The proud new owners of Milford’s historic ‘Killynure House’ have recently started renovation work in what will become their family’s forever home – and in the process they unearthed a very special letter in a bottle hidden beneath the floorboards.
Upon finalising the sale on the seven bedroom, Victorian-era property just last weekend (February 1), Lisa McElvaney and her partner immediately commenced work.
Originally from Clones, the couple intend to make the property – that they immediately fell in love with – a forever home for themselves and their three young children.
Set in an area that affords it the most incredible surrounding views, Killynure House’s claim to fame was that it was constructed in 1883 by the founding family of HSBC bank.
Since then, Lisa believes there to have been a total of four other families to have occupied the home before hers.
And, the letter in the bottle has gone some way in helping to unmask the home’s rich history.
Speaking to Armagh I about the find, Lisa said: “We did find a letter under the floorboards last weekend from one of the previous owners, in the name of Amanda Knox.
“She wrote it when she was 10. She had put it into a little bottle in 1969 and wrote down the history of the house.
“She actually passed in 2015, because we looked into it. It was nice for us to find it. It was like, ‘We got your letter, kind and thank you for letting us know about the history because we are so intrigued by it’.
Lisa’s partner had to take the bottle outside and smash it with a hammer to reveal the letter hidden within
“You could even tell by the features in the house, the staircase and the walls – it’s just so interesting. I want to know who lived in it before and just everything about it.
“She had written the literal timeline. Her parents bought the house in 1952 for £10,500, so it’s crazy to know how things have changed since 1952 – and it’s not even that long ago.
“She said who built the house and everything her parents had told her.”
The family are hopeful that they may discover further hidden treasures as they go along and even plan to follow in Amanda’s footsteps by planting their own letter for future generations to find.
And, while the family are keen to understand the building’s history, they are also keen to preserve it.
Lisa explained: “We plan to keep all the original features. The windows are just insane, so if we can get those redone, we want them replaced to the exact type that is there and to use the glass if we can and we will keep all the doors.
“The previous owners, who must have been Amanda’s parents, had covered a beam and when we were knocking through it we found the original beam of the house so we want to refurbish that and keep it too.
“We might move some of the fireplaces but we will keep nearly all of it, basically.
“We are just so lucky and we want to keep it the same but also make it our own home.”
A visually stunning example of Victorian architecture, the home also boasts an “elegant entrance hall” with original chequered tiles and high ceilings and, three grand lounges complete with original floors, cornicing and ceiling roses.
One of the home’s beautiful brick fireplaces and original chequered tiles and a large window inset in original, ornate wooden framing
With a view of completing the works within a year to a year-and-a-half, Lisa said they are blessed to be in position to be “hands on” with most of the work.
“We are quite lucky we can do a lot of it ourselves and we have a lot of tradespeople who can help,” she added. “We will have to get contractors in but we are going to be quite picky.
“We will have to get some custom builds so we will have to find the right people and manufacturers to work with and we’ll shop about at auctions for the antique pieces. Nothing will be too modern.
“We have this vision of a Victorian country home and we want it to be that.
“When you look at the house you feel it, even from the front and the views and the big trees all in a row – it just has that real feeling to it.”
Despite her enthusiasm for the project, Lisa admits, they never entered the market with a view of renovating but now that they have started the journey she sees real value in the work they are doing, describing it as “having a piece of history in our hands”.
To allow others to embrace their journey, Lisa has also started an Instagram page dedicated to their project.
“I love watching people renovate,” she said. “You get so hooked on it and it’s all new to us as well so we will learn from other people and social media is a great way of finding things out. I would love different people to give advice and also it will be a bit of fun to follow along.”
Steadfast in their decision, Lisa said the family “won’t be going anywhere else”.
“When it’s done we are going to look back and say, ‘Wow, we did this’.
“The families who had it before us probably put their own wee stamps on it and we will find them and keep them and make our own too – you never know years down the line maybe people will find ours and keep it too!”
“I still can’t believe it,” she gushed. “When it’s done I think even our family will just be so proud of us.
“We are already thinking about summer barbeques and family parties – we will just have to host everything!”
You can follow renovation works at Killynure House on Instagram here.
