Biddy Early's Cottage for sale

Carry

Since we have the Mutton Island thread, I thought it might be of interest that the derelict cottage of the legendary Biddy Early is for sale:
http://www.daft.ie/searchsale.daft?id=574749

I live in the area and every now and again tourists ask me where to find the place. Usually they expect a quaint cottage like in Bunratty Folk Park, I suppose, but looking at the pictures they are certainly in for a big disappointment.

It would be a nice little tourist attraction, though, if anyone would rebuild it to its original state, surrounded by a herbal garden and lots of blue bottles full of some of Biddy's "healing potion" or such like.
Maybe even with a summer cafe as well...

Pity I'm poor, I would love to do a project like that...

willow tree

yeah that could be a good idea,... nice setting
i always thought she was from inagh, isn't the brewery named after her there?

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willow tree wrote: »

yeah that could be a good idea,... nice setting
i always thought she was from inagh, isn't the brewery named after her there?

Inagh:eek: No mate....... Feakle,pronounced Faykle:P

Carry

The name for the brewery in Inagh was just a marketing thing. Doesn't exist anymore anyway.

The real cottage of Biddy Early is a bit south of Feakle actually, quite in the back of beyond. You see it on the map on the daft.ie advert.

It's really a shame that who ever owns it never had the idea to develop it to a tourist attraction. Fair enough if they didn't have the money.

But there was a time when money was available for every touristy fancy (Cliffs of Moher anyone?) and East Clare could certainly do with an attraction beyond the scenery. Especially when it's something "magic" or has something to do with a wise woman. Very popular with tourists as an insider tip.

I might ask around and even contact the local priest (though I dispise anything to do with the church). But considering that once a a local priest was crucial to develop the traditional Folk Village in Glencolumcille (Co. Donegal) the local East Clare guy might be usefull for something.
Though he might be opposed to wise women... :pac:

The local councilor is pretty useless, as far as I know him...:rolleyes:

Anyone up for some lobbying and fund-raising?

Save Biddy Early's Cottage?

Some rich Yanks around?

Poxyshamrock

I think I'll buy it and turn it into a Starbucks.

Lady Chatterton

First we had Mutton Island and now Biddy Early's homestead, I do believe that the Clare Forum is turning in to "Daft.ie" :pac: :pac: :pac:

pilate 1

must be tough living in an area where you despise the church. the local councilor is useless and nobody shares your vision of herbal gardens and blue bottles of healing potions. best of luck wit fundraising !
btw people in east clare are very generous most have a strong community

ollaetta

As a young lad in the 70's I remember the previous renovation job on it. One of the Loughnanes was involved? Looked great from a distance all whitewashed and new but I was afraid of my sh*te of it.

No idea what happened it after that, unfortunately. Can't believe the state of it now. You can still see traces of the whitewash in the photos.

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ollaetta wrote: »

As a young lad in the 70's I remember the previous renovation job on it. One of the Loughnanes was involved?

Dr Bill?

Carry

THE HOME of the legendary but often-maligned 19th-century herbalist, healer and “wise woman of Clare”, Biddy Early, has been placed on the market. Its owners are hoping it can be restored and opened as a tourist attraction.

The derelict cottage, on an acre at Dromore Hill near Feakle in east Clare, has been described as being of “considerable significance to Ireland’s heritage and folklore”. It still attracts a “small but steady number” of curious visitors every year.

The cottage, which has an asking price of €75,000, is two miles southwest of Feakle and overlooks Carter’s Lough. According to local legend, it was into that lough that Biddy Early, while on her death bed, asked a local man to throw her famous “blue bottle” in which she carried her remedies.

A well-beaten track still leads to the heavily overgrown shell where visitors have placed items in a window to create a shrine to Early. Two blue bottles, one wrapped in cloth, as well as rosary beads and money, old and new, adorn the window sill.

The property’s owner, Billy Loughnane, believes with the strong interest still in Early, now would be a good time for someone to take up the mantle.

“I spent many years back in the 1970s restoring the cottage but that couldn’t last forever and it fell into disrepair again. I had sought State funding to develop it back then but no one was interested. But the interest in Biddy Early from the public is still very strong and there is certainly a steady flow of visitors to the area all year round.”

Mr Loughnane bought the cottage from his late father, former TD Dr Bill Loughnane, back in the 1970s. “Dr Bill” bought the property from local man Jim Fitzgerald in the 1960s.

“I would be absolutely delighted if someone could take over the cottage, it needs a new energy. I’d only be happy though if whoever did take it over did so for the right reasons and actually has a real feel for who Biddy Early really was,” Mr Loughnane said.

“She is fondly remembered locally, nationally and internationally as an extraordinary woman who devoted her time to comforting and healing the sick.

“She is not known ever to have cursed anyone. She experienced some difficulty with one local clergyman of the day who, for reasons of his own, labelled her a ‘witch’.”

He said Early had been accused of putting a curse on the Clare hurling team, saying they would never win an All-Ireland. Mr Loughnane has dismissed this for many years as “rubbish”.

“Any intelligent person would have realised by now that Biddy Early died in 1874, 10 years before the GAA was even established. She would never have cursed anyone. She was a quite benign woman who did what she could for anyone she met.”

Mayor of Clare Pat Hayes said: “There is no doubt that people are still very interested in Biddy Early and the opportunity to open up the cottage would be a welcome development. People are calling to Feakle just to know where Biddy Early came from, and others even call to cottages in the area to see if one of them is Biddy Early’s.

“If the cottage was refurbished and advertised, I imagine there would be huge interest in it and it could even be restored as a community project,” Mr Hayes added.

“I know it is not exactly the same but the council opened up Loop Head lighthouse to the public only two weeks ago and thousands of people have visited.

“We need to open up or own heritage and tourism products in east Clare and I do hope we can sit down as a community and discuss this in the future.

“Biddy Early’s cottage is a unique product and is something I will also talk to the council about and see if there is funding to buy and possibly reopen the cottage.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0801/1224301686598.html

pappyodaniel

Just though I'd add another offbeat sale to this thread.
Clonlara's Landscape.

http://www.daft.ie/searchsale.daft?id=619075

Lady Chatterton

pappyodaniel wrote: »

Just though I'd add another offbeat sale to this thread.
Clonlara's Landscape.

http://www.daft.ie/searchsale.daft?id=619075

That house needs a serious amount of work, I'm out :pac: :pac: :pac:

chucken1

Re Biddy Earlys cottage. I remember being told that it had been handed down to Dr Bill and that it was never to be sold :eek:

Now they're in for it

Talk about putting the frighteners on us lol

ceadnus

I was in Biddy Early's house on New Yearrs day 1984 and again sometime in 1987. I was really interested in her. I'd love to see the house repaired but at the same time I think it has a real mysterious feel to it the way it is now. I'm afraid if it became a tourist attraction would it lose something. Would it have to have a big car part nearby for example? I remember my first visit there in 1984 and it had a real feel to it. The roof was caved in but there was some small pieces of furniture around. My friend who was with me at the time would not go in to the cottage, so I went in alone. He was afraid it would be bad luck to go in and so I took a chance. My friend died in a drowning accident in 1992. I'm sure there's no connection but so far I've been okay. Pity her grave is'nt marked in Feakle graveyard.

rainbowdash

pappyodaniel wrote: »

Just though I'd add another offbeat sale to this thread.
Clonlara's Landscape.

http://www.daft.ie/searchsale.daft?id=619075

Some amount of work would be needed, is that the place with a golf club and pub - are they still open?