Castlefreke restoration runs into legal battle

The multi-millionaire brother of Lord Carbery has secured a High Court order freezing the assets of the woman he hired to restore the family’s abandoned gothic mansion, Castlefreke.

In 2005, Stephen Evans Freke, the youngest son of the late Peter Evans Freke — the 11th Lord Carbery — embarked on one of the country’s most ambitious restoration projects to return Castlefreke in West Cork to its former glory.

He hired Anna Oakes, who had previously overseen the restoration of the family’s other base, nearby Rathbarry Castle. She had also worked on the acclaimed renovation of actor Jeremy Irons’ Kilcoe Castle near Ballydehob.