Address: John Street, Kells, Co Meath
Price: €495,000
Agent: T&J Gavigan
View this property on MyHome.ie
“Many happy years” were spent with his family at his home on John Street in Kells, Co Meath, says homeowner Barney Daly, who is 99 years old.
The children of the town had “no time for me”, he jokes, as he was a dentist and ran his surgery from his home for the best part of 25 years.
Lord Headfort of nearby Headfort House was among his patients, adds Maura, Mr Daly’s daughter.
It was great to live close to the shops, cafes and pubs, says Maura, although her father maintains “I’ve never been to a pub in my life.”
Mr Daly was working in England when his late wife, Niamh, who he was dating at the time, alerted him to the townhouse for sale in her hometown. He returned and purchased it around 1958, he says.
The couple raised their five children on John Street. Mr Daly had met Niamh, a secondary-school teacher, while playing golf at Headfort Golf Club in Kells, and they both went on to become honorary members.
Not in fact a Meath man, Mr Daly is from the “far better county” of Westmeath, he says. His son-in-law, Tom, painted the house maroon in homage to the lake county.
The townhouse couldn’t be more centrally located in Kells, offering potential for prospective buyers to run a business from their home.
A well-maintained Georgian home dating back to 1790, it features sash windows, an arched sash window on the landing, parquet flooring and spacious rooms spread over three floors.
John Street, Kells, Co Meath 
Entrance hallway 
Livingroom 
Arched landing window 
Diningroom
Extending to 172sq m (1,851sq ft), the semidetached townhouse is Ber exempt and has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. It is now on the market through T&J Gavigan, seeking €495,000.
The entrance to the home is through a Georgian doorway framed by columns and a fanlight.
A dual-aspect sittingroom/study occupies one wing of the ground floor, with a diningroom and a bedroom on the opposite side of the entrance hallway.
On the basement level, the kitchen has at its centre a cream four-oven Aga which new owners will likely retain for its utility and vintage charm. An informal diningroom, a utility room and a shower room complete the floor.
Three bedrooms, including the main one which is en suite, occupy the top floor, along with a bathroom.
To the back of the house is a private garden laid in cobblelock paving with a high stone wall and mature planting. There is also off-street parking to the rear.
Amenities in and around the charming heritage town, from where the Book of Kells takes its name, include the Boyne Valley Greenway, an eco-trail at Girley Bog and Headfort Golf Club. Residents can also visit local sites of interest, including the Spire of Lloyd, which is described as Ireland’s only inland lighthouse.
Kells is just off the M3, a 15-minute drive from Navan and about an hour from Dublin city centre. The 109 bus service from the town centre takes about an hour and 20 minutes to reach O’Connell Street in the capital.
Back garden