The leader of the Democratic Unionist party has acquired a retirement home on Co Down’s gold coast, where he now spends much of his free time with his wife Lady Eileen.
The three-bedroom, two reception-room apartment is located in the 20-acre Sharman estate. Paisley’s apartment is one of 20 in Sharman House, a block built in the style of a stately home with magnificent views over Belfast Lough to the coast of Scotland.
The revelation will inevitably prompt speculation about when the 80-year-old will wind up his political role. He has already given up his seat in the European parliament, but retains seats at Westminster and in the Northern Ireland Assembly, as well as being minister at the Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian church in Belfast.
Some in his party expect he will not contest the next British general election, due within the next four years, and that if devolution is restored to Northern Ireland as a result of this autumn’s talks, Paisley will quit his Assembly role after a short period as first minister.
His retirement bolthole, in an American-style gated development, was selected with an eye to security. Estate agents boast the development offers “a new lifestyle, whether for the busy professional on the move or the mature couple seeking ease of maintenance and ‘lock and leave’ peace of mind”.
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It has been bought for Paisley by the Ulster Free Presbyterian church at an estimated cost of between £300,000 and £350,000 (about €450,000). Features include under-floor heating and oak flooring. A helipad is just 50 yards away across manicured lawns.
Paisley founded the church in 1951 and has led it ever since. At the last census it had 11,902 members in Northern Ireland, as well as congregations in the republic, Britain, America, the Philippines, Kenya, India, Germany and Spain.
Paisley’s present home in Cyprus Avenue, East Belfast, valued at £292,500 (€438,000), is also owned by the church. A Free Presbyterian source explained that all the church’s clergy are provided with manses during their working lives, and then retirement homes when they end the full-time ministry.
Paisley and his wife Eileen will be entitled to use the Crawfordsburn apartment as a retirement manse rent-free as long as they live, but are not allowed to sell it. It will revert to the church on their deaths.
“This is a facility which we afford to all our ministers,” the source said. “They are asked to pick an area in which they would like to live, and we wait for a suitable property to come on the market.”
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A Free Presbyterian spokesman said: “Some men have the apartment for a few months before they retire, that would be the norm, but some have had them for as long as two or three years. Nobody is predicting when Dr Paisley will go.”
Paisley’s daughter Rhonda, an artist, has overseen the redecoration of the apartment, while bullet-proof glass and other security measures were recently installed.
Nestled in the heart of the 21-acre Crawfordsburn Country Park, the Sharman estate has just 60 residences. Next to Sharman House, the older Crawford House has 17 apartments.
Paisley’s building is in the style of the nearby ancestral home of William Sharman Crawford, a 19th-century MP who championed tenants’ rights and Catholic emancipation. The estate, which had been used as a hospital, was bought from the government and developed as a residential complex in 1998.
On the far side of the estate, beyond the tennis court, lies a complex of 21 town houses. It is an affluent community with many Porsches and Mercedes in the car park. Neighbours in the gated complex include musician Jim Corr and footballer Gerry Armstrong.
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According to Eric Cairns, who owns Northern Ireland’s largest firm of estate agents and is handling several properties in Sharman, it is now one of the most desirable places to live in the region.
“What you have got in Sharman is a nice, well-behaved, sensible group of people who pay their bills, live quietly, respect their neighbours, and generally enjoy each other’s company,” Cairns said.
“It is a friendly community with a very pleasant social scene. There were barbecues during the summer and a tennis club on site.
“It has over 20 acres of gardens which are maintained by a management company, but it also leads into Crawfordsburn country park which is 126 acres.You have some gorgeous north down coastline.”
Alan Montgomery, director of the estate’s management company, said that other residents pay little attention to the Paisleys, who tend to keep themselves to themselves.
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“There’s a mutual respect for people’s privacy here,” he said. During the summer, however, Paisley performed a christening for a neighbour’s baby in Crawford House, the oldest part of the estate.
One resident said there were some raised eyebrows when the couple arrived. “They don’t tend to mix,” he said.
Eileen Paisley is often seen reading in a nearby decking area, which boasts a spectacular 270-degree view of Belfast Lough.