork the agent attributes to 1890s additions, and a two-storey pentagonal bay give it presence. Today it is a richly finished family home, with a burr elm kitchen and a spiral wine cellar, set in walled gardens by Angela Jupe, according to the agent. Apartments and a coach house in the grounds widen its uses.

Sea Light on the Clontarf Road

Mount Vernon faces Dublin Bay across the Clontarf Road, and almost every principal room seems arranged around that view. The listing dates the house to 1843. Granite steps rise to a fielded-panel door under a radial fanlight, opening to a tiled hall and an original spindle staircase. Two interconnecting reception rooms, with gilded coving the agent says has been restored, marble fireplaces and shuttered sashes, look out to sea. Upstairs, the owners have turned a landing and a library into places to sit with the water, Howth and the Dublin Mountains in sight. A modern kitchen at the rear opens to a garden that the agent describes as about 150 feet long over three levels, with a garage beyond. The listing also claims that part of the property includes ownership of a section of the sea. Photographs show a well-kept, much-used family home.

Worth checking: The listing's claim that the property includes ownership of part of the sea foreshore is the agent's statement, and the nature and extent of that title is not explained.

A Sporting Lodge at the Head of the Valley

High in the Dublin Mountains above Bohernabreena Reservoir, Glenasmole Lodge feels much further than the 17 kilometres to the city centre that the agent gives. The listing says the house began as a late 18th-century Georgian sporting lodge and was adapted over the centuries, and its rooms show those layers: a Gothic panelled entrance door, matching bow windows in the drawing room, and a library with a Venetian window opening onto a long veranda carried on cast-iron columns. A carved pine staircase and a secondary stair suggest a house built for company. The agent describes pleasure grounds in the Robinsonian style, after the Victorian gardener William Robinson's idea of exotic planting that looks naturally at home. Beyond lie mountain lands, and a yard with stabling, a coach house and a former staff cottage with a belfry. Photographs show a comfortable, furnished home.

Worth checking: The listing says the mountain land links directly to commonage with walking and bridle routes, but does not detail any rights over that commonage.

A Tipperary Glebe Near Lough Derg

Glebe House at Aglish has the square calm of its type: three bays, a fanlit door at the top of stone steps, and sash windows set in roughcast walls. The listing dates it to around 1820 and notes that it is exempt from a BER as a protected structure. It stands two storeys over garden level, and the lower floor is especially atmospheric, a warm kitchen with an Aga beneath exposed stone arches and brick stove recesses. Upstairs, shutters, fireplaces and cornicing survive in rooms the agent describes as elegantly appointed, and photographs confirm a comfortable, lived-in house with modern bathrooms and wood-burning stoves. A tiled courtyard links the house to a stone coach house converted to residential use. The walled garden holds an orchard, and the shores of Lough Derg and Terryglass are a short drive away for boating and walking.

Arts and Crafts Among Killiney's Gardens

Steeplewood has the relaxed, picturesque spirit of the Arts and Crafts movement: a stone-faced ground floor, half-timbering above, sweeping gables and verandas wrapped around the upper storey. The listing dates it to around 1900 and places it within an Architectural Conservation Area. A herringbone-tiled porch leads to a reception hall where a deep bay with a window seat looks over the gardens, and the carved timber staircase and period fireplaces, including an Italianate marble one in the drawing room, carry the craftsmanship indoors. A recent breakfast-room extension, which the agent credits to the architect Andrew Lohan, adds a vaulted, light-filled space alongside the original kitchen with its Aga. Balconies on the upper floor look towards a church steeple and the Dublin Mountains. Around 1.2 acres of gardens, designed by Martin Brady according to the listing, make it private, and Killiney beach and the DART are within walking distance.

