A small detached cottage built more than 200 years ago is a quirky property that takes its name from the Martello tower next door that was once Bono’s home.
Originally built in 1802 as a guard house for the tower, the cottage itself is very small – but from the bottom of its garden at the back there are excellent sea views over the promenade in Bray.The 51sq m (550sq ft) two-bedroom cottage is for sale by private treaty through HJ Byrne for €385,000.
Martello Cottage is hidden away near the bottom of a short lane – Royal Marine Park – less than a five-minute walk from Bray Dart station: it’s the first turn left just after you cross the railway tracks.
The cottage is freshly painted and carpeted, has central heating and even an en suite shower in the larger of the two bedrooms. But even unfurnished, it feels poky, and new owners might want to open it up inside or even extend the property.
Accommodation includes a livingroom with a bedroom off it at one side, and in a corner, a small galley kitchen.There is also a larger main bedroom and the bathroom. Planning permission for a 278sq m (3,000sq ft) extension was refused in recent years.
There would be room to extend in the lovely elevated garden at the back of the cottage, subject to planning.
The garden is the property’s main attraction: an elevated 30m lawn bordered by bushes that give it privacy ends high over Strand Road below. From a bench here, you can look out over the start of Bray promenade across the sea to Howth.
The cottage is immediately adjacent to the Bray Martello tower, now privately owned but unoccupied. Bono bought and lived in the tower – which has a glass roof – for a few years in the 1980s.
This is Martello tower number two, one of the first of 26 built from Bray to Balbriggan to defend Dublin against the threat of Napoleonic invasion in the early 19th century.
