{"id":140549,"date":"2025-10-23T12:55:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T12:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/140549\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T12:55:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T12:55:18","slug":"landmark-home-and-shop-in-heritage-town-for-e595000-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/140549\/","title":{"rendered":"Landmark home and shop in heritage town for \u20ac595,000 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Address:<\/strong> Main Street, Athleague, Co Roscommon<\/p>\n

Price:<\/strong> \u20ac595,000 <\/p>\n

Agent:<\/strong> DNG Ivan Connaghton<\/p>\n

View this property on MyHome.ie <\/a><\/p>\n

Historic shopfronts, primarily built from wood and plaster, often provide a window to the past, telling the stories of businesses that have traded for generations. Here, in the heritage village of Athleague, Co Roscommon<\/a>, which was the crossing point between the kingdoms of the U\u00ed Mh\u00e1ine and U\u00ed Bri\u00fain \u2013 Connacht\u2019s royal dynasties in the seventh and eighth centuries \u2013 a local award-winning shop front that retains its original Victorian interior, serves as a reminder to a business that once supported some of the largest estates in Co Roscommon.<\/p>\n

Dating from 1863, the historic shop and its associated home \u2013 together termed a \u201cmixed-use property\u201d \u2013 tells the story of the Tiernan brothers who constructed the house, shop and local mill, the millstone of which lies in a cut-stone courtyard to the rear of the property. This home has been brought to the market through DNG Ivan Connaughton<\/a>, seeking \u20ac595,000. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we bought the house, the old grain stores [to the rear of the house and shop] had three coffins stored there, as the business that operated here once had a bakers, drapers, cobblers and undertakers,\u201d says its current owner, Aidan Donnelly, who, along with his wife Patricia, not only restored the house and shop, but also continued its heritage as a shop with their Town and Country Interiors business. <\/p>\n

Old records indicate that the grand estates of Mote Park, Rookwood House and Castlestrange all used the shop, and at one time the property had accommodation to the rear to house apprentices, who came from all over the country to cut their teeth in the art of business. <\/p>\n

Thirty years ago, the Donnelly\u2019s \u2013 both engineers \u2013 spotted the then derelict house and shop, duly purchased the pile and set about restoring the 255sq m (2,750sq ft) late Georgian\/early Victorian property. <\/p>\n

The entire place was gutted; windows were restored and retrofitted with double glazing along with all necessary renovations. They also took up all the main floors and installed underfloor heating, which has been given a recent upgrade, as has the energy efficiency of the house with new solar panels.<\/p>\n

After raising their family, the business expanded into the house, acting as a backdrop to showcase their wares of stripped pine furniture along with arts and crafts. They also expanded into the wonderful cut-stone grain houses to the rear of the property in a south facing courtyard that benefits from 10ft-15ft-high old walls and where the family herb garden now lies. Featuring original stone arches and openings, the couple used it as a further showroom for their furniture. It offers an additional 130sq m (1,400sq ft) of accommodation that could make wonderful guest\/rental accommodation, subject to planning permission.<\/p>\n

The period house, located in a prime location on the N63, just a five-minute drive from Roscommon town centre, has four spacious double bedrooms upstairs alongside a family bathroom.<\/p>\n

Downstairs are two fine reception rooms along with a country-style kitchen, utility room, dining area and office. From the kitchen there is access to the shop: \u201cIt\u2019s like it would have been a hundred years ago; you can sit in the kitchen and see someone coming into the shop,\u201d says Aidan of the glass door linking the kitchen to the shop, which could be closed off if the retail unit was to be rented out. <\/p>\n

\"Hall\"Hall \"ReceptionReception room \"ReceptionReception room \"Kitchen\"Kitchen \"DiningDining space \"TheThe house has two bathrooms \"TheThe house has four bedrooms \"TheThe shop retains its Victorian interior \"FaçadeFa\u00e7ade of the outbuildings \"InteriorInterior of the cut-stone outbuilding, once used as a grain store for the local mill <\/p>\n

Features throughout include original coving, high ceilings, stained glass windows, pitch pine flooring and original sash windows with shutters.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a most unique offering located about a 90-minute drive from Dublin and 50-minute drive from Galway, in a village that took the national award in the All-Ireland Pride of Place Competition 2019 (for communities with a population under 301). <\/p>\n

The couple say they are in the first phase of their retirement \u2013 hence selling the house and shop \u2013 but new owners won\u2019t have to travel far to furnish their new home, as the Donnellys have a second Town and Country Interiors shop in an adjacent property.<\/p>\n

Its Ber is E2, but it\u2019s an old house that could be a superb property for anyone wanting to run their business from home or indeed generate an income by renting the unit out. <\/p>\n

Besides its iconic shopfront, the potential of the cut-stone outbuildings that have a separate arched entrance are endless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Address: Main Street, Athleague, Co Roscommon Price: \u20ac595,000 Agent: DNG Ivan Connaghton View this property on MyHome.ie Historic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,44208,83264,18,43384,19,17,22736,13172],"class_list":{"0":"post-140549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-dng","10":"tag-dng-ivan-connaughton","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-escape-to-the-country","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-new-to-the-market","16":"tag-roscommon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115423590808587239","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}