Melissa brings derelict Mayo property back to life

Melissa Gilligan is a creative person – there is no getting away from that. A beautician by trade, she always found joy in seeing a vision and bringing it to life. And that’s exactly what she has done with the Old Kirk and Manse in Hollymount.

Melissa and her husband Shane restored this beautiful property with care and love and have brought it to life once again. And now Melissa finds herself in demand as an interior designer, working alongside Shane on the revamp of a hotel in Mulranny.

We sit down to chat in the beautiful surroundings of the Manse.

Angelina: Melissa, thanks for talking to me - tell me a little about your background.

Melissa:  I'm from Carrowbehy, Castlerea in Co Roscommon. I'm from a family of six - four brothers and one sister. We are all creative. I went to primary school in Gorthaganny NS and then went to secondary school in Ballyhaunis Community School.

Angelina: What were you leaning towards in secondary school?

Melissa: I remember during school, when you're in fourth year, you were given the option to do a course called LCVP. And you got to do work experience. I used to have hairdressing in my head. I remember going upstairs over Colleran's Chemist in Ballyhaunis, on my way to ask the hairdresser there for experience, and I spotted the door of the beautician’s. I suffered with acne as a teenager and it really knocked my confidence. I remember seeing the beautician's door, thinking, maybe I could learn a bit here about skincare and makeup and go down that route. So I walked through her door instead and did my work experience there for about six weeks, every Friday. 

At the time the salon owner asked me if I had any interest in doing summer work. I did Saturdays there. And then I went on to do the beauty course in Galway. It was Cantrell College at the time. I did that and then went straight into working in the salon. I worked there for years and went to Australia for a year and came back and worked there again but I knew that I wanted a change and considered going to work in London, where my sister was based at the time.

Angelina: So what happened next?

Melissa: I met Shane, my now husband, at his brother's wedding - I did the make-ups for it. So I decided to take a month off to clear my head and see what I wanted. I remember at the time, an opportunity came up in Claremorris, at a hairdressers and beauticians to rent a room. So I did that for a couple of months. Then I made the decision to open up on my own. So I went looking at properties around Ballyhaunis. I found this lovely little one for rent and my dad renovated it for me into a little salon and I was really happy there for a couple of years. But as the business grew, I decided to buy a property which was literally just down the street. It was just a really nice size. It was bigger than where I was renting and just had kind of more scope for expanding and having proper treatment rooms.

Angelina: You got married during this time and had your little boy, Melissa?

Melissa: We got married in 2018, and then Charlie, our son, came along in October 2019. The following March was when Covid really hit. Charlie was only four months old, I was still on maternity leave and I remember being a little bit delighted. But it was such a tough time for the beauty industry. When we could open up, you were so cautious because there was so much fear and you're working in such close contact with people, but you were just sort of doing what you were told and closing when you had to and opening when you had to. And with all the opening and closing, I remember thinking, do I really want to do this again? And to be honest, I was loving being at home with Charlie. I didn't know if I even wanted to keep working in beauty. 

Around that time, we had looked at the property here in Hollymount, having viewed it previously in 2017, before we got married. We had decided at that time not to purchase it because we felt it was not what we wanted for a family home and that it should be opened up to the public in some way. There was just something so special about it. So we came and looked it again in early 2021 when it came up for sale again and that's where the journey started with the Old Kirk and Manse.

Angelina: It seems like you were very drawn to it Melissa.

Melissa: We were drawn to it. Shane is from this area originally, so he knew this place. We said we'd put an offer on and see what happens. And the offer got accepted, and that was it. That just set the ball rolling. So that was in the March. It was just a kind of moment of, right will we just buy it and see what happens. Shane's background is engineering and building and project management.

Angelina: So what were you coming into - what sort of work had to be done?

Melissa: There are two properties really - there's the house and the church. And the church was always known as the Old Kirk. I think a lot of Presbyterian churches are known as the Kirk, and the house that comes with the Presbyterian Church is a Manse. So the roof on the church was literally about to fall in, there was a massive hole in the floor, and the windows were destroyed. My 40th birthday was coming up and we were thinking, let's try and get it ready for that and have it in the church. I don't think we started to work on the church until September, October. Shane had cleared a lot of the garden and the grounds. It was such a big job because it's such a high-pitched roof, which is really unusual. We made exact replicas of the original windows – it was a big job. And it was ready for my birthday the following June!

Angelina: So you get to move into the house then?

Melissa: I had already bought loads of furniture at auction. That was all being stored in sheds. I was just trying to bring all the original characteristics back to it. When you walked into the house first, it didn't look like it was too bad, but all the floors had to be taken up and insulated, and we put underfloor heating in. And because the church floors were so bad, we actually used the timber from the floors in here in the Manse to restore what was damaged out in the church. Everything had been ripped out of the house. And then, as I've learned, it was all lime-plastered walls. And over the years, somebody had put an oil-based paint on the walls so you couldn't just paint over it. All of that had to be stripped right back because the walls were so wet, they weren't able to breathe. The whole place had to be rewired and re-plumbed. We're very blessed that I have a sister who is an architect. So we were able to call on her for lots of things.

Angelina: Melissa, did you ever envisage yourself working on a project like this?

Melissa: I suppose it's something you would always dream of doing but never really thought it was going to happen. We live in a lovely cottage down the road and we renovated that the year we got married. So it's a lovely old stone cottage, and then it has the modern extension on, so that project was even lovely to work on. But to have a place like this to come into and I suppose I love interiors and I've always had such a passion for it - I actually did a course in it years ago as well - is another level. Even when I was a child, I used to turn every cereal box into a house for my dogs. And I used to hold onto the fancy papers and gift bags and make them into wallpapers. I remember my mum reminded me, which I had completely forgotten about going back to when I was a teenager, I always used to say that I'd love to have a boutique hotel or a B&B.

Angelina: What do you hope to do with the Old Kirk and Manse?

Melissa: At the moment it's luxury accommodation, but the only place we have it at the moment is on Airbnb. But the hope for it is that it's a small event space because we have the Kirk as well, which is just so perfect. My sister got married in it last July and it was beautiful. It's an incredible space for an intimate wedding or the perfect space for any kind of family gatherings, birthday parties or hen parties.

Angelina: Melissa, is this going to be something you pursue - interior design and that area?

Melissa: I suppose it's a really good question because I love what we've done here and I love the space, but at the moment, I'm everything to this place. I'm the caretaker and the cleaner and the marketing director. And that takes some of the joy out of it for me, in the sense that we need a team, we need to have people that can help us, so I can focus on interiors. And I have been so blessed again, we're so blessed with family because my dad is a retired builder who helped us out so much here, and I have a brother who's an electrician, another one who worked on the website and branding and another who does security systems and broadband. And then on Shane's side we have Colin, who is a lecturer at ATU in hotel and catering. So we've had him for advice and for events that are here that he's just kind of shown what to do. Shane is working on renovating the hotel in Mulranny at the moment. And they had seen this place and they asked if I would come on board to just help out with the interiors, which was amazing. It's a big project, so it's taking up all of my time at the moment. But it is something that I am enjoying. It's quite scary, but it's good.