Kinard House Ballinskelligs E&V

It was appropriate that the internet thingy and the worldwide web came in handy when it came time to do up this 150-year-old Kerry coastal property during the last few years of global pandemic — because the building itself played a role in transatlantic communications in its own heyday.

Now called Kinard House, this Victorian house was built as the private home of the supervisor for a transatlantic cable laying and operating company which came to seaside Ballinskelligs in the 1870s, one of three such stations in South Kerry, the others being in Valentia and Waterville.

The communications cable service lasted from 1874 to 1922, closing after the cable from Newfoundland to Europe was diverted to Cornwall.

Known for decades afterwards as the supervisor’s house, the quite impressive house later went into a variety of uses, including accommodating guests, before lying idle for a good number more years.

It last changed hands in 2019, as a doer-upper, and was bought by a couple from the UK Ian and Caroline Shepherd who’ve lived in a variety of countries, and who made the leap to Ballinskelligs from their last base, an apartment in Amsterdam.

Chalk and cheese, sort of.

That was just before Covid-19 struck, and between having done jobs to several other houses, and being able to work remotely, they managed over the next two years to totally rehabilitate the Superintendent’s House, from top to toe, and front to back, clearing back the 0.8-acre site which overlooks the sweep of beach, in the epicentre of Ballinskelligs.

A colourised photograph hangs among the many, many strong graphic images on the house walls now, showing it relation to the layout of the glory days of the cable station, its many buildings, and what’s now the well-known Cable O’Leary’s bar and restaurant by the beach.

Other images include poster and art works for movies, from classic like

to more art-house ones as well as modelling images — all a small selection of output from Ian Shepherd’s career as a creative and art director of a number of advertising and marketing businesses.

But, apart from that media/creative side, Ian also has good DIY base which he nurtured while starting to tackle the renovations here (the internet came in handy too for Googling tips), tapping into locally available labour and specialist trades as needed in between coronavirus site restrictions: From the finished product, it appears he and Caroline are sticklers for details and finishes.

They put blood, sweat, and tears into it — quite literally, at one stage Caroline fell through rotten floor boards in a first-floor bathroom annex. Ian went one stap further when he sliced the top off a finger with a circular saw, he needed a trip to GP, then a referral to hospital in Tralee, and a further referral to Cork University Hospital.

He managed to keep most of the afflicted finger and it doesn’t appear to have put either of them off looking for another project, perhaps around Kenmare where they have friends.

They’ve given the sale of Kinard House to Ron Krueger of Engle & Volkers who has recently opened a second office in Kenmare and who’s had a good run of upmarket Ballinskelligs and Iveragh peninsula sales in the last few years.

He pitches the just-completed 1874-built Kinard House at €750,000 and expects overseas/international and relocating interest in the main, saying it’s been “meticulously refurbished to an amazing standard to create a modern, turn-key home without destroying the historical character of the property”.

It has kept original fireplaces, lots of original pine floors, ceiling coving, and picture rails (ceiling heights are excellent at about 10’). Rooms have kept their original proportions, there are bay windows now with seating fitted in, and then, also on the update front, it has new double glazed sliding sash windows in hardwood on chains done by Munster Joinery, a thermodynamic water heating system, gas central heating, and all new bathrooms, fully tiled, with sanitary ware sourced from Victoria Plum in the UK, and Boyles in Tralee.

There’s a fully refurbished white Aga, taken out, carted away to Tipperary to H&F Enterprises who then returned the “heart and hearth of the home” in gleaming, tip-top working condition in the now-open out kitchen/breakfast room, with herringbone floor and spanking new units and tiling.

Another bit of heavy lifting done was moving a very large steel safe from an alcove to pride of place in a snug/den/home office.

A remnant of the days when the superintendent would have used the safe for wages and important document, it had been left locked for decades (a century maybe?) with no key, so Caroline and Ian had to summon a safe cracker/locksmith expert from Dublin to open it up.

In eager anticipation, they had a small work crew, and a few neighbours, invited around for the “great reveal” — which turned out to be a damp squib, as it was entirely empty.

More joy came, however, in things like being able to conserve and repair the original intricate stained, leaded, and painted glass window on the stairs’ return, a perfect match for panels in the front door with depictions of birds, worked on by specialist Glynn Palmer and just recently reinstated in pride of place, gleaming.

The cost was assisted by a small grant organised Kerry County Council’s Heritage Officer Victoria McCarthy, as the property is a protected structure and hence there’s no BER survey needed or done.

The fully finished entity runs to 215 sq m or 2,300 sq ft, with five first-floor bedrooms off a large central landing with feature arch, and at ground are two front reception rooms with fireplaces, rear den/snug/study with fireplace, kitchen/diner, utility/rear porch, guest WC, and the property has fibre broadband and mains services.

The Blue Flag beach is across the road, and while the vicinity is more characterised by holiday homes, there’s a growing year-round population with main services at Waterville and Cahirciveen.

VERDICT: Slice of communication history all updated on the Ring of Kerry, by a beach.

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