A ruined castle located near Bagenalstown featuring one of the finest gatehouses in Ireland.[2] The castle's architecture would suggest that the castle was built by a Norman lord c. 1300 and was likely abandoned in the 14th century.[3] Near the end of the 16th century, the castle was occupied by the Kavanghs and then passed to the Bagenals, and then finally to the Bruens in the 19th century.[4]
A Norman castle, assumed by some to be unfinished, built by the Carew family, likely Roger Bigod, sometime between 1290 and 1310, possibly to defend the Barrow river valley from Irish raiders in a region over which the Normans had little control.[5] In the past, the castle has been erroneously associated with the Knights Templar.[6]
A castle constructed by the Esmonde family in 1625,[12] after Queen Elizabeth I's forces captured the area and gave it to the Nettervilles, who then gave it to the Esmondes. A branch of the family, the Robertsons, still maintain ownership of the castle and it still serves as their ancestral home. Despite this, the castle is open to the public.[13] In addition to a shrine to the EgyptiangoddessIsis, the castle is noted as being haunted.[14]
Tinnahinch Castle was built in the early 17th century by James Butler to control a bridge that once stood on this spot, but was confiscated from him for his involvement in the Rebellion of 1641.[20] The castle burned down in 1700 and remains a ruin.[21]
Also known as "Castle House" or "Lisgar House," Bailieborough Castle, was by 1629 an enclosed demesne that was attacked by Irish rebel forces under Colonel Hugh O'Reilly in 1641.[23] Around 1895 in Ireland, the estate was sold under the Ashbourne Act to a Sir Stanley Herbert Cochrane Bt., only to be destroyed by fire in 1918. Though the house was largely rebuilt two years later, it was ultimately sold for demolition in 1923.[citation needed]
An early 17th-century Plantation-era castle built by a Capt. Culme and Walter Talbot that burned down in 1764.[23] The castle was rebuilt as Ballyconnell House by a "G. Montgomery."[24]
"Cabra Castle" refers to two structures. The first structure, thought to have been an O'Reily castle, was located west of Kingscourt, was destroyed and the land it stood on confiscated by Cromwell and given to Colonel Thomas Cooch. When Cooch died in 1699, he willed the property to the Pratts, a local Ascendancy family. However, the land the current castle stands on was at that time owned by the Fosters, another Ascendancy family, and it contained a small tower destroyed in the time of Cromwell house dubbed "Cormey Castle." This house was rebuilt in 1808, but its construction exhausted the funds of the Fosters so the property was sold to the Pratts.[25] Today, the castle and estate functions as a hotel.[26]
In the 1840s, the Saunderson family built a new mansion upon the land they had owned since the early 17th century and used it as their seat until 1977 when it was sold to a London-based business man. His plans to renovate the castle didn't come to fruition, and so the castle was sold again in 1990.[citation needed]Seven years later, the castle and estate were purchased by Scouting Ireland and is now open to the public for most of the year.[27]
An ancient castle, possibly built on a crannóg,[29] built by the O'Rourkes, the Anglo-Normans and finished by the O'Reilly clan in 1233.[30][31] After their 300-year long possession of the castle, during which they imprisoned Philip O'Reilly here in the 1360s, the castle was given to Captain Hugh Clume, and was then demolished by Cromwellian forces in 1653.[32]
Ballynagowan (Smithstown) takes its name from 'bael-atha-an-ghobhan', meaning the 'mouth of the smiths ford'. It was first mentioned in 1551 when the last King of Munster, Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Thomond (also known as the Tanist) willed the Castle of Ballynagowan to his son Teige before his death. The Irish rebel "red" Hugh O'Donnell, Oliver Cromwell, Conor O'Brien and his wife Máire Rua O'Brien (the "Red Mary"), the High Sheriff of County Clare and Viscount Powerscourt amongst others played a part in the Castle's turbulent history. The Castle became a ruin after its last inhabitants left in the mid-19th century, only to be fully restored again in the 1990s, whereby it was transformed into a self-catering home. www.smithstowncastle.com.
A two-stage castle built on a limestone outcrop that looms over the road from Lisdoonvarna to Fanore. The tower stands on the grounds of an 1840s hotel that was built to serve as a residence for the powerful O'Brien family.[35]
A tower house constructed by Hugh and possibly Síoda MacNamara around 1490.[37] The MacNamaras lost the castle to the O'Briens during the Plantation of Ulster and were further despoiled of the castle during the Rebellion of 1641. The castle survived Cromwell's conquest of Ireland (possibly due to its Protestant ownership at that time) and today operates as hotel.[38]
A tower house built upon the ancient site of the seat of the Brian Boru and other O'Briens. Today's tower house was built in the 1490s, and the O'Briens resided there for about a century before their cataclysmic defeat at Kinsale. The castle was restored by Americanarchitect Bob Brown in the 1960s.[42]
A ruined tower house and the site of the deaths of Mahon O'Brien and the other defenders of the tower in 1586. After three months the besieger, Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of Connacht,[citation needed] accepted the surrender of the defenders, he had them killed and the tower partially destroyed.[44]
Today a tourist attraction,[46] this 15th century castle has a long and checkered history. Built on the site of an ancient Viking settlement and an earlier 13th century castle built in 1270 by Thomas de Clare,[47] this castle, built in 1425 by MacNamara clan,[48] was seized by the O'Briens in a battle in 1475,[47] whose lord was then granted the title "Earl ofThomund" by KingHenry VIII. The castle, under the defense of William Penn, was again seized in the Irish Confederate Wars.[49] In 1712, the castle left the holding of the O'Briens when the Eighth (and last) Earl of Thomund sold it to the Studderts, who left it to fall into ruin when they moved to a nearby residence called "Bunratty House." In 1956 Viscount Lord Gort, with the help of the Irish Office of Public Works,[50] purchased, restored and opened the castle to the public. Today, it remains in the care of the Shannon Heritage.[47]
This ringfort, located 1 kilometre (0.62mi) from Poulnabrone dolmen,[51] is one of the Burren's most popular tourist attractions. Excavations have shown that this ancient ringfort may have been erected on the site of an even older, Neolithic or Bronze Age-era site. The ringfort is also the location of the Burren's leading Sheepdog demonstration.[52]
A ruin where in 1591 Murrogh O'Brien, the Lord of Caherminnaun, died. In 1839, the site of the castle was described as "a heap of ruins and rubbish."[53]
Carrigaholt Castle is a late 15th-century tower house built by the Clare McMahons for use as their primary residence.[54] The castle, overlooking the Shannon Estuary from the north,[55] is not open to the public.
