First look inside tech oligarch Mark Zuckerberg’s remote Irish castle: The jaw-dropping feature that wouldn’t look out of place in a JAMES BOND villain’s lair – and the sinister ‘murder hole’ that forms part of its dark past…
Tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have completed the purchase of Strancally Castle, a gothic 19th-century estate near Knockanore in Co. Waterford, Ireland. The Meta CEO, reportedly the world's seventh-richest person, is understood to have paid between €20 million and €30 million for the 200-year-old castle and its 440-acre grounds, which include a striking high-tech underground swimming pool. The purchase reflects Zuckerberg's continued interest in acquiring high-end private property, and gives him a base near Meta's European headquarters in Dublin.
The castle's standout feature is a 25-metre indoor-outdoor pool with a rising floor that converts into a terrace, installed beneath a patio by Co. Cork firm Cumnor as part of extensive renovations by previous owners Michael and Giancarla Alen-Buckley over the past 25 years. Strancally Castle was built in the late 1820s on the banks of the Blackwater River by architect brothers James and George Richard Pain, on the site of an earlier 12th-century Norman fortress, and has passed through several owners since. The estate also carries a grim legend involving a "murder hole" trap door, described in an 1894 book as a device once used to drop captives into a flooded cave below the castle.
- Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan buy Strancally Castle in Co. Waterford, Ireland
- Estimated price €20m-€30m for gothic castle and 440-acre estate
- Castle features a James Bond-style rising-floor underground pool
- Property has a dark 19th-century "murder hole" legend
New here? Start with this
Strancally Castle is a gothic estate near Knockanore in Co. Waterford, Ireland, built in the late 1820s on the site of an earlier medieval fortress. It has changed hands several times since, and its most recent owners spent 25 years renovating it, adding modern touches including an elaborate underground swimming pool.
Mark Zuckerberg is the co-founder and chief executive of Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and is one of the world's wealthiest people. He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have a history of buying large private properties, and this purchase gives them a base close to Meta's European headquarters in Dublin.
The castle also has a darker history attached to it, including a so-called "murder hole" said to date back centuries, which adds an unusual historical footnote to what is otherwise a story about a high-value property deal by a prominent tech figure.