Groups audience:
The tide was low enough this morning to walk below the rocks between Curragh and Ballyquinn beach. I took the opportunity to stroll over and have a look at Fuges house in Glencorran. We first knew of Fuges house as 'the haunted house' and later, reading some of Siobhan Lincolns records on the area, as a 19th century villa for a wealthy branch of the Fuge family. William Trevor, the famed Mitchelstown writer, holidayed in this house in his youth and I know John Whelan has family stories about the place which we must record.
Today, the morning sun shone on the villa frontage but I did not go in. The site is fenced off and private; but not only that, it is dangerous to approach. The cliff side is badly undercut and with a steep 30 foot drop should be avoided at all costs.
The history of the villa has yet to be recorded in detail but Siobhan Lincoln did have press cuttings recounting an altercation between a squad of IRA men stationed here during the War of Independence and some Royal Marines who approached the villa from the sea. The IRA men setup camp in the house and the Royal Marines decided to row over and remove them. However, bobbing about in their boat, the Marines were an easy target and a series of shots from Glencorran caused them to reconsider their approach and head back to the safety of the coastguard station.
A Note about Access
There is no safe access to this site. DO NOT APPROACH FROM THE CLIFFSIDE. The cliff edge is undercut considerably.
The land is private property so do not go in. Turn around and head down to the stream, or the beach. This is one of the gems of the Waterford coastline, especially when the tide is out.
Reference
The house is marked as Glencorran in the OS maps and is listed in the Landed Estates Project as within the estates of the Villiers-Stuarts.
http://www.landedestates.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/property-show.jsp?id=4375 (accessed 29 Nov 201)
