Is your Ireland dream home a 12th-century haunted Irish castle

Iris Central ^ | 04/08/2020

[BenLurkin]

Dating back to the 12th-century and the Norman invasion of Ireland, Portlick Castle, in Athlone, County Westmeath, is on the market for $1,519,660 (€1,400,000), that's about as much as you'd pay for a large semi-detached house in Dublin!

Portlick Castle boasts of ten bedrooms and 12 bathrooms. A lakeside property, nestled on 12 acres of land it really is the stuff of dreams. Of course, there's a little nightmarish stuff too! No house as old as this gets through the centuries without picking up a few ghost stories and Portlick has a few. According to the real estate agent, Stan Bradbury, who listed the property on Daft.ie, for most of its long history, the castle was inhabited by only two families. The story goes that a castle was built on the site by Sir Henry de Leon in the 12th century under the charter of King John.

The four-story tower house that stands there now is thought to have gone up later, in the 15th century, though incorporating the earlier structure.

De Leons (who later went by the more familiar name of Dillon) lived at Portlick until 1696 when they made the mistake of backing the losing side in the Williamite wars.

Portlick Castle is widely reputed to be haunted by a ghost known as the 'Blue Lady'. She has been seen by the owner floating around the staircase area of the great castle and over the years, she has also been spotted by a great many of the guests who have excitedly recorded their experiences in various online forums.

The Blue Lady gets about it seems because Kilkenny Castle, Monkstown Castle in Cork, the Sharon Rectory in Co Donegal, and the Workhouse Museum in Derry all have blue lady ghost sightings attached to them.

[BenLurkin]

My first thought was “The Canterville Ghost”

[redshawk]

Everything in Australia will kill you.
Especially drinking beer with the locals. ...lol.

[doorgunner69]

Got to wonder about the condition of the plumbing and suchlike........

[doorgunner69]

I dunno, that Øbama one might not be in vogue there?

[doorgunner69]

Yabbut, them summers are a bitch. Spent some deployments in Yuma back when.

[Viking2002]

Obama would be sure to have a white lawn jockey, and then claim his great-great grandfather on his mother's side was 1/1024th's Irish. Which makes him about as much an Irishman as I am an Eskimo or Elizabeth Warren is a Cherokee Indian.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Limerick has some nice castles including one owned by a gentleman from Nantucket. I hear he’s quite popular with the local ladies.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

There is a tv show called Escape to the Chateau where a retired military Engineer with some good documentary TV connections and his wife, who has 20 year's experience in the hospitality industry, buy a Chateau in France that's in horrible shape. The series follows how they restore it and turn it into a B&B/Events center. They've done a fabulous job and have inspired others to follow in their footsteps, most of who are going broke as this is written thanks to the lockdown. It's a very entertaining show but my take on it is that unless you have a ton of money and/or tv connections to get you sponsors I would avoid this like the ChiCom Flu.

[kalee]

I’d love to buy it!

[Rockingham]

In that era of more difficult and longer travel and lack of suitable local accommodations, visits by family and friends to a great house usually involved stays of days or weeks. Calling it a small hotel is close to the truth.

[wally_bert]

The last season of Remington Steele.

Not great.

[wny]

it’s not a hellhole.....I was there in October, traveled all over.

[centurion316]

Cold, damp, plumbing doesn’t work, electrical is 100 year old fire hazard, floors are sagging, roof is leaking.

No showers and the garderobe hasn't been cleaned in about 300 years.

[marktwain]

Yabbut, them summers are a bitch. Spent some deployments in Yuma back when.

It is a "dry heat".

It isn't so bad if you have shade.

Air conditioning helps a lot.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks BenLurkin. So, they expect to sell an obsolete structure, probably a maintenance nightmare, AND, you have to share the house. What BS! /jk

[null and void]

It is a "dry heat".

That's what people in hell say.

Reno isn't Hell, but you can see Sparks from here...

[SunkenCiv]

Looks more like 17th-18th c, although there may have been a 12th c Norman castle there at one time, or the squarish tower that shows on other pics may be a greatly altered older structure. /CivOfficiouslyComplainsAboutStuff

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portlick_Castle

possibly interesting sidebar:

Time Team S20-E09 The Lost Castle of Dundrum - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_UrPN13KyM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU_EmUPokZw

[fieldmarshaldj]

You’re talking about the physical looks. I’m talking about the moral, political and spiritual soul.

[mass55th]

Thanks. That was the last season that Time Team aired. I’ve got all the programs, having downloaded them when they aired. I still miss the series.