A SALE has been agreed for Fermanagh’s most expensive private property.
The Herald understands a well-known local family has purchased Belle Isle Estate, which went on the market last year for £7.5 million.
A sale was previously agreed, but later fell through, and it was later put back on the market with a guide price of £5,950,000.
The Lisbellaw-based estate has been placed on the market by Savills NI estate agents and stretches over 448 acres of land. Included within the grounds are Belle Isle Castle, a walled garden and 17 cottages and apartments.
The previous owner, James Hamilton, the fifth Duke of Abercorn, acquired the estate for his youngest son Lord Nicholas Hamilton back in 1991. The Duke’s family seat is currently at Baronscourt Estate near Newtownstewart in Tyrone.
The 17th century castle has a rich history dating back to before the 15th century. It is the place where the Annals of Ulster were written and in the words of the esteemed Dr Katharine Simms of Trinity College Dublin she explains that the Annals of Ulster ‘represent fifteenth-century Fermanagh’s greatest cultural contribution’.
Furthermore, in her opinion, ‘In no other part of the British Isles, perhaps in no other part of Europe has society in such a small closed community been chronicled in such detail.’
During the last 32 years, Belle Isle has become both a popular wedding venue and tourist resort for those wishing to holiday in splendour within rural Fermanagh.
On the Savills listing it is described as, “an exceptional mixed-use country estate situated in an outstandingly picturesque and ecologically important location on the banks of Lough Erne in County Fermanagh, an area which is famed for the variety of its landscape and natural beauty.”
“Designed in a castellated style, it is listed Grade B+ for its architectural and historic importance. The castle offers well balanced and beautifully proportioned accommodation measuring about 15,524 square feet gross internal area.”
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