History of the Cottage

Cottage Accommodation in Northern Ireland – Local Mariners and Cloghfin Cottage

When we read about the history of Islandmagee, it does not come as a surprise to learn that this coastal area had a tradition of producing Master Mariners. In fact, the local schoolmaster’s key purpose has been described as getting all the local young men through their entrance test to become Mariners. We had some walkers visiting who were once foresters and they were amazed to see very mature trees at Cloghfin which are not native to here. When they heard that the area was once heavily populated by Sea Captains they said that would explain the presence of so many unusual plants in Islandmagee, as they had clearly been brought home as souvenirs. One of the residents at this property is believed to have died in Brazil whilst away at sea.
The cottage is estimated to be around 300 years old but the first formal record of the cottage is in 1862 in the records of Griffith’s Valuation which suggest that the Cottage and adjoining land were well established at that time. See an extract -plot reference 12 showing Cloghfin Cottage in left hand corner.

The land and a large proportion of the surrounding countryside, at that time was owned by the Marquis of Donegall. The cottage rent was 15 shillings per year – covering a 3 room property at 5 shillings per room!

The property and land changed hands in 1884, Thomas Mann, Master Mariner, and his wife Isabella took on the tenancy and they built the adjacent property. This would have been around the time when nearby Whitehead was becoming a popular tourist destination and Belfast city folk would have been clamouring by bus and train to the guest houses of the area.

The 1901 Census has the property listed as the new house and five outbuildings consisting of a stable, a cow house, a piggery, a barn and a shed. It is likely that the cottage catered for at least part of that list. It is certainly fun to imagine that it may have been a cow house or piggery at some point 😊.
The Mann family purchased the land from the Marquis of Donegal’s estate in 1935 and then sold it to Samuel Kerr, another Master Mariner, in 1944. Captain Kerr and his wife put the cottage back to residential use, letting it out to other Mariners. One of our neighbours lived in the cottage for a while in the 50’s as a young merchant seaman and he has tales of being scowled at for daring to drop a cigarette near the property!
In 1968 was sold to the Waring family who set up Ashfield Riding school and the cottage was used as an office and tack room until 1999 when the property was sold again, and the old cottage fell into a state of disrepair. The wind whistled through the broken back windows, damp mould hung on every surface and the ceiling had collapsed.

We purchased the property in 2015 and the advice was to ‘knock it down’ as the sensible thing to do but it just felt wrong not to restore it and so, here we are…a full restoration of the cottage was undertaken in 2017/2019. It has underfloor heating and a new roof with automatic windows. The original walls were so bowed that the inset shelving in the lower room was simply a way to use the gap between the original old wall and the plasterboard. A section of original wall remains exposed in the upper room by the half door. One of our favourite aspects are the deep recessed windows providing an opportunity to sit in the bedroom window. We have large cushions in the wardrobe for this purpose if this takes your fancy!

During renovations the original horseshoe fell out of the wall in the lower room – this is a big deal as it was always the custom that completing and blessing a home involved placing a horseshoe upright above the hearth to catch good luck for those residing there.

Well, we wish the very best of luck to all those who choose to come and stay at Cloghfin Cottage. We delight in this area for its peacefulness, its beauty, the sunsets and the wildlife and we are sure you will too!