Estate agent signals Marconi sale

There has already been a lot of interest in the cottage, sellers say

It was the Irish home of a wireless pioneer and has now gone on the market for £400,000.

Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi carried out early radio transmission experiments to and from Rathlin Island from Ballycastle in 1898.

His house, known as Marconi's cottage, sits on the rocks of the North Antrim coast two miles outside Ballycastle.

The experiments were part of the development of wireless telegraphy which would transform communications.

Belfast-based selling agent BTWCairns described the cottage as sitting on a "secluded 18 acre site with breathtaking sea views and surrounded by rural countryside".

Guglielmo Marconi lived in the cottage in 1898

Just the spot for an inventor to quietly tinker with electromagnetic waves.

The site has full planning consent for a replacement home of 2,500 sq ft to be constructed using natural materials including stone and slate with extensive glazing on to take advantage of the sea views.

Simon Brien from the estate agents said that this was because after being unoccupied for four years the property was a bit of a fixer-upper.

"It's a traditional cottage which has been extended over the years and is in a poor state of repair, although it could be repaired and restored," he said.

"What we have planning approval for is a rebuild along traditional lines for the land-facing side with permission for more glazing on the seaward side to get those magnificent views out to sea."

He said that there had been a lot of interest in the property just one day after going on the market and they expected interest from as far afield as the United States of America.