Luggala
Luggala, one of Ireland’s most famous homes used to film scenes in Braveheart and Excalibur, is on the market for 28 million. It is being sold by the honourable Garech Browne, the great, great, great grandson of Arthur Guinness. The Gothic house beside Lough Tay in Co. Wicklow was built in 1787 by the banking La Touche family and modelled on Strawberry Hill in London. It was bought by Ernest Guinness in 1937 who gave it to his daughter Oonagh as a wedding present. It is on 5,000 acres. There are seven bedrooms plus lodges around the estate with another 20 bedrooms.
Home to Garech Browne (77) the founder of Claddagh Records, for the past 47 years it was overhauled in 1996 with a six million euro makeover. He is selling up as his wife lives in Singapore. Over 2 million worth of art and furniture from Luggala and other Guinness estates was auctioned in 2006.
Another Irish stately home, Westport House, has just changed hands. (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 27, 2017)