Drake's Island in Plymouth Sound, a 400-year-old military stronghold off the English coast, has been put up for sale for at least £2 million.
London real estate agency Carter Jonas is managing the listing for owner Plymouth Sound Properties Ltd, which is owned by Morgan Phillips. The agency is advertising the landmark as a multi-stream commercial opportunity backed by existing planning permission to develop a 43-room hotel.
The offering includes the freehold interest of nearly 2.6 hectares of land on the fortified island, sold completely free of occupants and tenants, as reported by British news publication The Independent.
Plymouth Sound is a natural harbour situated on the coast of Devon in South West England. The nearby city of Plymouth has served as a key base for the Royal Navy for centuries.
Commercial potential and previous revenue
A promotional brochure released by Carter Jonas details that the island generated a gross revenue of £590,000 in 2023. Previous commercial operations on the island included guided public tours, private excursions, on-location film shoots, adventure activities and live theatrical performances.
Carter Jonas stated that the island's unique combination of historical monuments, natural environment and coastal setting creates significant development potential. The firm cited possibilities across tourism, education, leisure, public events and commercial ventures.
Ali Rana, the head of national investment at Carter Jonas, said the sale offered investors an exceptional platform to establish an iconic tourist destination. He noted that opportunities to purchase an entire private island were extremely rare.
Rana added that finding an island located just minutes from the mainland that pairs over 400 years of history with more than 30,000 square feet of historic buildings was even rarer. He said the property could also be converted into one of the most remarkable private residences in the United Kingdom, predicting interest from British and international investors, hoteliers and private buyers.
Centuries of naval and defence history
The island is named after Sir Francis Drake, who set sail from the site in 1577 on his famous circumnavigation of the globe. Drake returned three years later in 1580 and was appointed governor of the island by decree of Queen Elizabeth I.
Sir Francis Drake was the first Englishman to navigate around the world, while Queen Elizabeth I ruled England during a period of naval expansion in the late Tudor era.
Military authorities later expanded the island's fortifications to defend Plymouth against potential naval attacks from Spain and France. The site retained its active defense role until the Second World War, leaving behind historical structures ranging from artillery batteries to ammunition storage depots.
In the 1960s, the Ministry of Defence transferred ownership of the island back to the Duchy of Cornwall. In addition to Drake, renowned British maritime explorers Captain James Cook and Charles Darwin both launched famous sea voyages from the island.
Captain James Cook led major exploratory voyages across the Pacific Ocean during the eighteenth century, while naturalist Charles Darwin conducted research aboard HMS Beagle in the nineteenth century. The Duchy of Cornwall is a private estate established in 1337 to provide income to the heir to the British throne.
Ownership history and European market context
The property was last sold for £6 million to Phillips, who stated in 2024 that he had acquired the historic island in 2019 with ambitious plans for its future.
Phillips said that acting as the custodian of the landscape had been one of the greatest joys of his life. He expressed hope to pass the baton to a buyer who is passionate about the island's surroundings and capable of realizing its full potential, adding that he would be delighted to see those ambitions fulfilled.
The listing comes alongside broader European property comparisons reported by Ukrainian news agency UNIAN, including an entire German village listed for sale at €390,000, or £333,150. The asking price is lower than the average cost of an apartment in London.
Situated in the central German state of Thuringia, the 24,000-square-metre German property features 15 buildings averaging 100 square metres each. All interior equipment and partitions have been cleared, leaving the premises ready for redevelopment.
Thuringia is a landlocked federal state in central Germany known for its extensive forests and historic towns.