Crine Castle was a late Georgian style country house that was built a Capt. Henry Butler of the Butler family around 1860[58] and was demolished in 1955.[citation needed]
A typical tower house built in 1550 by John MacSioda MacNamara[61] the castle was confiscated in the mid 17th century[62] and left in ruin. In 1821, the land the tower house stood on was inherited by a Tom Steele, who carried out some restoration work.[63] Upon his death in 1848, the castle went to his niece.[64] The castle was renovated in 1965 by a John Hunt and is today in the possession of Shannon Heritage.[61]
A lonely tower house and bawn built around 1500 by MacTurlough O'Conner[66] upon the site of an earlier 14th century fortification located 1 kilometre (0.62mi) from the village of Doolin, County Clare.[67] In 1588, a ship of the Spanish Armada shipwrecked off the coast just below the castle and the town sheriff, Boetius MacClancy,[68] arrested some 170 stranded Spaniards, then hanged them at the castle.[65] They were buried at a nearby Iron Age barrow called Cnocán an Crochaire. By the early 19th century, the castle had fallen into disuse and disrepair, but then a counselor Gore renovated the castle. It had called into bad repair again by the mid 19th century before being purchased by Irish-American John C. Gorman, who turned the tower house into a private holiday home. It remains in the possession of the Gorman family to this day.[66]
Built by Philip de Clare. It was formerly a place of some strength, and was of a quadrangular form, flanked at each angle by a small round tower: from the centre rose the donjon or keep. The ruins form a picturesque object in the well-planted demesne of Dangan.[69]
Murphystown, ruins, the proposed Luas line B1 runs approximately 28m west of the ruins of Murphystown Castle and through its area of archaeological potential.
Stillorgan Castle, Stillorgan. 18th-century house on site of earlier castle, now incorporated into the modern St John of God hospital complex. NIAH survey
A country house and seat of the NugentO'Reillys (since 1812)[104] built in 1614, according to the O'Reilly coat of arms above the door.[104] Since its construction, the Nugents have maintained the estate.
In 1639, Richard Nugent, 1st Earl of Westmeath, built for himself a residence on a small hill near the village of Delvin.[105] The castle was burned by a panicked Richard Nugent to prevent its capture by Cromwellianforces.[106] Some time later in 1680, the current building was completed in 1860 and reoccupied by the Nugents until 1922 when Patrick Nugent sold it and moved to Scotland.[105] After Solomon Schonfeld went bankrupt attempting to help Jewish refugee children, the castle fell into the hands of the Dillon family and has remained such for over 25 years.[105]
In 1780, Sir Benjamin Chapman, 1st Baronet, tore down an old Knights Hospitallers castle confiscated by Cromwell in 1667 and built the current structure.[citation needed] Renovations to the house and grounds including the nearby Raleigh Obelisk in 1810[107] were completed in the following decades before the Baronet died with Montagu Richard, 5th baronet and the subsequent dissolving of the property. The castle sat as an empty ruin until 2004,[108] when renovations aimed at restoring the castle as a private residence began.[109]
In 1810, Sir Richard Levinge commissioned Sir Richard Morrison for two designs of a private residence.[110] However, it is believed that a design from noted contemporary architect James Shiel was the one used to construct the house.[110]
Oldcourt Castle, Bray. Built by the Earl of Ormond in 1433. In ruins.
Ormonde Castle, Arklow. Castle ruins, built in 1169 on an old Viking site and destroyed by Oliver Cromwell's army in the 17th century.
Rathdown Castle. Ruined by the 17th century, very little remains.
Threecastles Castle, Manor Kilbride, Blessington. Largely intact late 14th/15th-century castle marking the boundary of the Pale.
The Black Castle, Wicklow Town (now ruins). In 834 AD the Vikings fortified a strategic rocky promontory at the mouth of the Vartry River in Wicklow Town. Following the Norman invasion a castle was subsequently built, now known as the Black Castle. Between 1295 and 1315 the castle was attacked and burnt down twice by the local O'Byrne Clan.