A Bay-Windowed Villa North of Cork's Centre

Roseneath Villas sits on Military Road in St Luke's, within easy reach of Cork's centre, and No. 7 is a characterful late-Victorian house of three storeys. Its brick front, bay window and arched doorway give it a neat urban presence. The plan is a pleasing period one, with the best room placed upstairs: the agent highlights a first-floor drawing room with a marble fireplace, a detail that recalls how such houses were once used for entertaining. Downstairs, a sitting room and dining room are linked by an open arch, and the kitchen keeps a quarry-tiled floor. Cast-iron and older-style fireplaces, pine doors, dado rails and timber floors run through all three levels. Photographs show the house well kept and in daily use. A garage to the rear and separate rear access add practical value to a home that suits city living on a modest, human scale.

Good Bones by the Greystones Shore

The agent says Teevinore dates from 1900 and has been in the same family since 1970. It adds that La Touche Road is named after the La Touche family, who owned and shaped much of the land around Greystones. This substantial semi-detached Victorian house shows its age inside, but the original fireplaces, ornate cornicing, high ceilings, doors and sash windows are still in place, along with a staircase with decorative timber balustrades. Top-floor bedrooms look out to sea, and a terrace reached from the first floor at the rear catches the sunrise. The location is the other draw: the beach is at the end of the road, and the town and DART station are a short stroll away. Off-street parking, side access and, according to the listing, a rear pedestrian right of way to Kimberley Road add practicality.

Worth checking: The agent states the house requires complete renovation throughout. Photographs suggest it is intact and dry, but ageing finishes and services mean a full refurbishment should be expected.

A Red Sandstone Barracks Below Nephin

Across the 19th century, police barracks were built throughout rural Ireland, later passing to the Garda Síochána, and many have the same sober, symmetrical look. This one, near the southern shore of Lough Beltra with views towards Nephin, stands out for its material: the listing describes hand-cut red sandstone and gives a construction date between 1840 and 1897. A hipped slate roof, central chimneys and a porch frame a simple, orderly front. Inside, timber floors, four-panel and ledged doors and a plain timber stair survive, and the photographs show a building that is intact and dry. Stone outbuildings to the rear match the main house. The surrounding landscape of mountains, farmland and forest suits anglers, walkers and cyclists, with Newport and Westport not far away. It would make an unusual, characterful home for someone happy with plain rooms and plenty of history.

Worth checking: The agent presents residential use as potential, subject to planning permission. The current layout has a kitchenette and toilet facilities with electric heating, so turning it into a full family home would be a project in itself.

A Georgian House at the Head of Its Avenue

Stone piers with curved wings mark the entrance, and a mature avenue leads up to a Georgian house the listing describes as two storeys over a basement, set on an elevated site with views over the Offaly countryside near Birr. Its name suggests a clerical past, though the listing offers no history to confirm it. The three-bay front, with stone steps rising to a fanlit door, is calm and well proportioned. Inside, high ceilings carry ornate cornicing, and fireplaces, shuttered windows, panelled doors and a fine curved period staircase remain. Photographs show a roofed, serviced house that can be lived in now, though it would welcome a cosmetic refresh. Behind it, a range of traditional stone outbuildings is grouped around a yard, which the agent suggests could be converted to other uses, subject to planning. Farmland beyond reinforces the sense of a working rural seat.

Roadside Thatch in the Meath Countryside

Behind a low stone roadside wall, Thatch Cottage presents the familiar, comforting silhouette of whitewashed walls under a deep thatched roof. The listing gives no construction date, and the sequence of any later extensions is unclear. Inside, exposed roof timbers rise over the living spaces, and photographs show stone and brick hearths, exposed stonework and arched openings. Some details, such as stained glass and a spiral staircase, may be later additions in a period style rather than original fabric, but they add to the cottage's rustic individuality. The agent describes it as being in good condition throughout, with an open-plan kitchen and dining area, a living room with a solid-fuel stove and modern bathrooms, and the photographs support a home ready for occupation. An enclosed mature garden gives privacy in the countryside around Duleek, with the town's shops, schools and pubs a short drive away.

