Cloughjordan Is a Small Country Town — but a Big Ecovillage | Ireland | the Sunday Times 18/09/2018, 09�23

Cloughjordan is a small country town — but a big ecovillage | Ireland | The Sunday Times 18/09/2018, 0923

GOING PLACES Cloughjordan is a small country town — but a big ecovillage Green living at Cloughjordan marks it out as a progressive and socially active place to live, writes Arlene Harris

Arlene Harris

September 16 2018, 12:01am, The Sunday Times

Eileen Brannigan, left, with her partner Joanna Parkes and their son Dualtha at the ecovillage https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ireland/cloughjordan-is-a-small-country-town-but-a-big-ecovillage-f9ktxxhvl?t=ie Page 1 of 16 Cloughjordan is a small country town — but a big ecovillage | Ireland | The Sunday Times 18/09/2018, 0923

BARRY CRONIN

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The residents of one Tipperary town heaved a collective sigh of relief when An Post released the names of the 159 post o;ces it is to close around Ireland. Cloughjordan, which is nestled in the lush countryside of northwest Tipperary, was not on the list.

Bawney Hayes, a local man who has lived in the town all his life with the exception of a few years in Nenagh, says the loss of the post o;ce would have been the ﬁnal straw.

“We have been lost since AIB pulled out, as we now have no bank, and we were very worried about losing the post o;ce too,” he says, adding that many townspeople are anxious about the threat of further closures, including the train station.

Donald Austin at Centra BARRY CRONIN

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As far as rural Irish towns go, Cloughjordan, with its population of 612 people, is of a modest size — it has two schools, three churches, a community cafe, a supermarket, a post o;ce and a railway station — but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in detail. It is multidenominational, multicultural and environmentally friendly to boot.

The home town of Thomas MacDonagh, the poet, playwright and revolutionary leader who was executed for his role in the 1916 Easter Rising, Cloughjordan is a modern settlement in rural Ireland where history and old- fashioned values are merged with forward- thinking, socially active ideals.

Hayes says there is a “ﬁerce feeling of pride” among the inhabitants. “We’re very proud of

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our local man Thomas MacDonagh, sure, who wouldn’t be? But while he is very much part of our heritage, ours is also a modern town with loads going on,” he adds.

Cloughjordan has kept its post oﬃce BARRY CRONIN

“We have an amateur dramatic society that I have been part of for decades. We also have culture nights, heritage week and ﬁve or six halls with various activities such as yoga, dancing and Irish language classes. We’re a very active community.”

The father of two, who is married to Josie and used to work in house maintenance, also cites Cloughjordan ecovillage as proof of the town’s progressiveness.

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Ireland’s first ecovillage celebrates its 10th anniversary next year, having welcomed its first residents in December 2009. In the past nine years, about 160 people have moved into 55 houses on the 12-acre site beside Cloughjordan village — planning permission is in place for 130 homes. The developers have built a huge selection of sustainable houses in a variety of styles, including timber-framed properties with hemp and lime rendering; certified passive houses; an all-cedar home with recycled newspaper as insulation; and a curved cob house.

The dwellings are energy e;cient and high- performing “green homes”, which together form Ireland’s largest renewable energy district heating system. Some residents harvest rainwater for drinking and washing, while many also use solar panels. They tend their community farm using sustainable agricultural methods.

Many homeowners have designed their own homes or worked with ecological architects. Homes have been built for as little as €120,000. The residents have planted 20,000 trees, among them alder, ash and hazel, and they’ve rescued oak trees from a motorway in Dublin.

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Writer Eileen Brannigan moved into her timber-frame house ﬁve years ago, along with her partner Joanna Parkes and their son Dualtha. She says she can’t imagine living anywhere else.

“This is a dynamic community of broadly like- minded people who have a genuine desire to do less damage to the world we live in within the urgent context of climate change,” says Brannigan.

“Whatever our superﬁcial di]erences, we believe that changes to the way we live and consume are urgently necessary. We are all determined to show how relatively small but profound personal changes can make a big and quantiﬁable di]erence.”

Solar panels at the ecovillage BARRY CRONIN

She says the ecovillage and Cloughjordan are the kinds of places where you can put out a call asking to borrow something, whether it’s a

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mobile phone charger or a car, and get a stream of responses. “Rural communities have traditionally had a good reputation for helping each other out and looking out for their more vulnerable members, and the ecovillage, while it doesn’t look traditional, embodies those values. For those of us who have migrated from cities or urban areas, we ﬁnd this aspect of living here a very pleasant surprise.”

Retired councillor Jim Casey agrees. He says, while the town changed a great deal in the 30 years he worked as a public servant, the sense of community has remained the same. The inﬂux of newcomers has enhanced this. “We are a very di]erent community from a lot of others,” says Casey, who is married to May and has three adult sons. “There are so many people of di]erent religions here for a start, from Catholic and Protestant to Methodist and others, and everyone gets on well — in fact there is a community choir and people from all faiths sing together. It sets a great example.

“The area is developing all the time — not as fast as some people would want but, for a small rural town, it’s holding its own,” says Casey.

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However, he worries that the next generation won’t put “their shoulder to the wheel” like the current generation. Many residents are meeting the challenges facing the town head on — not least among them the possibility of the modern world leaving it behind. But it isn’t all a bed of ecofriendly roses in Cloughjordan.

