IF YOU’D like your home to be your castle – quite literally – there are lots to choose from on the market at the moment including the Gothic-style Glengariff Castle estate in Bantry Bay, Co Cork, for sale at €8 million, down from €15 million.
It comes with tax breaks and planning permission to turn the castle into a 94-bedroom hotel with a conference centre and build 18 apartments. The late 18th century castle is set on 45 acres with extensive sea frontage onto the Atlantic. Built in the 1790s by Colonel Simon White, brother of the first Earl of Bantry, the castle operated as a resort until the late 1970s but has since fallen derelict.
More affordable is the restored 15th century Strongford Castle built by the de Burgos in Craughwell, Co Galway, which has been on the market for about a year and has had a price drop to €650,000. It has a great hall and three bedrooms.
The central part of the late 18th century four-bedroom Glanmore Castle in Ashford, Co Wicklow, is on the market at €850,000, down from €1.2 million. Formerly the home of Irish playwright J M Synge, it is on the grounds of Devil’s Glen Equestrian Village. With a castellated turret and a rooftop terrace it was redesigned in 1804 by architect Francis Johnston. It has access to 2,000 acres of forestry that back onto the property.
Thankfully, not everyone has a murder room in their house but if you buy Killahara Castle in Dovea, Co Tipperary, a restored castle on seven acres with a turbulent history, you get one with an essential feature – two holes in the floor for greeting unwelcome guests with hot liquids. Built over five levels, the castle is on the market at €1 million. The land is suitable for paddocks.
Others castles on the market include Carrignacurra Castle, a partly restored tower house on two acres in Macroom, Co Cork reduced to €220,000 and Clonony Castle near Shannon Harbour, County Offaly, a medieval castle on three acres with a moat asking €695,000.
The selling agent for all of the castles mentioned above is Helen Cassidy Auctioneers.
– Edel Morgan