A Hearth with Its Crane Still Hanging

In rural Irish cottages the open hearth was the household's kitchen, heat and gathering place, with pots swung over the fire on an iron crane. At this cottage near Dunderrow, the listing describes an old open fireplace with its original swing pot and kettle still in place, a direct link to that way of life. The agent dates the cottage to the early 1900s. Whitewashed thick walls, small red-framed windows and exposed roof timbers give the single-storey building an honest, unfussy character, and a simple stair climbs to a mezzanine under the roof. Photographs show it intact, roofed and decorated, though modest in size. The agent frames the site as a development opportunity, suggesting extension and renovation or a new build, so the cottage's appeal will depend on a buyer who values what is already here. Kinsale's harbour, restaurants and coastline are five minutes' drive away.

Two Houses in One Above Cobh

The Manor House has grown in stages, and that growth is part of its charm. The listing dates the original house to around 1830, with a gable-fronted extension added around 1885. The resulting dual frontage, with bay and oriel windows, looks out over the Cobh area. Inside, a curved staircase with wall niches and a timber handrail rises through the house, and original fireplaces, sliding sashes with shutters, high ceilings and a main living room over nine metres long survive. The agent notes that the layout currently allows the property to work essentially as two separate homes, which could suit multi-generational living or a family with guests. Photographs show a functional, enclosed house with working services. Former stables and around two acres of grounds to the rear offer room for further uses, subject to planning, according to the listing.

Worth checking: Photographs show areas needing cosmetic refurbishment and maintenance, and the listing itself speaks of restoring and reimagining the house.

A Double-Fronted Townhouse on Church Road

Springmount House stands on a tree-lined road in the heart of Greystones. Its double-fronted Victorian façade, with a bay window and a fanlit entrance, faces a private front garden. Inside, the living room combines a solid marble fireplace with a shuttered bay, polished floors and a decorative ceiling rose, while the drawing room across the hall has a cast-iron fireplace and built-in shelving. A half-flight down, a kitchen and dining room flooded with light from rooflights are the hub of family life. Upstairs, the house gains height and views: the agent describes outlooks from the upper bedrooms towards the sea, Bray Head, glimpses of Howth and the Sugarloaf, and the former La Touche Hotel. Photographs show it well kept and lived in. The listing reports planning permission for a vehicle entrance, and the DART, seafront and marina are all a short stroll away.

Farm Buildings Turned Home, Linked by Glass

Gortagarry shows what can happen when stone farm buildings are given a second life. The listing says the vendors restored it from the original farm buildings, creating two structures joined by a glass corridor. The main building centres on a massive stone inglenook, with a stove set into the old chimney breast and seating tucked into the hearth, beneath a vaulted ceiling with open timber trusses. The second building holds a dining room and a living room with a picture window framing the countryside. The age and original purpose of each building are not documented, and finishes vary from room to room, but the thick whitewashed walls and low stone massing keep the vernacular character clear. Photographs show a well-maintained home in daily use. Outside, sheds, a workshop and a stable support country hobbies, and the setting near Toomevara enjoys open views.

An Early 19th-Century Villa with a Stone Gate Lodge

Glenair House, which the listing dates to the early 1800s, presents a calm, symmetrical rendered front to its drive, with granite steps rising to a porch canopy and wrought-iron railings. As with many villas of the period, the entrance floor is the formal level, with a garden level below. The agent notes ceilings of around 3.65 metres. A curved wall in the hall and scalloped fan details beside the door add finesse, and the drawing room keeps a white marble fireplace and functioning timber shutters, opening through folding doors to a study with a bow window. The agent says the house sits on a true east-west axis, so the sun moves from the principal rooms in the morning to the gardens in the evening. Downstairs, a new kitchen with an Aga opens to covered terraces. A stone-faced gate lodge with a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace adds flexibility, and Delgany village is within walking distance.

Two and a Half Centuries in One Family

The listing says Teach Duinn Shléibhe has been owned by the same family for over 275 years, an extraordinary span for any home, let alone a stone cottage at the end of a quiet Westmeath cul-de-sac. The restored cottage keeps its thatch, thick stone walls and low eaves, with a stable-style front door opening onto flagstone floors and a wide hearth breast now fitted with a wood-burning stove. Upstairs, rooms under the roof have more modern finishes, but the ground floor holds the old atmosphere. The farmstead is the real treasure: stone outbuildings include stables with cobbled floors, a cow byre with its feed trough, a pump house and a workshop. Around them, woodland of alder and beech, which the agent says was planted about 20 years ago, creates a private wood to walk in. Castletown Geoghegan is about a kilometre away, with Mullingar beyond.

