TV role in Smother for scene-stealing €449k Clare house with hidden passages

Nestled into a craggy Burren hillside at Gleninagh Quay near Ballyvaughan is an architecturally fascinating property that some TV viewers might recognize from the finale of the RTÉ drama,   Smother.

The characters are standing by its stonewalled fuchsia-lined entrance when the identity of the killer is finally revealed. Other scenes take place in its Scandinavian-style sitting room and show glimpses of west Clare’s wild rugged coastline through its windows.

Designed to blend unobtrusively into the landscape, Thalassa looks like two small properties – one a low cedar-clad chalet and the other a traditional stone cottage – but is actually one large house offering 2,220 sq ft of Scandinavian style living space.

In an astonishing feat of architectural ingenuity, the property has been built with an underground tunnel that connects the seemingly separate chalet and cottage.

Stopping at the stone pier at Gleninagh jutting out onto Galway Bay, the father decided that the rugged rocky slope overlooking the quay would be an incredible place to build a home. “ The site wasn’t for sale but the landowner agreed to sell it to him,’’ reveals his son.

To start with he built a cabin made from Irish timber, which he later sold. On the top corner of his remaining almost half-acre site, he built a small timber cabin, which is now a home office with amazing views.

While living in this, he found a local builder to construct a traditional-style cottage clad with local stone.

 “My father had a background in engineering, maths, and law and was also a woodturner with an interest in building log cabins,’’ reveals his son explaining that all of these all skills were put to good use in designing, building, and getting planning permission for his home. His next project was the boathouse which is situated across the road from the quay “You can winch a boat directly into it – the slipway is just 20 steps away, ’’ reveals his son adding that the roof is covered with beach pebbles and the walls clad in local stone.

Getting planning permission to extend in such an environmentally sensitive location wasn’t ever expected to be straightforward but the owner took a creative approach. “My father researched materials and construction methods and came up with a solution involving insulation blocks which join together like Lego block and could be used to build a tunnel.’’ In 2007 his father got planning permission for the timber-clad chalet and started work in 2008. “It was quite a major undertaking to dig out the hillside and put in a tunnel,” reveals his son.

The resulting two-tier property has three bedrooms, two kitchens, two sitting rooms, two bathrooms, and an office - all with a very strong Scandinavian vibe - the walls are white, the floors and much of the ceiling is timber, the décor is sparse and there are wood-burning stoves as well as a sauna.

The stone cottage has a large sitting room /dining room/ library with a timber floored ceiling and floor, bookshelf lined walls, and a stove. Alongside this room, there’s a kitchen with timber units as well as a bedroom, a bathroom, a sauna, and a sunroom. A spiral staircase leads up to a timber-paneled mezzanine bedroom with a sloped ceiling and large Velux windows with sea views.

A set of stairs in the sunroom leads down through the tunnel to the lower tier. Most of the space here is given over to large,  Scandinavian-style living /dining space with white walls, exposed ceiling beams, a stove, and huge windows. The interior of this room is seen in Smother and there is a scene when the characters are shown against an ocean backdrop, framed by one of its windows.

There's also a kitchen with timber units, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a large decking area out front.

Densely planted in parts with gorse and fuchsia, the site also has stone paths, a stone chimney/ BBQ, and a multitude of graveled spaces and vantage points for looking out at the sea. At the top of the site by the timber cabin, a rock has been topped with a limestone slab to create a table. “When you sit here you have incredible views out across Galway Bay, Connemara and islands” observes the property’s current owner.

Sometime before his father died, a film location company discovered the cul de sac quay at Gleninagh and came knocking at the door asking if his property could be used in filming Smother.

Since Brian McMahon of DNG McMahon put the property on the market earlier this month he has had calls from the US, Europe, the UK, and Ireland and over ten offers. “ Bidding very quickly went above the €449,000 guide price and we are now at €600,000.” 

VERDICT: Probably the only modern Irish property with an underground tunnel – it’s both amazingly unobtrusive and unobtrusively amazing.