Anyone who has watched or read Game of Thrones has definitely imagined owning their own island fortress a la Dragonstone.
Well, good news people of the Seven Kingdoms, because now’s your chance — though you’ll be swapping locations from the fictional Narrow Sea for the very real Irish Sea.
Just off the coast of Wales, the Stack Rock Fort is a Grade II listed building (the United Kingdom’s equivalent to being on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places) for its unique contribution to the defense of Wales in the 19th century during a French invasion led by Napoleon III. It was built between 1850 and 1852 and then updated in 1859 with a new building that completely encased the original gun tower.
Stack Rock Fort isn’t the first fort to exist on Stack Rock, as there have been previous forts here built for defense, with the earliest proposals made by Thomas Cromwell in 1539 (which did not come to fruition). The fort in its current form was built to hold 32-pounder guns, a single 12-pounder for protection of the walls of the dock, one officer, and a garrison of 30 men.
Currently uninhabited and uninhabitable, Stack Rock Fort features a nearly circular design with a partially open interior courtyard all squatly placed on a pile of rocks barely breaching the sea’s surface. Located in a bay just a few yards offshore from Milford Haven, Wales, and, according to the firm representing the sellers, “Previous owners have inquired about the potential to turn the fort into a commercial residence with links to the mainland.” Which is exactly what we’d do if we had the dough to make an offer on this spectacular fortification.
And how much of an offer would they need to sell? Currently, Purple Bricks and property expert Ross McKenzie are considering offers in excess of £400,000 (or roughly $530,000), which is the price of a nice house in a mid-sized American city.
So forget your suburban American dream, your job, and everything else. Liquefy your assets and head over to Wales to live your life out in a nearly-dilapidated fort in the Irish Sea.
If you prefer your castles and fortresses to be move-in-ready, check out Derek Jeter’s New York castle, which is also for sale.