Arts and Crafts on the Burnaby Estate

The agent describes the Burnaby in Greystones as Ireland's first planned residential development, conceived in the 1890s by Elizabeth Hawkins-Whitshed, and dates The Grove to around 1928, a later chapter in the estate's story. The house shows the lasting influence of the Arts and Crafts movement: a sweeping tiled roof with low eaves and dormers, rendered walls and, according to the listing, original leaded steel-framed windows. Inside, panelled doors and timber stair details accompany open fireplaces in the living and dining rooms, with a solid-fuel stove in a further reception room, all under ceilings the agent measures at 2.7 metres. A conservatory and home office extend the kitchen's reach. Photographs show a well-kept, furnished home. The south-facing garden, of just under half an acre with fruit trees, surrounds the house, and the main street, DART and beach are within walking distance.

An Edwardian Farmhouse Between Two Bays

Ballyhitt House stands in farmland near Our Lady's Island, between St Helen's Bay and Carne, with the beaches of south Wexford a few minutes away. The listing dates the farmhouse to 1902 and an extension to 2011. The older house has a straightforward, well-proportioned dignity: a hipped roof, chimneys and symmetrical windows outside, and original fireplaces, cornicing, solid timber floors and a timber staircase inside. The agent notes that the original sashes have been restored, and draws attention to the double front doors with a hand-crafted stained-glass panel. The extension, with a shaker kitchen and a dining room lit by a full-height window, is clearly distinguishable from the original fabric and gives the family a bright everyday room. Photographs show a house in very good order. Stud-fenced paddocks, broadleaf trees and an established apple orchard suit anyone with horses or a love of growing things.

One of a Pair on Ardfoyle Crescent

The listing dates Cúl Árd to 1901 and says it is one of only two three-storey Edwardian homes of its particular design. From the drive, decorative timberwork in the gable and a bay window give it a strong, slightly playful character. The front door opens onto original encaustic floor tiles, and a hardwood staircase sweeps up through all three storeys, linking rooms that keep original fireplaces and cornicing. The agent notes that the main bathroom retains an original 1901 claw bath. Over time the house has been remodelled for modern family life, with more bathrooms, a shaker-style kitchen and a family room with a vaulted ceiling and skylights opening to a private rear garden, while the period features remain prominent. Photographs show it clean and ready to live in. Ballintemple's leafy streets, the Marina walks and the city centre are all within easy reach.

A Protected Terrace House Awaiting Its Revival

Seville Place is a Victorian street close to Connolly Station and the Docklands, and the agent notes that many of its houses have already been carefully restored. No. 6 is waiting its turn. The listing records it on the Record of Protected Structures and describes a very long leasehold interest dating from 1867. Despite years of neglect, much of the essential character survives: a fanlit front door, a timber staircase, multi-pane sashes with panelled folding shutters, marble and cast-iron fireplaces, cornicing and floorboards. Rooms on the hall and first floors are generously proportioned, and the garden level has its own entrance under the steps. A rear garage with lane access adds space. The agent says an earlier planning permission for refurbishment and extension has expired, but its drawings and documents are available. For a patient owner, the reward could be a city-centre family home with genuine historic depth.

Worth checking: The house needs full renovation, and photographs show extensive plaster decay, stripped ceilings and exposed joists in the return spaces. Protected status will shape what work is permitted, and the agent advises bidders to commission their own structural investigations.