Built by Sir Hugh Clotworthy alongside an earlier motte, the plantation castle was besieged unsuccessfully in 1641 and again in 1648. It was extended in the 1660s by Viscount Massereene and rebuilt as a Georgian country house in 1813. This was expanded in 1887 but burned down in 1921, possibly due to arson. The ruins were later demolished, though the castle gardens have been restored.[114][115] The castle is reputedly haunted by the ghost of a servant girl nicknamed the "White Lady."[116]
James Shaw of Greenock, Scotland, built the tower house and it remained in his family until 1820. It was used as a coastguard station from the 1830s, but reverted to a dwelling in the late 19th century. In 1938 it was converted into a hotel and a new wing was added. In addition to being run as a hotel since the 1950s and being a Grade A listed site, this is also one of the most haunted buildings in all of Ireland.[119][120]
The castle was a seat of the MacQuillans, and was attacked and captured by the O'Donnells in 1544. In the 18th century, the estate was the property of the Traill family, who built Ballylough House nearby. The ruins of the castle were repaired for use as a dovecote in the 1820s. Two walls remain in the grounds of Ballylough House.[121]
The original Belfast Castle, built in the 12th century, was located in the city centre, but burned down in 1708.[122] The present house was built by the Marquess of Donegall on the hills to the north of the city. It was designed by John Lanyon in the Scottish Baronial style. It later passed to the Earl of Shaftesbury, and was granted to the Corporation of Belfast in 1935. The house was opened to the public as a venue for weddings and dances and remains in use for this purpose, having been extensively restored in the 1980s.[123]
Little is known of this site, which is thought to have been built in the early 14th century, though it is traditionally believed to be the place where Shane O'Neill was killed by the MacDonnells in 1567.[124] Archaeological investigation suggests use of the abandoned building as a cillín (infant's' burial ground) in the 16th century.[125]
The tower and inner ward were built by John de Courcy,[126] who led the Norman invasion of Ulster in the 12th century. The castle served as his base of operations until it was seized from him in 1204 by Hugh de Lacy.[126]King John captured the castle for the English crown in 1210. It was held by Hugh de Lacy in the 13th century, who set about construction of the outer walls and gatehouse. It later returned to the English crown, and was besieged several times. Improvements were made, in the 16th and 17th centuries, in order to accommodate artillery. The castle was captured by the French in 1760 and afterward served as a military outpost, housing an armoury, magazine and prison. It was given into state care in 1928, and remains open to tourists as a historic monument.[127]
Established by Alexander MacDonnell on the site of a promontory fort overlooking Port Brittas (now known as Ballycastle Bay). The castle is the purported birthplace of Scottish-Irish chief Sorley Boy MacDonnell. Only the foundations of the gatehouse are now visible, on the cliffs near a caravan park.[128]
Built by Richard de Burgh, second Earl of Ulster, on the site of a 10th-century fort possibly built by the Vikings. In 1513 the castle was occupied by the MacQuillans, who lost it in the mid 13th century to the MacDonnells and they made the castle their principal residence. In 1588, the Girona (ship), a galleass of the Spanish Armada, wrecked on the coast directly below the castle, so the MacDonnell chief, Somerled MacDonnell, took the ship's cannon and mounted it in the castle and used the profit from selling the ship's cargo to renovate the castle.[129] Though the castle remained in the hands of the MacDonnell clan, they would eventually move the center of their power to Glenarm Castle.[130]
Galgorm Castle is a mid-17th-century country house, probably built for Dr. Alexander Colville, within a bawn wall of the early 17th century. It was renovated in the 1830s by the Earl Mount Cashell. It is a grade A listed building and remains a private residence.[134]
Glenarm was the site of a medieval tower house, which was ruined by the mid 18th century when Alexander MacDonnell, 5th Earl of Antrim, commissioned Christopher Myers to rebuild it as his principal residence. The MacDonnells completed the castle for their residence in 1636 in the Palladian style, and extended it in the 1780s. In the 1820s, Anne, Countess of Antrim, commissioned Sir Richard and William Vitruvius Morrison to remodel the house and build the gatehouse in a "Jacobethan" style. The house was gutted by fire in 1929 and damaged by another fire in 1966, but was restored each time. It remains in the MacDonnell family and is a grade A listed building.[136]
Constructed by Colla MacDonnell on a coastal promontory in 1547, it was damaged by the cannons of the English under Sir James Croft in 1551.[137] It was besieged again in 1555 and Colla died at the castle in 1558. In the 17th century it was held by the MacAlisters, and was occupied into the 18th century. The ruins came into state care in the 1970s, and comprise the remains of curtain wall and a ruined tower.[138]
The present Georgian style house, which incorporated an earlier Scottish baronial Plantation house built in 1622, was commissioned in 1807 by Edward Jones-Agnew to designs by John Nash.It was not completed until 1830, with further alterations continuing into the 1850s. It passed by marriage to an Italian family, and by 1939 it was owned by two sisters who lived in Italy. With the outbreak of the Second World War it was seized by the Custodian of Enemy Property, and used as a military training camp until 1945. The abandoned building was stripped and its roof was removed in the 1950s, and remains an empty shell.[citation needed]
A medieval castle stood at Loch Guile, which was replaced by the Macartneys in the 18th century. This was rebuilt in the 19th century but subsequently demolished. Only the estate buildings now remain, constructed using stone from the castle.[140]
Probably built in the 16th century as a fortified storehouse and watchtower, overlooking the entrance to Larne Lough. This building was known as Coraine or The Curran. A separate structure, known as the "Olderfleete," was located to the north-west, though nothing of this remains.[142]
Limited remains of a medieval castle stand on a promontory on the island's east coast. It is said to have been the location where Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, stayed in 1306 after his flight from Scotland.[143]
Sir James MacDonnell built a castle here in 1563, on the site of an earlier promontory fort. This was attacked and destroyed by Shane O'Neill two years later, but rebuilt by Sorley Boy MacDonnell in 1568. The site was robbed of stones for the repair of Dunluce Castle, but was restored in 1604. Cromwell's troops destroyed it once more in 1652 and only fragments of masonry remain above ground.[145]
A series of buildings have stood on this site, a major seat of the O'Neills. A late medieval tower house forms the core of the complex, which was extended in the 17th century. This was replaced by a large country house in the 18th century. The Earl O'Neill commissioned John Nash to build a new extension in the early 19th century, but these were left unfinished when the main house burned down in 1816. The ruins of the various buildings are now in state care and open to the public.[147]
Built as a tower house by Sir Robert Norton, it was sold in 1625 to Captain Henry Upton of Cornwall. His descendant, John Upton, 1st Viscount Templetown, commissioned Robert Adam to remodel the house, extending it in a picturesque castellated style. The 2nd Viscount commissioned further remodeling by Edward Blore. The house was restored in the later 20th century and remains a private residence.[148]
Fathom Castle, once a stronghold of the O'Neill clan, was built by Shane O'Neill.[150] Fathom castle was seized during the Nine Years' War and then demolished in 1730 for the construction of a canal.
