The Old Post Office, Maum, County Galway
Steeped in history, this feature property has had many lives in its long history, which dates back to the mid-1850s and possibly earlier. Located in the Maum Valley and Joyce Country, the property resembles a herd/game keeper’s lodge of the 1800s and was used as such into the early 1900s.
The complex itself today comprises a single storey dwelling over a basement with a small enclosed yard, with a larger enclosed yard and a coach house and servants’ quarters and stables to the rear.
The property, which is in need of total renovation, has its original cut stone steps that lead into the house, which is divided into five rooms. The roof of oak beams and quarry slates is still intact.
The large basement/garden level area would probably have been used for storage and possibly as a sleeping area for the drovers who would have walked cattle and sheep to the local fairs of Oughterard, Clonbur, Leenane, Maam Cross and possibly further up until to the 1970s.
With this property, there are 27.7 acres of land with frontage onto the Cornamona Road and excellent frontage onto the Bealandabrack River, which runs into Lough Corrib.
The property would also have been home to the local post office for many years and, during the conflict of the 1920s, it would have been used as a police/army barracks.
Access to the area in the past would have been by train, which stopped at Maam Cross. This station also provided an easy transport route for all local produce such as sheep, cattle, wool and turf to the larger markets of Galway City and beyond.
Today, the village of Maum is served with a public bar, shop and hardware store known as Keane’s, which is only a stroll from the property.
The property has excellent potential to be transformed back into a fine home or possibly, with the benefit of the land and the direct Lough Corrib access, a small tourist enterprise. Recreational and hillside walkers come from all over the country and across the globe to take advantage of the wonderful scenery that this unique area of Connemara has to offer.
The coach house and building it occupies too has potential to be transformed back into living accommodation. The walled gardens, which greatly enhance the character of the property, could easily be brought back to their former blossoming glory. The asking price for the property is €250,000 and viewing is by appointment only. Call 091-866708 or email oughterard@dng.ie. For more details, see www.dng.ie.