A Stone Farmhouse at the Foot of the Blackstairs

At the foot of the Blackstairs Mountains, Mullaunnasmear is the kind of stone farmhouse that once dotted the Wexford uplands. Two storeys with a plain, honest front, it keeps its simple double-room plan, with a living room on one side and a kitchen-dining room on the other. Inside, the photographs reveal exposed stone walls, timber ceiling beams, a large hearth breast, deep window recesses and timber latch doors, all with little modern interference. An old stone shed in front adds to the farmyard feel. Its age is not documented, and the restoration would be comprehensive, but the rewards include a quiet mountain setting and the satisfaction of bringing a vernacular house back to life without erasing its character. Anyone taking it on would need patience with damp old walls and a willingness to install everything a modern home needs.

Worth checking: The listing states complete refurbishment is required throughout, including the installation of services, and photographs show damp and peeling finishes. Access is via a shared driveway.

A Midlands Farmhouse on Athlone's Edge

Clonbonny is a substantial two-storey farmhouse on the rural fringe of Athlone, with a symmetrical front and a central porch that give it a sturdy, welcoming presence. Inside, the traditional plan survives, with separate sitting, dining and living rooms downstairs and bedrooms overhead. The agent emphasises the original fireplaces found throughout, and photographs also show timber-boarded ceilings and the original staircase, features that give the rooms their old-fashioned warmth. A later rear extension and replacement windows are part of its history, but the core house remains legible. Restored with care, it could become a characterful family home that still has fields beyond the window, while Athlone's shops, schools and rail links are only minutes away. The outbuildings and road frontage add further possibilities, subject to planning, according to the listing.

Worth checking: Photographs suggest extensive interior refurbishment is needed, including plaster repair and the upgrading of wiring, plumbing and other services.

A Seafront Shell Facing Rossbrin Castle

Few restoration projects come with a view like this. The farmstead sits on the water at Rossbrin Cove, between Schull and Ballydehob, looking west across to the ruined tower of Rossbrin Castle and out towards the islands of Roaringwater Bay. At its heart is a traditional stone farmhouse that is currently an unroofed shell, its fieldstone walls and hearth openings exposed, waiting for a new roof and a new life. The agent says full planning permission has been granted for its restoration and extension. Nearby, an auxiliary stone building has already been converted into a garage, studio and workshop, which the listing says is currently used as temporary accommodation, a useful base during works. The listing also describes a private mooring, which would make sailing, kayaking and island-hopping part of daily life. This is a project for someone who dreams in sea air and stone.

Worth checking: The main farmhouse is an unroofed, stripped shell requiring substantial reconstruction and full restoration. The planning permission and mooring are as described by the agent, and the terms of the mooring are not set out in the listing.

A Riverside Homestead West of Galway City

Ballynahown is a classic Galway farmstead: a two-storey stone farmhouse with an adjoining barn and the remains of outbuildings set around a central yard, all facing south over around 6.5 acres. The listing dates the house to around 1855 and notes that the Loughinch River forms a natural boundary to the west. It also says the house has been unoccupied since 2011. The agent's description gives the old room names, including a front parlour, a reminder of how such farmhouses were once organised. Full planning permission has been granted, according to the listing, for refurbishment and an extension incorporating the outbuildings, and the agent describes engineer's drawings as complete. The setting feels secluded, yet Furbo's beach is about five minutes away and Galway city around 20, which makes it a compelling prospect for someone who wants countryside, a river and a connection to the west.

Worth checking: No interior photographs were supplied, so the survival of internal features and the condition inside are unknown. The listing says the house needs complete modernisation, and several outbuildings are roofless and dilapidated.

A Hillside Smallholding North of Drimoleague

Closh House is a semi-detached, two-storey stone farmhouse in the hills north of Drimoleague, facing south over views that, the agent says, stretch for miles across West Cork. Its pitched roof, end chimney stacks and stone farm buildings form a classic smallholding group set against the slope. Inside, simple timber panelling and a hearth recall an unpretentious rural household, though later additions such as a uPVC door and lino floors sit uneasily with the stone. The listing presents the property as a compact holding with around 10 acres of pasture, well suited to a hobby farm or productive smallholding. The appeal lies in reviving an authentic farmhouse with its land still around it, a rarer combination than it once was. It is a long-term project, best suited to someone who sees the views first and the work second.