“After the Celtic tiger the town deﬁnitely got quieter,” says Donald Austin, who runs the local Centra supermarket. “On a business level, things have not improved since the recession; there has been no upturn in rural Ireland as far as I can see, unless you are situated on a busy road. And it can be very quiet during the day, as there are few jobs locally, so many people go away to work.” Search &

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Local man Bawney Hayes market in north Tipperary has lived in the town most of his life has recovered well from BARRY CRONIN the crash. Estate agent Eoin Dillon says the area attracts people who want to retire away from the bustle of the city to a place that still has a buzz about it. And while prices vary, the cost of a three-bedroom family home in the area is

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in the region of €140,000.

“We are amazed by the number of middle- aged and retired people seeking to move to Cloughjordan,” says the Nenagh agent. “People want to be near the ecovillage but not necessarily to live in it, preferring to enjoy some of its beneﬁts without being fully immersed in it.”

Dillon says there is a huge variation in the size, age, condition and location of houses. “If you were to take your average three-bedroom semi-detached house in Townsﬁelds, it would have been worth €160,000 in 2005. It’s now worth €135,000 and would have hit a low of about €90,000 in 2014.”

There aren’t too many grand houses around but Cloughjordan House, an 800-year-old pile on Step Road now used as a cookery school and wedding venue, is notable for its size, history and, more recently, as a place of employment.

Run by Peter and Sally Baker, the house was originally Peter’s family home, passed down through the generations for more than a century, and a former dairy farm. Eight years ago, Sarah set up a cookery school in the

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kitchen. This led her into the hospitality industry, and since then it has operated as a private venue for weddings and corporate events as well as the original cookery school.

“The house has gone from strength to strength over the years and my husband and I, and our three children, love living in a building with so much history and the fact that we can share it with so many people,” says Sarah. “We provide local employment with 10 full-time positions and about 40 seasonal sta], which has a massive knock-on e]ect to the local community. And I think the combination of activities at Cloughjordan House alongside the ecovillage has brought vibrancy and dynamism to our village.”

Actor Patrick Bergin, who co-starred with Julia Roberts in the 1991 ﬁlm Sleeping with the Enemy, must agree, as he resides in the town. Indeed, with a calendar of events and festivals, the open-air amphitheatre, blues, trad and open mic evenings and even a circus school, this little community seems to have it all.

Brannigan says it can take time to get used to living here. “Cloughjordan is a small town and everyone knows your business,” she says.

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“There’s no such thing as anonymity and I do sometimes miss that aspect of city life — here your achievements but also your mistakes are writ large. There was an initial guardedness from some of the long-established community [when the ecovillagers arrived], which was understandable, but we live well together now, so the relationship between old and new communities is a positive and deepening one.”

The lowdown

Schools: There are two primary schools in the town — No 1 and No 2 national schools — but no secondary schools, so students have to travel to nearby towns such as Nenagh and Borrisokane.

Activities: Among the clubs and groups in Cloughjordan are the heritage group, the Mellow Tones female choir, and the local GAA club. There’s MATT BROWNE a street market held once a month. Knocknacree Wood is more than 128 acres of woodland about 1km north of Cloughjordan and o]ers leafy walks. A bit further aﬁeld, about 7km from the village, is the Schohaboy

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Bog, a rare raised bog with boardwalks and viewing areas.

Properties: There are 10 residential properties in Cloughjordan, advertised on MyHome.ie, ranging in price from €76,000 for a complete renovation project of stores buildings on Templemore Road to €495,000 for Mullenkiegh House.

Celebrities: Charlie Swan, pictured, the former jockey who won three Champion Hurdles and rode Istabraq, has a stud in Cloughjordan. The actor Patrick Bergin has a castle near the village.

Homes for sale in Cloughjordan

Short stroll from village €142,500

No 30 Townsﬁelds is a three-bedroom end-of- https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ireland/cloughjordan-is-a-small-country-town-but-a-big-ecovillage-f9ktxxhvl?t=ie Page 12 of 16 Cloughjordan is a small country town — but a big ecovillage | Ireland | The Sunday Times 18/09/2018, 0923

terrace property within walking distance of the village centre. The 103 sq m house opens into a tiled entrance hall, with the sitting room and kitchen just o]. There’s a guest lavatory and utility room. The bedrooms are upstairs; the master has an en suite. The attic has been ﬂoored and has a Velux window. realestatealliance.ie

Comfy billet for canines €269,950

For every bedroom at Kyleshinaun there is a kennel: the detached house has four double bedrooms and four purpose-built kennels for any four-legged family members. The house sits on almost two and half acres, surrounded by countryside. Inside, there are two reception rooms, a kitchen, a utility room and a guest lavatory on the ground ﬂoor. realestatealliance.ie

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Potential for extra cottage €495,000

Mullenkiegh House is a pretty Georgian house on 11 acres. The owners have carried out sympathetic upgrade works, rerooﬁng the place, restoring the windows and upgrading the heating. The 289 sq m house has two reception rooms, four bathrooms and two bedrooms. A former piggery in the courtyard could be turned into a two- or three-bedroom cottage. savills.ie

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