There’s location and location, and then there’s location. Bow Hall has location in triplicate: it is in the middle of the village of Castletownshend; it stands in the prestigious Mall at right angles to the main street; its weather-slated garden front looks directly to the sea in a vista dominated by the pinnacled tower of St Barrahane’s church. Add ornate cornicing and ceiling roses, open fires, original wood and slate flooring, wood panelling and sash windows and it’s clear that period features offer themselves in abundance, indicating authenticity without pretension.
Of the five bedrooms four have views over the sea, one is double-aspect and one is en suite. There are three shower rooms and one bathroom.
For many years now Bow Hall’s central heating has been enhanced by handmade American quilts and walls with alcoves packed with books, so it has never lost the atmosphere of a family home.
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Bed and breakfast
It has been run successfully as a bed and breakfast venue since it was bought about 40 years ago by Barbara Vickery and her late husband Dick, who moved to Ireland from their American home in Minnesota.
Built as a residence for the chief customs officer in the days when spices from the West Indies were unloaded in Castle Haven at the end of the main street (marked by the actual castle), Bow Hall was the customs house for the port of Baltimore.
In addition to the property's 2,800sq ft and half-acre of garden and courtyard is a small stretch of shoreline, perhaps to give the customs officer a mooring, and there is also a natural spring in the grounds. The slate-hung facade is a disappearing characteristic of coastal west Cork.
As a previous owner was admiral Hugh Somerville, the house relates directly to the elite of the village, in which nearly every house is an elite.
The admiral was of course related to the Somervilles of Drishane House further up the hill, the home of Edith, organist and master of the hounds who, with her cousin Violet Martin, made up the paired authors Somerville and Ross.
The Vickerys made a vibrant contribution to life in a village dominated by family names from Townshends to Coghills whose roofs can be surveyed from the walled garden. As it is only two months since 94-year old Barbara Vickery left Castletownshend to join her family in America, the garden, like the house, retains its shape and purpose, divided by box hedges into plots offering further proof of the affectionate husbandry dedicated to this property for many years.
Bow Hall is for sale through Charles McCarthy, Skibbereen, Co Cork, for €1.2 million.
