Number 3 Glanmore Castle offers a four-bedroom home of 2,000 sq ft in the grandeur of a castle tower, and comes with its own turreted roof terrace
Asking price: €685,000
Agent: Sherry FitzGerald (0404) 66466
It’s been the fairytale dream of so many to live in a castle. But in Ireland, that’s not generally very practical, given that most habitable Irish castles are plain tower houses. And the small windows and thick masonry walls that made them defensible, also tend to make them dark and cold abodes to live in.
The hall and stairs at Glanmore Castle
But what if you could live in a cosy and modernised baronial style fairytale castle in Co Wicklow for less than the price of a regular house in the same area?
The cost of a four-bedroom house in an estate in Ashford is currently running at €695,000, Wicklow being one of the country’s most expensive counties. However, you can alternatively have four-bed accommodation at nearby Glanmore Castle for €10,000 less.
A tag of €685,000 has just been put on a four-bedroom home contained within the castle, built in 1760 by the family of playwright JM Synge.
Glanmore Castle was later upgraded significantly by Francis Synge, the MP, in 1804 under the guidance of Ireland’s then most famous architect Francis Johnston.
Glanmore Castle was the home of John Millington Synge
Johnston, who also designed the GPO in Dublin’s O’Connell Street, was responsible for giving Glanmore its turrets and dramatic baronic flourishes.
While the playwright was born in Rathfarnham, his family spent a lot of time during the summer at Glanmore, the childhood home of his father the barrister John Hatch Synge and at that point the home of his uncle Francis Synge.
The main dining area at 3 Glanmore Castle, Devil’s Glen, Ashford, Co Wicklow
Synge is not the only literary connection to this property. Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney moved his family into one of the estate’s cottages in the 1970s and he lived here for four years. Its surrounds inspired his Glanmore Sonnets.
The house was a hotel in the 1960s, and became run down afterwards. It was restored by a German family who divided it into five units in 1975.
The main living room at 3 Glanmore Castle, Devil’s Glen, Ashford, Co Wicklow
The Castle also has rock and roll credentials with Charlie Burchill of Simple Minds living for a time in one of the converted stable yard buildings. Visitors to the site have included Tom Waits and local lore has it that Joey Tempest, lead singer of the light metal band Europe, performed their hit The Final Countdown at a piano during a memorable party night. Tempest lived in Ashford for six years.
Two of the castle apartments were at one point merged to create a larger space, and in 2015 this unit was put on the market for €1.285m. The same apartment sold in 2021 for €1.619m.
The entrance lobby at 3 Glanmore Castle, Devil’s Glen, Ashford, Co Wicklow
Apartment No3 has just been placed for sale and includes the central tower house in what was once the main entrance block to this opulent country estate home.
Number 3 spans 2,000 sq ft and comes with a very unusual castellated rooftop terrace which allows you to sit out with a cocktail in the summer and enjoy the views of the surrounding woodlands, valleys, The Devil’s Glen and of Carrack mountain through your very own turrets.
At the back, the home is entered at the tower house through suitably stout timber double doors with some nice stained glass in the window overhead.
The kitchen at 3 Glanmore Castle, Devil’s Glen, Ashford, Co Wicklow
At the front, there’s another big timber door.
The accommodation comprises an entrance hall with exposed wooden roof beams and a deep casement window.
This, in turn, opens into an inner hall with chequerboard black and white tiling, a guest WC off it and a red carpeted staircase which accesses all four floors.
One of the bathrooms at 3 Glanmore Castle, Devil’s Glen, Ashford, Co Wicklow
What was the former Synge family library is now a cosy drawing room, with its original white marble chimney piece, ceiling rose and an elaborate arched bay window nook with views of the gardens and the Devil’s Glen.
The thin board timber floor and a chandelier overhead add to the grandeur. At garden level, there’s a rustic baronial style kitchen and dining room with beamed ceilings and a flagged stone floor.
Double doors lead out to the gardens, and there’s additional storage and a pantry under an arch.
An outdoor seating area at Glanmore Castle, Devil’s Glen, Ashford, Co Wicklow
On the first floor is a large master bedroom with its own bathroom en suite and this occupies occupies the entire floor with an east-facing bay of picture windows.
Up the stairs again are three more bedrooms, two double and one single. The latter is currently being used as a home office. There’s also a family bathroom. And upstairs again is the roof terrace which is gravelled and has enough room for tables, chairs, benches and sun loungers.
This property comes with private parking for three vehicles, At the back of the castle is a private garden offering entry to the Glen and its river. This is sheltered on either side with mature trees and shrubs.
An aerial view of Glanmore Castle, Devil’s Glen, Ashford, Co Wicklow
The Devil’s Glen is covered in Coillte owned woodlands spanning hundreds of acres. The Glen was created at the end of the last Ice Age by the melt waters of ice sheets. The rocky fern-filled gorge runs down to the Vartry River and the woods are a mix of broad leaf and conifer forest with Spanish chestnut, beech and ash. Today it is popular with hikers who take on the hours-long walks on weekends. In particular, the Waterfall Walk and the Seamus Heaney Walk, named in the late poet’s honour.
Ashford is associated with an unusual number of actors, including MacLean Burke (Fair City), Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Katie McGrath and Niall MacGinnis.
If you want to play the role of King or Queen of this particular Castle, Sherry FitzGerald of Wicklow Town seeks €685,000.