Irish Castles, County Antrim

Irish Castles: County Antrim

Irelandseye.com begins a tour of Ireland, starting at the north east coast, with details of Irish castles.

Dunluce Castle

Like something out of a Tolkien fantasy, the ruins of Dunluce Castle have a desolate, awe-inspiring grandeur as they rise dramatically from a precipitous basaltic rock standing over a hundred feet sheer above the wild and chill northern sea. Separated from the mainland by a deep chasm crossed only by a narrow bridge and penetrated below by a long cave, this precarious rocky outcrop occupied a position of great strategic importance that was fought over for centuries, eventually becoming, in the 16th century, the principal stronghold of the MacDonnells, "Lords of the Isles" and rulers of far-flung territories along the western Scottish seaboard.
Dunluce was probably used as a fort during Early Christian times and a souterrain from this period survives beneath the present ruins. Although the site is mentioned as part of the de Burgo manor of Dunseverick in the early fourteenth century, the earliest features of the castle are two large drum towers on the eastern side, both relics of a stronghold built here by the McQuillans after they became lords of the district (known as "the Route") in the late fourteenth century.
Most of the castle ruins standing today were built by Sorley Boy MacDonnell (1505?89) and his descendants, the first and second Earls of Antrim. The castle had been seized by Sorley Boy in 1558 ? although twice evicted, first in 1565 by Shane O'Neill and again in 1584 by the Lord Deputy, Sir John Perrott, Sorley Boy managed, with the aid of artillery, to resume occupation after a short period. New work carried out at this time included the turretted gatehouse and cannon ports, evidently made to accommodate cannons taken from the nearby wreck of the Spanish Armada ship the Girona in 1588. The north-facing Italianate loggia probably dates to the 1560s; it is a most unusual feature but can be paralleled at a number of Scottish castles. This loggia was blocked by a three-storey gabled house with bay windows and a great hall 28 by 10 metres. It was built in 1636 for Lady Catherine, wife of the second earl of Antrim, and from an inventory is known to have been furnished magnificently. Lady Catherine was believed to have replaced the lower yard after some of its domestic ranges, including the kitchens, fell into the sea carrying with them most of the servants in 1639.
After the Royalist second Earl was arrested at Dunluce in 1642 the family ceased to reside at Dunluce Castle, which gradually fell into decay, though it remained the property of the Earls of Antrim until 1928 when it was transferred to the State for preservation.
On the Antrim coast 3.2 km (2 miles) W of Bushmills. NGR: G 904414.

Carrickfergus Castle

The mighty stronghold of Carrickfergus, once the centre of Anglo-Norman power in Ulster, is a remarkably complete and well-preserved early medieval castle that has survived intact despite 750 years of continuous military occupation. From its strategic position on a rocky promontory, originally almost surrounded by sea, the castle commanded Belfast Lough and the land approaches into the walled town that developed beneath its shadow.
The core of the castle was built in the late 1180s by John de Courcy, who conquered east Ulster in 1177 and ruled as a petty king until 1204, when he was ousted by another Norman adventurer, Hugh de Lacy. Initially de Courcy built the inner ward, a small bailey at the end of the promontory with a high polygonal wall and east gate. It had a number of buildings, including a great hall, and must have been very cramped, especially after the keep was built in the north corner. Probably built in the late 1180s, the keep is a massive four-storey tower, 90 feet high, with a second-storey entrance. Its entry chamber, originally one large, poorly lit room with a double latrine and no fireplace, served as a public room. A shaft gave access to a well below and a mural stair led down to the vaulted storage cellar. De Courcy's curia probably used the third storey; the fourth storey, a high, brightly lit room with windows in all four walls, a fireplace and a single latrine, was the principal chamber and must have served as de Courcy's private quarters.
Following its capture by King John in 1210, the castle passed to the Crown, and constables were appointed to command the place. In 1217 De Serlande was assigned £100 to build a new curtain wall so that the approach along the rock could be protected, as well as the eastern approaches over the sand exposed at low tide.
It was almost certainly Hugh de Lacy who enclosed the remainder of the promontory to form an outer ward, doubling the area of the castle. The ribbed vault over the entrance passage, the murder hole and the massive portcullis at either end of the gatehouse are later insertions, probably part of the remodelling that followed Edward Bruce's long and bitter siege of 1315-16.
After the collapse of the Earldom of Ulster in 1333, the castle remained the Crown's principal residential and administrative centre in the North. During the sixteenth- and seventeenth centuries a number of improvements were made to accommodate artillery, though these improvements did not prevent the castle from being attacked and captured on many occasions during this time. When General Schomberg besieged and took the castle in 1690, its importance was already in decline. In 1760 it was captured and held by French invaders under the command of Thurot. Later it served as a prison and during the Napoleonic Wars was heavily defended; six guns on the east battery remain of the twenty-two that were used in 1811. For a century it remained a magazine and armoury before being transferred to the Government in 1928 for preservation as an ancient monument.
Carrickfergus. NGR: J 415873

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