The Acheson family built a Plantation castle around 1617, though this was destroyed in the rebellion of 1641. It was replaced by a manor house which was occupied until around 1840. In 1819, Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford commissioned Thomas Hopper to design the present castle. The Norman-revival style castle was completed around 1859, though the family vacated it in the 1920s. It was sold to the Ministry of Agriculture in 1958, and was briefly a hotel in the 1980s. After a period of neglect it was sold on to developers in 2006, though the proposed residential renovation stalled in 2010.[152][153]
Originally a farmhouse called Killeavy Lodge, it was expanded by Newry banker Powell Foxall to create the present Gothic revival castle, designed by George Papworth. It was later owned by the Bell family but fell into disrepair in the later 20th century. It was sold in 2012 to owners wishing to restore the building.[155][156]
Brownlow House, known locally as "Lurgan Castle," is a distinctive mansion built in 1833 with Scottish sandstone in an Elizabethan style with a lantern-shaped tower and prominent array of chimney pots. It was originally owned by the Brownlow family, and today is owned by the Lurgan Loyal Orange District Lodge. The adjacent Lurgan Park, now a public park owned by Craigavon Borough Council, used to be part of the same estate.[158]
In 332, the O'Hanlonclan built a fortress called Tonregue Castle here to help drive their foes from County Armagh, but that fortress was burned down by Irish rebels in 1641.[149] Almost two hundred years later in 1837, Duke George Montagu built the current castle to serve as the residence of the Montagu family in Ireland. In the 1950s, the castle and estate were sold by Alexander Montagu to a business man from Tandragee by the name of Mr. Hutchison, and so the castle came to house the Taytopotato crisp factory and the park's demesne incorporates a golf course.
Built on top of the row of 15th century warehouses that most of the other castles in Ardglas were built to protect, Ardglass Castle is a manor house built by Lord Charles Fitzgerald around 1790. Since 1911, it forms part of the Arglass Golf Club's course as the Club House.[162] Parts of the original structure, namely walls, still stand towards the east end of the property.[163]
Audley Castle is a 15th-century bawn constructed by its namesake the Audleys on a rocky hill 1.6 kilometres (0.99mi) from Strangford Lough.[165] In 1646, the tower passed into the keeping of the Wards of Castle Ward. In the 18th century the tower was incorporated into the parks of the Castle Ward estate. The tower remains standing though the bawn is largely ruined.[163]
EnglishsoldierNicholas Bagenal built the tower house as his residence in around 1578, on the site of Newry's medieval abbey. It remained in his family until the 18th century, after which it was altered, and it became part of a bakery in 1894. The significance of the building was only noted in 1996 after the bakery closed; it has since been restored and now houses the Newry and Mourne Museum.[166][167]
Robert Edward Ward had the house constructed in 1852 to replace a 17th-century building on the site. The architect was probably William Burn, with Anthony Salvin having designed the separate stables building. It was the home of Lord Clanmorris in the early 20th century, and on the death of his widow in 1941 the estate was bought by Bangor Council. The house has served as Bangor Town Hall since 1952.[169]
A small motte and bailey castle built by John de Courcy 11th century following the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in timber and earth with some stone. Though it has fallen into ruin, Clough Castle is today one of the best preserved examples of a Motte and Bailey in Ireland.[176]
Located across the street from Margaret castles stands Cowd castle, a small two-story tower house built in either the late 15th or early 16th centuries as part of a larger structure built with the intention of protecting the local area and its trade. In 1791, Lord Charles Fitzgerald demolished much of that structure castle for his mansion, Ardglass Castle.[177]
Dundrum Castle (not to be confused with Dublin's Dundrum Castle) was built by John de Courcy after his invasion of Ulster to control access to Lecale from the west and the south. It was built upon a tall, rocky hill and thus commands fine views of the Dundrum Bay and Mourne Mountains, and the lands west towards Slieve Croob and the plains of Lecale to the east. Dundrum castle has undergone several modifications such as the round keep added by King John, its current lopsided design from Hugh de Lacy's second term as Earl of Ulster, and the Outer bailey that was built by the Magennis family in the late 15th century.[179] The castle was demolished in 1652. Dundrum is a Scheduled monument.
