Peculiar pandemic property year ends with €4m+ sale of Gothic Kerry castle

Mystery European buyer of Kenmare's An Culu aims to use it for downtime, and, post Covid-19,  for entertaining business contacts 

Moat by Kerry's waterfront An Culu near Kenmare. Just sold by Savills Cork for €4-4.5 million, the late 1990s built castle has 9,000 sq ft, has its toes in the water of the bay with a floating marina, and even has a swimming pool set in a basement-like grotto

A MAKE-believe Ring of Kerry Gothic castle, built in the last 20 years near Kenmare, has just been bought for more than €4 million, making it one of largest and quirkiest Irish property sales in a pandemic year.

Sold for under its revised €4.5 million guide price through agents Savills’ Cork office, to an unidentified European buyer, is An Culu, a confection of a waterside stone-built castle on 4.5 acres, deep in Coillte forestry, near Templenoe.

Shaken, and stirred: An Culu has a swimming pool and leisure centre with club-like mood lighting. The five-storey castle also has a lift, and Bose sound system

The Kerry castle sale comes hot on the heels of that of West Cork’s Glengarriff Castle, for €2.7 million, also to an overseas purchaser, bought very much as an unfinished project and likely to swallow many millions more before becoming habitable once more.

At one stage, each of this Munster duo of castles, one original and part-ruined in glorious Glengarriff harbour, the other a Disney-esque Kerry replica complete with moat, grotto swimming pool, silk-lined walls and Bose sound system, had been on the market with price hopes as high as €15 million.

Moody An Culu at dusk

Stronger sale of the two was Kerry’s An Culu, with 9,000 sq ft of recreated luxury, developed out of a one-time tea ‘folly house’ by the original Dromore Castle.

An Culu was built by UK garage business owner and entrepreneur Kevin Reardon, to an elaborate specification, with a deep water quay and floating marina, giving boat access to the Kenmare river and bay.

An Culu is set on 4.5 acres by Coillte forestry and has its own waterfrontage, quay and marina

After completion, it variously had price guides of €10 million, and even €15 million around 2007 and 2008, around the end of the Celtic Tiger era.

Successful selling agents Catherine McAuliffe and Michael O’Donovan of Savills said it had made close to the 2018 revised price of €4.5 million and “represents one of the largest country property transactions in Ireland this year.” Kenmare property sources recently hinted An Colu’s buyer was a high-profile Dublin publican, but were wide of the mark in this case.

Stained glass a replica feature by skilled craftsworkers at An Culu

Savills have declined to identify the buyer, said to be a low-profile European purchaser (similar perhaps to that of the West Cork Horse Island, sold in summer 2020, sight unseen, in pandemic stricture times, for c €5.7 million.) “The lucky new owner plans to spend a large part of the year at An Culu where he plans to entertain overseas guests and business associates as well as being able to appreciate some down time in this luxurious haven,” said Savills’ residential director Catherine McAuliffe.

“This was definitely one of the most unique properties we have had the pleasure of selling. It’s a truly magnificent home, in the most private and tranquil setting”, she added.

Frescoed domed ceiling in An Culu, near Templenoe and  Kenmare, sold by Savills

The five-storey stone-faced castellated building (with lift to all levels) has domed, frescoed ceilings on its uppermost level, viewing terraces, and a leisure centre with grotto-set pool and mood lighting, a la James Bond, or Playboy’s Hugh Heffner.

The new European owner may opt to tone it down a bit, while Savills' Michael O'Donovan says that “the outgoing custodians certainly had an excellent eye for detail and their wide-ranging knowledge of building and construction is evident throughout this project.”

Glengarriff Castle sold during 2020 for €2.7 million

Meanwhile, still a work in progress is the part-restored Glengarriff Castle, on 87 acres close to the late actress Maureen O’Hara’s Irish home and hideaway.

Glengarriff Castle sold by Sherry FitzGerald to an undisclosed buyer who aims to complete its rehabilitation

The 250-year-old Gothic castle which had been a hotel in the mid 1900s went to market in June with Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes and Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill, guiding €2.75m (down from Tiger Times’ hopes of €20m for a consortium of owners, who refused a €15m offer), and found an undisclosed buyer within weeks, and now that sale at c €2.7m has now also just closed out in jig time, by year’s end.

It was sold for the family of the late UK businessman Ted Toye, who had bought it a labour of love for €1.6m in 2014. Mr Toye had aimed to used it as a residence after falling for West Cork, where his other property purchases at one stage included O’Connors Seafood Restaurant in Bantry.