Worth checking: Interior photographs show serious neglect, water ingress, damaged floors and debris. Comprehensive restoration would be needed before anyone could live here, and the stability of floors and upper timbers is uncertain.

A Blank Canvas of Mayo Stone

The agent calls this a blank canvas, and it is an honest description. The traditional stone cottage near Shrule has been stripped back to its rubble walls and exposed roof timbers, with open hearth openings marking where its fires once burned. Alongside stands a stone cart house, a reminder of the farm life that once revolved around it, and the agent mentions new horse stables on the roughly half-acre site. With no modern fittings to remove, a restorer would be building directly on the original vernacular fabric, an appealing prospect for anyone who wants to make decisions from the stone outwards. A corrugated roof covering is a practical holding measure rather than a heritage feature. It could suit someone with an equestrian interest or a long-standing wish to restore a cottage of their own in a quiet corner of Mayo.

Worth checking: The agent states there is no electricity or water supply on site, and the cottage is stripped to bare masonry and roof timbers. Access is by a shared driveway.

A Leitrim Cottage Waiting Out the Weather

This two-storey stone cottage near Ballinamore has the simple, well-balanced front of rural Irish houses everywhere: a chimney stack, a regular rhythm of openings and thick masonry walls. Time has not been kind to it. Photographs show slates missing, sections of roof in decay and vegetation growing inside. Yet the stone envelope, the central hearth opening, ceiling joists and roof timbers remain, and because it has escaped later modernisation, its original character has not been compromised. The agent notes that a previous planning permission and house drawings exist, which could help a buyer think through options, and describes the site as being spread across two folios. Set on a mature plot in quiet countryside, it would suit someone drawn to Leitrim's lakes and walking country, prepared for a serious restoration and realistic about what may need rebuilding.

Worth checking: The cottage is derelict, with decaying roof sections, missing slates and vegetation growing inside. The listing states the earlier planning permission has lapsed.

An Arched Doorway in the Laois Countryside

From the outside, this two-storey stone house at Dunmore near Durrow still looks the part: a slate roof, simple rectangular massing, well-placed windows and a subtle stone arch over the central front door that lifts the whole façade. Inside, work has already begun. The agent says the interior has been substantially stripped back, exposing original stone walls and timber structures, so a new owner starts with the bones rather than layers of later finishes. The main roof remains in place, according to the listing. A gated entrance, a gravelled drive, mature hedging and old stone boundary walls give the small site a settled, rural feel. Durrow's village life is close, Abbeyleix and Kilkenny are within reach, and both the M7 and M8 are convenient, which makes this a practical place to restore and then simply live.

Worth checking: The listing describes the house as currently unsuitable for occupation and in need of complete renovation, with interiors stripped to bare walls and joists, and advises purchasers to satisfy themselves on structural condition and services.

A Roadside Farmhouse Near Ennis

This two-storey farmhouse in Ballyveskil sits by the road in the countryside outside Ennis, with outbuildings beside it. It has the plain, sturdy proportions of a Clare farmhouse, with deep-set windows under a pitched slate roof. The agent describes walls of mixed traditional stone and later block with a dashed finish, a concrete ground floor, and timber joists to the upper floor. Inside, simple timber-boarded ceilings and a straightforward timber staircase give the rooms a modest vernacular warmth. The house is not a showpiece, but it is a real one: a family farmhouse whose layout and character have not been heavily altered. Its location is a strong point, with the national school and village about a kilometre away and the Ennis bypass close for journeys to Shannon, Limerick and Galway. It would suit a buyer wanting a countryside home near town.

Worth checking: The agent describes the house as derelict and requiring complete renovation. Photographs show significant damp and deteriorating plaster, and heating is currently by open fire only.

