I attended the property auction held at the Stormont Hotel, Belfast, this evening.
I was interested to know whether Castle Dillon, one of the Province's finest country houses, sold or not.
At eight fifteen, the hammer rose and, despite the price guide of a mere £250,000, the auctioneer had to lower his offer to £100,000 before there were any bidders at all.
The final bid was for £115,000.
We were advised that the vendor was in attendance.
I should imagine that Castle Dillon remains on the market, its future uncertain; which is a shame, given its status and pre-eminence as a part of our heritage.
One is reminded of Wilde; people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. There is something obscene that such a house, with so much history, could sell for so little.
ReplyDeleteA sign of the times LB. The sad fact remains it is a huge undertaking. I heard a figure of £50M being spent on Lough Eske Castle, albeit with huge extension, spa etc. It would take quite a while to get your money back! Shame no rich Americans could have stepped in, as they did with Ashford. I hope it doesnt go the same way has Mount Panther.
ReplyDeleteAlas, such a shame.
ReplyDeleteMontalto was transformed with abundant expenditure by the Wilsons; though it's closer to Belfast and less remote, I imagine.
Might it not have made an ideal seat for Lord B? VC
ReplyDeleteVC, indeed it would. The noble Earl is quite disheartened that a grateful nation has not provided such a stately seat with an appropriate annuity. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHave recently viewed Castle Dillon, I am not surprised that it failed to reach the asking price - in fact I'm surprised that the vendor thinks he will get more than £115k. The property is in terrible shape, the lead has been removed from the roof which has allowed the water in which has destroyed the buildings interior. The current owner should be held accountable for allowing the building to fall into such disrepair. Also the house now sits on a very small site with access through a local farmers property.
ReplyDeleteI too viewed Castle Dillon last week, pity the roof wasnt fixed 7 years ago as the water ingress from the roof has run down inside the walls and rotted the floor joists and the timber lath and plaster walls, every piece of metal has been stolen and vandals have wrecked any original features there where, it will most deffinatly need to be brought back to a shell as the dry rot is rife, unfortunitly there is a new farm house to be built in front/side of castle dillon with its entrance going over the front garden, its very close, hopefully someone will take on the rebuild the house needs before the structure is lost altoghether, we'll probably see it again in auction but i doubt it will make the 100k odd it made before, heres hoping theres an angel out there with a couple of million to bring it back to life!
ReplyDeletejust seen in property news that its back in for auction again.... one to watch, its my guess that it'll be sold this time! 70-80k?
ReplyDelete