The 16th century medieval castle and baronial mansion house hotel and wedding venue, Comlongon Castle Hotel, in Clarencefield, Dumfries and Galloway, is on the market for the first time in 35 years. It is being marketed by Colliers International off a guide price of £1.1m.
The 14-bed hotel, set over five levels, with an adjoining three-storey mansion house, has been closed since December 2019. The two properties have separate entrances but are also linked with an internal passage. In addition to the main properties is a single storey out building now accommodating the ‘Honeymoon Lodge’.
Within the mansion house is the hotel’s lounge and dining room, cocktail bar, drawing room, and a balcony overlooking the gardens.
The sale is being dealt with by Robert Smithson and Neil Thomson from the Hotels Agency Team of Colliers International. Robert Smithson commented: “Comlongon has only changed hands (outside the family) once in the last 700+ years and its availability, now, is the first time it has been offered for sale as an hotel, after 35 years in the same family ownership.
Although the business has currently ceased trading, the hotel offers an outstanding opportunity to private or corporate hoteliers to acquire a beautiful and historic property which has scope for business development or repositioning to return it to its former glory as one of the areas foremost hotels and wedding venues.
“Comlongon is also a great leisure destination from where visitors can base themselves to explore the joys of the Solway Coast/Firth and all that the Dumfries and Galloway region, in Southern Scotland, has to offer so will no doubt benefit from an impressive trading performance.”
The Lands of Comlongon were granted to the Murrays of Cockpool in the early 14th Century and it is they who built the outstanding Tower House in the early 16th Century. The properties remained in the Murrays’ ownership, via their descendants, the Earls of Mansfield (of Scone Palace), who added the adjoining baronial-style mansion house in the early 1900s, replacing an earlier 18th Century house.
Comlongon Castle remained part of the Earls estate until 1984 when it was purchased by the Ptolomey family. In the intervening years, they have created an excellent country house style hotel, maximising on the features of this historic property with functions and weddings, often for exclusive use, being a stalwart core of the business.
Comlongon Castle, although distinctly rural in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south west Scotland, is readily accessible. The main A75 tourist route is nearby which links to the A74 (M)/M6 motorway, the main arterial route from the north of England to Scotland. The hotel’s location is almost equidistant between Dumfries (the region’s main centre) and Annan, with Gretna Green a few miles beyond. It is from the latter – famed for its weddings – that Comlongon Castle benefits with the castle a superb venue for functions, where the historic property and attractive gardens provide a truly atmospheric setting.