Greencastle is a 15 and 16th century castle built on the site of a Motte-and-bailey possibly built by Hugh de Lacy in the 13th century. Local folklore also has it that John de Courcy was married here.[181] The castle served as an English garrison in Northern Ireland for several hundred years before Cromwellian soldiers subjected it to destruction by artillery fire to prevent its usage by Irish rebels.
Jordan's Castle is a rectangular, four story tall tower house in Ardgrass, County Down.[177] Built by Simon Jordan to defend against the Tyrone Rebellion for three years until he was relieved by Baron Charles Bluont in 1601.[186] In 1911, Belfast antiquarian Francis Joseph Bigger bought the castle, restored it and used it to display his extensive collection of antiquities and made it freely accessible to everyone to bring local people "in touch with the Irish past, and give them some conception of the historic background of their life."[187]
Easily the largest medieval structure in Ardglass,[186] King's Castle is a tower house originally built in the 12th century and modified extensively in following centuries. Was rebuilt in the 19th century and reopened as a nursing home, which it remains even today, following a collapse of the building in 1830 after failed attempts to repair the foundation of the building.
The oldest known tower in Lecale, having been erected in the window of time from 1412 to 1443 and probably by John Sely, Bishop of Down,[189] Kilclief Castle is very similar in construction to Jordan's Castle and is notably less ruined. Later, the building was garrisoned by 11 English soldiers during the Irish Nine Years' War from 1601 to 1602.
In its current presentation, Killyleagh Castle is as architect Sir Charles Lanyon designed it: a Loire Valley style château built in the mid 18th century. Possibly one of the oldest continuously inhabited castles in Ireland, Killyleagh Castle was first constructed by Norman knight John de Courcy in 1180,[190] one of many such fortifications to protect the Strangford Lough against Viking incursion.[191] Since its early beginnings, the castle has been important to the history of the local region (County Down), having a pivotal role to play in events from local lords in the Dark Ages fighting against English rule,[192] local fighting against the English connected to the fall of the Stuarts, and even local combat against the Irish Republican Army in the 1920s.[191]
A three-story-tall tower house and bawn built by Roland Savage, a Norman landlord,[194] on the site of a 9th-century tower in 1622 (thus predating the Plantation). The tower was occupied until it was abandoned and left to decay until its purchase and Gothic renovation by a "Colonel Johnston" and some further modification still in 1836 by a "Montgomery of Grey Abbey." It was abandoned once again in 1831,[195] but was opened to the public once more in 2001 by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
Margaret's Tower is one of six ruined tower houses built to protect the warehouses that used to stand in Ardglass that possibly stood 3 stories tall and is thought to have been built in the 15th century.
A famous bawn constructed some time in the 1560s on the site of an old Norman keep built by the first Earl of UlsterHugh de Lacy in 1212 in order to impede attacks on the river city of Newry. Narrow Water Castle was also the site of the infamous Warrenpoint ambush on 27 August 1979, wherein the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated two bombs that killed 18 British army soldiers.[202]
A small tower house built by William Le Savage in the 16th century overlooking the harbor.[204] It has seen little to no change in its form over the years.
Quintin castle is one of the very few Anglo-Norman castles still occupied in Ireland.[206] The castle was built in 1184 on the orders of John de Courcy and later occupied by the Savage family, who would add some small additions to the castle. This cycle would continue through the ages all the way to now.
A small tower house located 1.5 miles (2.4km) from Downpatrick on the east bank of the River Quoile that was inhabited into the late 18th century.[208]
A tower house on Sketrick Island near Whiterock thought to have built in the 12th century that was acquired by Sir Robert Savage in the 14th century.[209] The Annals of the Four Masters record the capture and turning over of the castle in 1470 by an army led by the O'Neills to MacQuillans.[210] It was intact until 1896 when a storm demolished much of it.[211]
An intact tower house built on a hill overlooking the town of Strangford.[214] Although almost all of the castle corresponds with 16th century Irish architecture, the tower house's door seems to indicate that the current incarnation of the tower is simply a remodeling of an earlier 15th century tower house. Strangford was once used as a set for Winterhold in the popular HBOTV series, Game of Thrones.
