It’s a total knock down: the most expensive piece of real estate in Ireland has just had $11 million slashed from its asking price.

The Castle Annaghs Estate, 2 miles outside the town of New Ross – the town from where John F. Kennedy’s great-grandfather famously departed in 1848 – was on sale for €16 million ($21 million).

According to the estate agents handling the property, an Irish dairy farmer had agreed to the price – but then the deal fell apart. “That can firmly be attributed to the current economic difficulties,” said Anne Carton, the estate agent handling the sale.

The estate consists of 550 acres of “top quality agricultural land,” a 10,000 sq ft residence, the ruins of a 16th Century castle, as well as two 3-bedroom houses and one 4-bedroom house (which were originally intended for the servants.) 

All of this could be yours, for as little as € 7.5 million ($10 million).

Since last year, the Irish economy has taken a major nose dive – as have the prices for country estates, some of which, such as the Castle Annagh’s Estate, have lost more than 50 percent of their value.

The estate is owned by a wealthy German businessman, Anne Carton said, whose family bought the estate in the mid-1960s. The businessman now wishes to concentrate on his other business interests.

The farm has been managed by another German family for around 40 years, the estate agent told IrishCentral.

The story goes that a Norman Earl called Strongbow, who played an important role in the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century, was married to the daughter of an Irish warlord under a great oak tree that once stood in front of the Castle on the banks of the River Barrow in 1170.

At the center of the estate lies the current house, which was built for a prince called Edward Murphy, who made a great fortune as a wine merchant in the latter half of the 18th Century, trading wine from Bordeaux, Cadiz and Ireland. At that time, the town of New Ross was an important wine port.

Apparently, Murphy paid for the construction of the house – which has largely remained unaltered – in gold.

This time round, however, it appears that a check will do just fine – the auction takes May 29th at 3.00pm at The Brandon House Hotel, New Ross, County Wexford.