Mark Zuckerberg Has Bought An Irish Castle – Here’s All The Other Celebs With A Castle Home

These days it seems that the billionaire class would much rather splash their excessive cash on super yachts and space missions than the castles of their aristocratic forebears. Most new-moneyed businessmen are more content in sterile white new-builds, sprawled across moneyed hotspots like LA and Monaca, than crumbling old castles. That is, at least, bar Mark Zuckerberg.

The controversial Facebook founder has bought up his very own Irish castle. Named Strancally Castle, the historic 19th-century, Gothic-style estate is set within 440 acres of countryside in County Waterford, Ireland. Built in 1830 for former Conservative MP John Keily, the tech mogul purchased the gothic-style mansion for €20m, as a European base for his worldwide work. But Mark Zuckerberg isn’t the only well-known name to own a castle. Want to know which celebrities own castles? Here’s your complete guide.

Which Celebrities Own Castles?

(c) BBC

Alan Carr

Following his terrific run on Celebrity Traitors, it seems Alan Carr couldn’t get enough of life amongst the turrets. And, so in February 2026 he bought-up a 16-bedroom castle of his own. Named Ayton Castle, the 19th-century baronial structure is a dead-ringer for the property where The Traitors is filmed. Lording over Berwick-upon-Tweed, just north of the English-Scottish border, this impressive residence boasts a five-storey turret, a private railway, equestrian facilities and 160 acres of land. It seems, however, that the TV funny man won’t be living here alone, as he plans to transform his £3m home into a luxury spa retreat. No stranger to home renovations – having already revived a series of European villas with Amanda Holden – his journey to restore this historic manor will be documented in the new Disney+ series Castle Man.

‘Some men when they have a midlife crisis buy a Lamborghini or grow a ponytail, but me – I want my very own castle,’ said Carr. ‘Since I was a boy in Northampton, I’ve always dreamt big, and have always been enchanted with the history and romance of a stately home and as I turn fifty, I feel it’s my time. All I want is a turret to call my own – get me over that drawbridge!’

Orlando Sentinel/ Associated Press, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Enya

These days, the Irish singer leads a largely reclusive life, locked away in Manderley Castle in Killiney, County Dublin. The castle, which was originally known as Victoria Castle, was built in 1840 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne. Gutted by a fire in 1928, the property was then restored by whiskey distillery heir Sir Thomas Power, who renamed it Ayesha Castle after the goddess who rose from the flames in H. Rider Haggard’s novel She (1887). Briefly transformed into a tourist site, Enya purchased the property for £2.5m in 1997 (reportedly outbidding Riverdance star Michael Flatley).

She renamed the home Manderley Castle, after the ‘haunted’ home of Daphne Du Maurier’s 1938 novel Rebecca. Perched on a hill, with sweeping views across the Irish Sea, the castle features battlements, turrets and a private subterranean tunnel that once led to Killiney Beach. Introducing extensive security measures and carrying out extensive renovations, today Enya lives there alone with her pet cats.

Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Jeremy Irons 

In 1998, Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons purchased Kilcoe Castle for IR£150,000. The star then invested a reported £1m restoring the 15th-century tower over the course of six years. Located on a small island in County Cork island, the five-storey castle was the last to fall to the English in the early 16th century, sealing England’s conquest of Gaelic Ireland. 

Unoccupied for around 400 years when Irons purchased it, he hired a motley crew of friends, locals, itinerant masons, woodworkers, and other craftsmen to bring it back to life. Today, the castle sleeps 13, and the master suite features an arching wood roof inspired by the attic in an old French farmhouse that he frequented while filming The Man in the Iron Mask.

‘I remember the very first night I spent here on my own,’ Irons told Vanity Fair. ‘It’s a very interesting building, because it’s very male and erect: a phallus. And yet, within, it’s a womb. Very strange like that. And I thought, I’m completely protected. I’m away from everything. It’s a wonderful feeling. And that’s what it gives me.’

Ian Smith from London, England, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Dominic West & Catherine Fitzgerald

The Fitzgerald family’s ties to Glin Castle date all the way back to the 13th century. Though the property was abandoned in the late 17th century, in the 1780s John Bateman Fitzgerald’s advantageous marriage to a wealthy heiress gave him the funds to rebuild the present castle in its place. Further renovations were made in the 1820s, in keeping with the Gothic Revival style in vogue at that time – including castellations, false arrow slits and mullioned windows. 

By the late 20th century, the castle was returned to its former glory – hosting everyone from Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, to Seamus Heaney and Ronnie Wood. And in 1993, the decision was made to turn the house into a hotel. But when Catherine’s father, Desmond, died, the family decided that the only option was to sell it.

Glin Castle sat on the market for two years until Catherine and her husband – the actor Dominic West – decided to save it, buying it up alongside Catherine’s two sisters. ‘The house has its own spirit, which won’t let us out of its grasp,’ Catherine told House & Garden. ‘Growing up, my sisters and I roamed the place, making dens in the rhododendron bushes, climbing the Monterey pine and wading in the rushing, stony stream. The garden got under my skin – and for years it’s filled my dreams.’

‘The story of this place is so romantic and so melancholy,’ added Dominic. ‘With the sale of the house, I realised I was asking Catherine to give up her soul.’ Today, the 20,000 sqft property is open for private lettings and events – with everyone from Taylor Swift and Mick Jagger among its list of notable guests. 

From the Journal Of The Co. Kildare Archaeological Society And Surrounding Districts. Vol. 1. 1891 – 1895 . p. 352 – 353., CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Christy Casham

Author, writer, actress and producer Christy Casham might just own one of the most impressive properties in all of Ireland. Together, her and her husband, Jay, own Kilkea Castle in Kilkea. One of Ireland’s oldest continually inhabited castles, this 180-acre estate dates back to 1180. Today the historic abode, located just an hour away from Dublin, serves a hotel, championship golf course and spa. 

Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Kit Harrington & Rose Leslie

It’s only fitting that these two Game of Thrones stars should have a castle base to retreat to. Rose Leslie grew up in her family’s ancestral home – a 16th century abode in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, named Lickleyhead Castle. However, the family later lost the castle when it was repossessed by creditors over unpaid debts; it was seized from her father, Sebastian Leslie, and sold for £650,000 in 2019.

Thankfully, Lickleyhead wasn’t the only castle in the Leslie portfolio. The family has owned Wardhill Castle, also in Aberdeenshire, for over 800 years. Today, the 12th-century castle is owned by Rose’s brother William Leslie and his wife, and is available to hire. Rose and Kit, however, still spend plenty of time at the family seat – and the former co-stars even held their wedding there in 2018.