An 18th century National Trust property located 1.5 miles (2.4km) from the village of Strangford that overlooks the Strangford Lough. The castle has been the home of the Ward family since about 1570, though the modern structure was built for Bernard Ward by an unknown architect, possibly and individual with ties to the Wards or James Bridges.[216] On 10 February 1973, Leonard O'Hanlon (aged 23) and Vivienne Fitzsimmons (aged 17), both members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, were killed in a premature bomb explosion in the grounds of Castle Ward estate.[217]
John Archdale built the tower house and bawn in 1615 during the Plantation of Ulster. During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, it was destroyed by Rory Maguire but subsequently rebuilt. In the Irish campaign of the Nine Years' War, Archdale Castle was destroyed again in 1689. A mansion, also known as Castle Archdale, was built on the estate in 1778, though this was also demolished. Of the final mansion built on this grounds, only the cobblestone courtyard remains because said mansion collapsed in 1883.[218] During World War II, Castle Archdale was an RAFairbase. The ruins are today within a country park.[219]
Belle Isle Castle is in truth a large estate spread across eight islands that has been inhabited since the 12th century.[220] Though the castle has been privately owned for nearly its entire history by generations of nobles such as Ralph Gore, 1st Earl of Ross,[citation needed] it has been open to the public since 1760, when the castle began hosting ceremonies, primarily marriages.[citation needed] Belle Isle was built by the aforementioned Ralph Gore around 1700 after his father, Paul Gore, acquired ownership of the islands and has seen much expansion since. Today, the Duke of Abercorn owns and operates the castle as a venue and accommodation and has been declared a Special Area of Conservation.[221][222]
Although Castle Balfour is a ruin, it is one of the best preserved of Plantation era castles.[224] Castle Balfour (also known as Castle Skeagh) was erected around 1619 by Lord Michael Balfour when the land was granted to him by King James I.[225][226] The castle was altered in 1652 and damaged in 1689.[227] The last person to possess and inhabit the Castle was James Haire who leased the castle from Earl Erne. The Haire family ceased to live in the castle when it was razed by an unknown arsonist. Major conservation and restoration was undertaken in the 1960s and further conservation work was completed in the late 1990s.[227] Recent Radiocarbon on a ringfort that belonged to the Macguires (the primary suspects in the above arson) on the grounds of the castle date back to 359–428AD.[228]
Francis Blennerhassett built a tower house and bawn before 1620, which was sold to Enniskillen merchant James Caldwell in 1660. In the 1780s it was extensively remodeled and enlarged to form a country house in the Gothic style. It was abandoned in the late 19th century, and in 1913 the Forest Service purchased the estate. Today, the ruins remain standing within the forest.[230]
A mansion built on the site of a 17th-century bawn named after a nearby lake, Lough Coole. Earlier structures in the area include a ráth and a crannog on the lake.[232] Today's Castle Coole was constructed sometime from 1789 and 1798 as the summer retreat of Armar Lowry-Corry, 1st Earl of Belmore and as a showpiece by architect James Wyatt. Additionally, several smaller family residences had been built on the Castle Coole estate preceding the mansion, including a dwelling of the King James period (later deliberately destroyed by arson) and a Queen Anne style house built in 1709. The house is now managed by the National Trust and is open to the public.[233]
Crevenish Castle is a ruined bawn located 3 miles (4.8km) southwest of the village of Kesh. The bawn was built by a Norfolk man named Thomas Blennerhassett (whose brother built Caldwell Castle),[235] a former captain at Cornet Castle on the Isle of Guernsey, between 1611 and 1622. The castle fell into the hands of the local Macguires when Thomas's eldest son died and his wife wed Rory O'Moore, leader of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, but returned the castle to the Blennerhassetts when Rory was killed in 1648. The castle was reported as being in "ruinous" condition by 1697.[236] Around a third of the structure still stands in a private caravan park.[237]
Like a lot of Irish country houses in the 17th century, an English lord, in this case Michael Balfour, was granted this lake-shore estate in 1611 during the Plantation of Ulster. The estate would pass into the keeping of the Crichton family in 1655,[241] which by then included Balfour's bawn, which went on to survive two sieges in the Williamite War before being destroyed in a fire in 1746.[241] It was remodelled as a romantic garden in the 19th century, after the 'new' Crom Castle was built. The old castle and parks are now owned by the National Trust.[242][243]
The castle keep was established on a strategic site in the early 15th century by Hugh the Hospitable of the Maguire family. It was attacked by the O'Donnells and O'Neills in the 16th century, and taken for the British crown in 1594. Although recaptured by the Maguires, they destroyed most of the castle in 1602 to deny it to the British. During the Plantation of Ulster Sir William Cole was appointed constable of Enniskillen, charged with rebuilding the castle. From 1607 he rebuilt the tower and constructed the Water Gate. The castle was besieged by the Irish in 1641. The site was extensively rebuilt as a barracks in the later 18th century, and was occupied by the army until 1950. It is now in state care and has been open to the public since 1964 and currently houses the County Museum.[245][246]
The Scots-influenced tower house was built by Malcolm Hamilton, who added the bawn in the 1620s. It was besieged and captured during the Irish Rebellion of 1641. After 1688 it was the residence of Gustavus Hamilton, Governor of Enniskillen, but was abandoned following a fire in the 18th century. The ruins are in state care and open to the public.[248]
A tower house and bawn were built by a man named Gerald Lowther in the Plantation period. The lands passed to the Irvine family later in the 17th century, and in 1833 the castle was rebuilt with a new Tudor-Gothic south wing. It has been empty since being used as a military hospital in the Second World War.[citation needed]
