£11m CASTLE FOR SALE
A SOUTH Wales castle has been put up for sale with a princely £11.5m price tag.
Fonmon Estate, in the Vale of Glamorgan, is set in nearly 1,000 acres of land – and comes complete with its own limestone quarry.
The history of the plot dates back to just after the Norman conquest of Wales in 1090, when early records show a timber structure was erected on the site.
The estate, which is just under four miles from Cardiff Airport, currently combines a wedding and events business based in and around Fonmon Castle. It features arable, pasture and woodland, as well as the limestone quarry and associated cement works.
And it also includes a number of estate houses and cottages and traditional farm buildings.
The estate, set in 950 acres, is for sale as one large lot or as three smaller principal lots.
The Grade I-listed castle has been run as a licensed wedding and events venue since 1996.
It hosts about 90 events per year, ranging from smaller private dinners and guided tours to the Vale of Glamorgan Agricultural Show, which attracts up to 20,000 visitors annually.
Giles Wordsworth director Savills, farms and estates, which is marketing the property, said: “Fonmon Castle combines a well documented and impressive history with modern day diversification generating a considerable additional income for the estate.
“There are longer-term development opportunities across the estate subject to the required planning consents. The estate with its varied income streams could suit an investor in rural property or an owner occupier.”
The castle’s rectangular stone keep was built in the 12th century by the St John family. Additions were made during the 13th to 16th centuries resulting in the creation of a roughly U-shaped building.
In 1656 the estate was sold to Colonel Philip Jones an ancestor of the present owners. He added the much larger double depth wing on the north side of the castle.
The next significant changes were completed in 1762, including additional battlements and the remodelling of the interior
Following the death of the last male Jones in 1917, the estate passed to his niece Clara, later Lady Boothby, whose grandson is the current owner. The estate is run by Sir Brooke Boothby’s daughter Aliki Currimjee.
The estate consists of more than 500 acres of arable and grassland, part of which is currently let on a farm business tenancy until September 2019.
The quarry dates from 1912 and is now owned by Tarmac and is one of its largest cement operations. Reserves of limestone are expected to allow extraction at current rates to continue for another 20 years. Part of the quarry is now occupied by RWE as a waste management facility.