Are you done living in compact urban homes where “large rooms†are extinct? For the same price as that of an apartment in most cities across the world, you can buy and live like royalty. Castles have been the stuff of dreams and fantasy epics that are too good to be true have made us look at them in awe. But after reading this list of ten castles under one million dollars that you can buy around the world, you are going to think otherwise and be tempted to go and actually live in one. Countries like Scotland, France, Ireland, and England among others have had a rich heritage of royals and have a lot of castles that are lying vacant in the 21st century. Want to live in one? These are up for sale.
W.B.Yeats, the Nobel Prize-winning poet once wanted to buy this castle that looks like it stepped out of a fairytale. We say so because it is located on an island in the middle of Lough Key and has been occupied for 800 years. Etched in folklore, McDermott’s Castle was W.B Yeats’ yearning to create a symbol of Irish culture and heritage. He was also fascinated by the legends that surround the castle. One of the legends talks about a tragic love story. Una, the daughter of the McDermott chief, fell in love with a boy who belonged to the lower class. Confined to the island by her father, the only way the lovers could meet was if the boy swam through the lake. One day, while coming to meet his beloved, the boy drowned. The girl soon died of shock and a broken heart. Their bodies are said to be buried on the island under two intertwined trees. In 1899, when Yeats wanted to buy the castle, it had English owners. But soon, the castle fell into decay. Another folly castle was built 200 years ago by the royal family that ruled Ireland, that stands today.
But this awe-inspiring Irish castle has a catch. Anyone who decides to buy this property will have to shell out a fortune to make it habitable. The walls of the castles are unstable because of being covered with ivy and other dense vegetation which makes it dangerous to live in. A large amount of restoration work will be required before moving in.
The island, which has had a number of structures built on it, was owned by the McDermott family until the 17th century. After that, it was given to the King family of England as a part of the Cromwellian settlement. (1, 2)
How would you like to own a castle that was built for Henry, the Sixth Lord of Sinclair in the 16th century and where King James VI stayed as a guest in 1589? Should one look at this castle from a distance, it would seem like a fascinating structure from a bygone era.
Image credits: Savills
Close to Trump International Golf Course, Knockhall Castle is a B-listed, scheduled monument located near the beautiful coastal village of Newburgh in Aberdeenshire. It is also situated near the mouth of the river Ythan. Since the 13th century, the Sinclair family owned the site where the castle is built. On the stone door of the castle, the numbers “1589†are carved, which supports the claim that it was built in the 16th century. The view from the castle is surreal.
Image credit: Savills
Although the castle has been made stable by its current owner who is an expert in the restoration of ancient buildings, it has only four walls and no roof. For someone looking to buy the castle, the cost of having a roof installed and making the rooms livable will have to be calculated. Externally intact, the castle demands a lot of work internally.
3 Breachacha Castle
Location: Inner Hebridean island of Coll, Scotland
Breachacha Castle is located at the southern end of the Isle of Coll in Scotland overlooking the sea. Beautiful orchids and other flowers bloom in the castle’s surroundings in summer. From the castle, a wide range of flora and fauna can be seen including sharks and dolphins. The Georgian castle in the Palladian style was constructed for the 12th Chief of the MacLeans in 1750. In 1856, a man named John Lorne Stewart came to own the castle and made alterations to it.
Image Credits: Savills
The castle has been exchanged through a lot of hands and many have attempted to restore it to its former glory but haven’t completely succeeded in doing so. The upper two floors have six bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a sitting room which are habitable, but the ground floor requires work. Breachacha Castle has a spell-binding view from all of its rooms.
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4 Mains Castle
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Price: $623,107 | Â Property SiteImage credits: SavillsImage credits: Savills
Serving as a reminder of an old tale of romance, the A-listed, 15th-century Mains Castle was home to a princess. In 1478, after Princess Euphemia Stewart married David Lindsay who was Glasgow’s provost, they came to live in this castle which is believed to be standing on land gifted by Robert the Bruce. After the Battle of Bothwell Brig in 1678, it was abandoned and massively damaged because of cannonball attacks (the marks are still visible). In 1883, when its Victorian owners built a new roof, it was restored, but that roof collapsed in 1922 after a storm. After some restoration work between 1977 and 1985, it was made habitable again. It has open fires, flagstone floors, and a winding spiral staircase that leads up to the fifth floor.
The coolest part is how it has a spiral-turnpike staircase that is purposely designed in a clockwise direction to aid a right-handed swordsman in fighting an intruder. This was a unique idea of defense. The castle has 3.8 acres grounds surrounding it and many handcrafted decor pieces inside with a handpainted ceiling in the ladies room. The grounds are bordered by the water of James Hamilton Heritage Loch and Park. It has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and two sitting rooms.
The 19th-century Gosford Castle is where a part of the popular television series, Game of Thrones (GoT), was shot (Riverrun Castle). The section of the castle that is up for sale has fifteen bedrooms and ten bathrooms. It has been fashioned into three- to five-bedroom luxury apartments each having an area of 325 square meters. Some of these apartments have rooftop gardens. They have been named uniquely like, “The Old Keep,†or “The Great Hall.â€
Surrounded by 590 acres of forest, the Gosford Castle was built in the mid-1800s in the Norman Revival style by the Earl of Gosford, Archibald Acheson. Until 1921, the castle was home to the earls. During World War II and the Northern Ireland conflict, it was used as a camp for prisoners-of-war and to accommodate the soldiers. It was then used as a forest park by the Ministry of Agriculture of Ireland and then fell back to military use. After that, it was used as a hotel from 1983. In 2006, Gosford Castle Development Limited bought the place to restore it and build luxury residences.