A tower house and bawn built by Sir William Cole, it was let to James Spottiswood, Bishop of Clogher, in the 1620s, and was besieged in 1641 and 1688. The tower was occupied by the Coles until 1764, after which it decayed. It was partly destroyed in an explosion in 1859, and further collapsed during gales in the late 19th century.[250]
Built for Sir John Hume, Tully Castle comprised a tower house within a courtyard, which had square towers at each corner. The house was burned down by Rory Maguire during the Irish Rebellion of 1641, and was not subsequently reoccupied. A 17th century garden has been recreated in the courtyard.[252][253]
An earlier house was built on this site in the late 17th century. This was replaced by Robert Ogilby who constructed the present Gothic-revival castle in the 1830s, although it remained incomplete on his death in 1839. It was later converted into flats and then bought by the local authority, who proposed demolition in the 1980s. It has since been restored and is now a hotel.[257][258]
A stronghold of the O'Cahans, the tower house by the River Roe may have been built here in the late 15th century. A siege by the MacQuillans is recorded in 1542 wherein all defenders were killed.[259] The castle was demolished in the 1820s.[260]
A derelict castle outside of Donemama, County Tyrone alleged to have been built by William Ogilby in 1860.[262][263] William's son James fell in love with a factory seamstress, Mary Jane Jamieson, whom he ended up eloping with and marrying in 1884. The castle was abandoned by the end of the century and fell into disrepair.[264][265]
An irregular four sided Plantation era bawn built in 1611 by Sir Richard Wingfield on a limestone cliff overlooking the River Blackwater, the border of Counties Tyrone and Armagh. As Wingfield had no desire to live at Benburb Castle, the castle was no main residential structure making it something of a defensive structure resembling a keep rather than a residence such as a bawn. 30 years after its completion, the castle was taken by Phelim O'Neill and everyone in the castle was slain.[267] Although the castle was dismantled in 1640, it was restored and is today used as a priory and conference center by the Servite Order.[267]
The ruins of a rectangular Plantation era bawn built on the ruins of earlier O'Neill tower house located on the north shore of the River Derg.[268][269][270] The exact date of the castle's construction is unknown, but it was first mentioned in 1497 by the Annals of the Four Masters.[271][272] What is known, however, is that the castle was rebuilt in 1610 by Sir John Davies, who settled his purchased plot of land with 16 families brought over from England and also founded the town of Castlederg.[273]Phelim O'Neill, in his 1641 Rebellion, besieged Castleerg and took it in his ultimately unsuccessful attempt to drive the newcomers from Ulster, and the castle was dismantled.[269][273] After the besieging and surrender of the castle to King James II's forces during the Williamite Wars in Ireland, the castle fell into disuse and ruin.[271]
Castle Caulfield is a ruined Plantation era fortified house built by Sir Toby Caulfield upon the ruins of an older O'Donnelly castle (dendrochronology of a joist present in the structure date back to 1282). The second Lord Charlemont added a keep or donjon, and a large gatehouse with towers to the castle.[275] The castle was burned down in the Irish Rebellion of 1641 by Patrick Donnelly,[276] was rebuilt and occupied by the Caulfields again in the 1660s, only for the castle to fall into ruin again around 1700.[276] Today, the castle is a State Care Historic Monument.[277]
Since 1305, the ancestral castle of the O'Neill dynasty stood on this hill outside of Dungannon.[278] However, that castle was razed in 1602 by Hugh O'Neill to prevent the capture of the town and castle by the English. When the Plantation of Ulster began, the land the castle stood on was granted to Sir Arthur Chichester, who rebuilt it.[279] In the again O'Neill led Irish Rebellion of 1641, the castle was undermined and seized by Felim O'Neill, where he and his rebels declared their loyalty to Charles I.
A rare example of a Gaelic castle left in Northern Ireland that is thought to have been built in 1320 by a local O'Neill chieftain named Henry Aimhréidh O'Neill,[280][281] or Harry Avery O'Neill.[282] Despite that, it seems to have been a site of low importance to the local Gaelic people. The castle was seized by the English in 1609 and used as a quarry.[281] Today, the castle's ruins are a State Care Monument under the guardianship of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.[283]
Two castles have stood on this site. The first was a castle built in 1761 by James Stewart, which burned down in 1801. The second and notably larger structure is the castle built by Col. William Stewart in the Neo-Gothic style circa 1803 according to a design by architectJohn Nash.[284][285][286] Today, the castle estate is home to a modest, 18-hole golf course.[287]
Mountjoy Castle was a campaign fort built with red bricks by Lord Mountjoy in 1602 upon the ruins of an O'Neill fortress named "Fuath na nGall" (Irish: Hatred of Foreigners).[289] During the Rebellion of 1641, the castle was taken by Turlough O'Neill and used as his personal fortress until his total defeat two years later. In 1648, the castle was dismantled on the orders of Parliament and was left in ruin. The castle is today a State Care Historic Monument and freely accessible to the public.[277]
A State Care Historic Monument located near Newmills, Northern Ireland.[290] Roughan Castle is a Plantation era bawn built by Sir Andrew Stewart, the Second Lord Castlestewart. During the Rebellion of 1641, the castle's current lord, Robert Stewart, was appointed a commander in the Rebel armies by Phelim O'Neill and he was captured here and brought to Dublin to be executed.[291][292][293]
The castle, originally built in 1738 as the seat of the Earl of Charlemont,[citation needed] was remodeled by architect William Murray in the Italianate style in 1842 for the second Viscount of Charlemont. Further remodeling later by the Second Viscount's resulted in a house that resembled a Frenchchâteau. The castle was again renovated in 1864 by the Third Viscount before the castle was razed to the ground by the Irish Republican Army in 1922.[295]
↑ R.W. Twigge.MSS. Materials for a history of Clann-Cuilein, "Macnamara's country" (the Eastern division of Co. Clare) from the earliest times. Collected by R.W. Twigge. Royal Irish Academy.