A Main Street House on the Edge of the Burren

Kilfenora is a small Clare village on the edge of the Burren, known for its medieval cathedral, its high crosses and its long association with traditional music. This detached two-storey house sits right on Main Street. The listing dates it to 1850, and it keeps the plain, well-mannered front of a village house of that era. Inside, solid timber floors, open fireplaces and sash windows in some upstairs rooms survive, though other windows and doors are uPVC. Behind the house, a yard with its own side entrance leads to a cluster of stone outhouses with sheeted roofs, useful as workshops or store rooms. The opportunity is to restore a modest home in one of Clare's most atmospheric villages, with pubs, shops and the limestone landscape at the door, and Lisdoonvarna, Ennistymon and Doolin a short drive away.

Worth checking: The listing states the house needs major renovation to bring it to modern standards, and photographs show peeling plaster, damp and neglected outbuildings.

A Wicklow Cottage with Half an Acre of Wildness

Near Avoca, this small two-storey cottage presents a neat, symmetrical three-bay front with a central door and chimney under a gabled roof. It has the simple, unornamented look that defines rural Irish cottages. Inside, the main rooms keep exposed timber ceiling joists and fireplaces, one with a tiled surround, and upstairs rooms have timber-panelled ceilings and floorboards. The rooms are small, and the kitchen is compact, but the proportions are authentic and largely unaltered. The real space is outside: a mature, sloping site of just over half an acre, with established trees and informal garden areas that a new owner could clear and shape. For someone who wants to build a home slowly in the Wicklow countryside, with the village nearby and Arklow and the M11 within reach, it offers a quiet starting point.

Worth checking: The listing states the cottage has no services and that a well and septic tank would need to be installed, subject to consents. Photographs show severe damp and peeling finishes throughout.

Twin Chimneys on an Elevated Mayo Site

Seen from the air, this cottage near Ballyhaunis is almost a diagram of the Irish rural dwelling: a long single-storey rectangle with gable ends, a simple pitched roof and a chimney stack at each end, sitting on an elevated site in open countryside. The thick masonry walls and direct-entry layout survive, and because the cottage has never been modernised, its traditional proportions remain intact. Its age is unknown, and later cement renders may conceal some of the original fabric. Inside, the cottage has decayed badly, and the roof timbers show advanced deterioration. This is a project for someone who loves the purity of the form and is willing to start nearly from scratch. The agent notes that adjoining farmland is available separately, and Ballyhaunis, Claremorris and the N60 are close.

Worth checking: Interiors are stripped and decaying, there are no services and no septic tank, and the listing states the cottage is offered without planning permission for restoration, renovation or replacement.

A Farmhouse Within Reach of Squince Strand

The coast near Union Hall is lovely, and this traditional farmhouse lies within walking distance of Squince, a shingle beach where the agent says moorings are available. The house keeps its two-storey form, end chimneys, a slate pitched roof and a central porch, the familiar outline of a West Cork farmhouse. Replacement windows have been fitted, and the surrounding vegetation has grown up to window level, but the basic massing remains unaltered. It stands on around half an acre laid out as a paddock, with an outbuilding for storage. Union Hall's shop, restaurants and pubs are about three miles away, with Skibbereen around 20 minutes' drive. For a buyer who dreams of salt air, small boats and a restored farmhouse of their own, it is an evocative starting point.

Worth checking: No interior photographs are available, so internal condition and surviving features are unknown. The listing describes the house as needing extensive renovation and repair, and the exterior shows long-term neglect and render damage.

A Cavan Farmyard with a Stone-Cut Barn

On the outskirts of Cootehill, Corballyquill is a traditional farmhouse at the centre of its working yard. The two-storey house keeps a symmetrical front, a pitched roof with gable chimneys and an attached stone outbuilding. Around a concrete yard stand sheds and, most appealingly, a stone-cut barn that the agent singles out. Some later changes, such as an attached garage and replacement windows, have altered the details, but the classic Irish farmstead arrangement remains easy to read. The listing describes the farmhouse as in need of restoration, mentions many original features inside and says planning permission is in place, without specifying what that permission covers. The setting is peaceful countryside on a site of about an acre, yet the town's schools, sports facilities and major local employers are within a short drive.

Worth checking: No interior photographs were supplied, so internal condition and surviving features cannot be confirmed. The listing says planning permission is in place but gives no detail of its scope.