This is the first time The Rectory, a seven-bedroom period house in Kells, Co Meath, has come to the market. It was built in around 1906 on lands granted by the Marquis of Headfort, for rector John Healy, who refused to live at Archdeaconry House on Ardee Road because it was too large.

The result was a 305sq m (3,283sq ft) gentleman’s residence with servant quarters, coach house and stables.

The property has been home to all subsequent rectors of Kells. It has been vacant for a year and will be auctioned on October 24th by Armstrong Auctioneers with an AMV of €400,000.

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The house is accessed by a long leafy lane which has a right of way for local landowners.

Three reception rooms lie off the hallway. A dining room with dual-aspect sash windows, with shutters, overlooks the mature gardens, and an original fireplace houses a new stove. The drawing and morning rooms, divided by concertina doors, both have fireplaces and most of the original coving and ceiling roses.

All three rooms have old carpet hiding the original pine floors which new owners may want to reveal.

A small Ikea kitchen lies off the dining room and is painted pale cream with wooden worktops. The kitchen, with a new flagstone floor, is also plumbed for a range. Off the kitchen are a pantry and larder, both with old chequered flooring.

A utility leads to the courtyard at the rear, where a well is situated; as the house has its own water supply.

The first floor to the front of the house has four large bedrooms, with 11ft high ceilings. Three have original fireplaces. A modest family bathroom on this floor could do with an update.

While the main part of the house is on two stories, the servant’s area to the rear is in a three-storey return, and has a separate, narrow staircase leading to two small bedrooms on the second floor and a larger bedroom and bathroom on the first. Both staircases are bright thanks to a rooflight.

Outside, there is much potential in the lofted stone coach house and stables where the groom in days gone by had his quarters. New owners will have little to do in the mature gardens which surround the rectory. There are many specimen trees including a large Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) and the garden is laden with apple trees, raspberries, blackcurrants, a wall of elderberries and the odd rosebush.

While rector John Healy thought this a modest house, it would make an exceptional family home with its seven bedrooms on 4.8 acres.

If new owners wish to have a larger estate, there are a further 11.7acres for sale.