↑ "Ballygally Castle". Northern Ireland Buildings Database. Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
↑ "Belfast Castle". Northern Ireland Buildings Database. Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
↑ "Carrickfergus Castle". Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record. Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
↑ "Glenarm Castle". Northern Ireland Buildings Database. Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
↑ "Shane's Castle ruins". Northern Ireland Buildings Database. Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Archived from the original on 29 May 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
↑ "Castle Upton". Northern Ireland Buildings Database. Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
↑ "Bangor Castle". Northern Ireland Buildings Database. Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Archived from the original on 3 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
↑ "Tower-house". Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record. Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
↑ "The Parish of Ardkeen". Ros Davies' Co. Down, Northern Ireland Genealogy Website. Archived from the original on 25 January 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
↑ "Crom Old Castle". Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record. Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
↑ "Crom". The National Trust. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
↑ "Harry Avery's Castle". Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record. Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Archived from the original on 24 April 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
↑ "Roughan Castle"(PDF). Environment and Heritage Service NI - State Care Historic Monuments. Archived from the original(PDF) on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
Edlingham Castle is a small castle ruin, having scheduled monument and Grade I listed building status, in the care of English Heritage. It is located in a valley to the west of Alnwick, Northumberland, England. It has been described as "...one of the most interesting in the county", by Nikolaus Pevsner, the architectural historian. Edlingham itself is little more than a hamlet with a church alongside the castle.
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, Cadw in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland. The classification schemes differ between England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The term has also been used in the Republic of Ireland, where buildings are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000, although the statutory term in Ireland is "protected structure".
Ashford Castle is a medieval and Victorian castle that has been expanded over the centuries and turned into a five star luxury hotel. It is near Cong on the County Mayo–Galway border, on the County Galway side of Lough Corrib, in Ireland. It is a member of the Red Carnation Hotels organisation and was previously owned by the Guinness family.
Desmond Castle is a tower house located in the town of Kinsale in County Cork, Ireland.
Dundrum Castle, a ruin standing over the town of Dundrum, County Down, Northern Ireland. It was constructed by John de Courcy, sometime near the beginning of the 13th century, following his invasion of Ulster. The castle, built to control access into Lecale from the west and south, stands on the top of a rocky hill commanding fine views south over Dundrum Bay and the Mourne Mountains, the lands west towards Slieve Croob and the plains of Lecale to the east. The Castle is a State Care Historic Monument in the townland of Dundrum, in Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area, at grid ref: J4047 3700.
Dunluce Castle is a now-ruined medieval castle in Northern Ireland, the seat of Clan MacDonnell. It is located on the edge of a basalt outcropping in County Antrim, and is accessible via a bridge connecting it to the mainland. The castle is surrounded by extremely steep drops on either side, which may have been an important factor to the early Christians and Vikings who were drawn to this place where an early Irish fort once stood.
Greencastle is a castle in County Down, Northern Ireland. While it dates mainly from the 13th century, it had substantial 15th- and 16th-century alterations. It was originally surrounded by outer rectangular walls with four corner towers. It is likely to have been built by Hugh de Lacy, along with Carlingford Castle on the opposite side of Carlingford Lough, to guard the narrow entry channel to the Lough, and the ferry crossing between the two.
Sketrick Castle is a castle situated on Sketrick Island near Whiterock, County Down, Northern Ireland. The castle is estimated to date back to the 12th century. Sketrick Castle tower-house and the passage to spring are State Care Historic Monuments in the townland of Sketrick Island, in the Ards and North Down Borough, at grid ref: J5245 6252.
Barryscourt Castle is a castle located in eastern County Cork in southern Ireland, close to the town of Carrigtwohill.
Dunasead Castle, sometimes known as Baltimore Castle, is a 17th-century fortified house situated in the town of Baltimore in County Cork, Ireland. The tower house is built on the site of an earlier Norman-era structure, which itself replaced an earlier Bronze Age ringfort. Traditionally associated with the chiefs of clan O'Driscoll, the castle was purchased and restored by members of the McCarthy family in the late 1990s, and partially opened to the public from 2005.
Aughnanure Castle is a tower house near Oughterard on the N59, in County Galway, in the west of Ireland. It was built by the O'Flaherty family in the late 15th century and fully restored in the 1960s. Today it is open to visitors from March to November.
Ballycopeland Windmill is a functioning windmill located one mile west of Millisle, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is managed by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities and is open to the public. It is known in Irish as Muileann gaoithe Bhaile Chóplainn and in Ulster-Scots as Ballycopelann Wun-mäll. The windmill is just one part of the fully restored heritage attraction which opened in May 2022.
Belvelly is a small village on the northern end of the Great Island of Cork Harbour, about four miles north of the town of Cobh, County Cork, Ireland. Belvelly is situated at the shortest crossing point between Great Island and the neighbouring Fota Island. Belvelly Bridge connects Great Island to Fota Island, which is in turn connected to the mainland near Carrigtwohill.
Paull Holme Tower is an unusual late-medieval fortified tower in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
Athclare Castle is a Tudor tower house in the Dunleer area of County Louth in Ireland. Built in the 1550s, Athclare was built for the Barnewell family, and is typical of defensive architectural structures built in the Pale during the Tudor period in Ireland. Athclare has been extended and adapted in the centuries since its construction and is classified as a site of National social historical importance by the Irish National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
Glenquin Castle is a tower house and National Monument located in County Limerick, Ireland.
Ballymalis Castle is a tower house and National Monument located in County Kerry, Ireland.
King John's Castle or King's Castle is a tower house and National Monument located in Kilmallock, Ireland.
Garryvoe is a civil parish in the historical barony of Imokilly in County Cork, Ireland. The civil parish is centred on a small settlement, also referred to as Garryvoe, which lies on the R632 regional road between Ladysbridge, and Shanagarry and fronts onto Garryvoe Beach.
References
Bence-Jones, Mark (1988). A Guide to Irish County Houses. London: Constable. ISBN0-09-469990-9.
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