Читать книгу Irish Castles - Orna Mulcahy - Страница 11

DROMORE, GREENANE, KENMARE, COUNTY KERRY

A picture-perfect castle overlooking Kenmare Bay, An Culu looks like a particularly well preserved medieval castle or, at the least, a Victorian Gothic revival masterpiece, but in fact it dates from the 1990s, when it was built by an English businessman smitten with history. The first castle to be built in Ireland since Victorian times, it comes with all the architectural detail one might expect: a moat and a drawbridge, turrets and towers, a grotto-style swimming pool in the dungeon, and gas-fired torches that can be activated by remote control in the entrance. An Culu took three years to build, using teams of craftsmen from all over Ireland and the UK, as well as local stonemasons and joiners. It’s surrounded by forest managed by the Irish Forestry Board, Coillte.

An Culu is privately owned and cannot be visited.