Historic castle and manor in Dowth for £750,000-plus

Two historic properties standing side by side and surrounded by four acres, Dowth Castle and Netterville Manor in Dowth, Co Meath, are to be auctioned on July 11th with a guide price of £750,000 (€952,500).

The joint selling agents are Keane Mahony Smith and Gunne Residential.

Dowth Castle was built as the manorial seat of the Anglo-Norman Netterville family in the 13th century.

It was updated five centuries later when its North East corner was given a battlement turret. The 19th Irish American poet John Boyle O'Reilly, whose father was a local schoolmaster, lived at the manor until the age of 11.

The Castle stands as a shell but has a medieval tower house with a large square keep and views of the countryide, Newgrange, Tara and the Hill of Slane. It would require major restoration work to make it habitable.

Netterville Manor was built in 1877 by the Netterville trust to the design of architect George Ashlin, who also built Tulira Castle in Galway and Annemount in Cork.

One selling point is likely to be that the former chapel in the house has planning permission for a restaurant. The agents believe the house has potential as a family home, country house hotel or an educational facility.

One of the largest ring forts in the country is situated in an adjoining field while the Passage Graves of Newgrange, Dowth and Knowth, which are 5,000 years old, are nearby.

The properties are located in the Boyne Valley, which is five miles from Slane and Drogheda, 13 miles from Navan and 33 miles from Dublin.

Netterville Manor spans 7,000 sq ft and has been both a family home and a guesthouse for the past seven years. Prior to that it was occupied by the Buddhist Foundation of Ireland who were left it by the previous occupant, Louise Randolph Hearst.

The tiled entrance hall has double doors to an inner hall and the original sweeping wooden staircase. The sitting room features a marble fireplace with tiled inset and a pitch pine floor.

The room that was once the chapel has a high beamed ceiling, and marble fireplace and has the advantage of a separate entrance porch.

The breakfastroom has a pitched pine floor and there is a laundry/ washroom and guest diningroom.

There are eight bedrooms, seven of which are en suite.