King's Castle (Irish: Caisleán an Rí,[1] Ulster Scots: Käng's Kessel)[2] is a castle in Ardglass, County Down, Northern Ireland. It was originally built in the 12th century and additions were made at various times over the centuries. It was rebuilt in the 19th century to the original specifications after parts of it collapsed in 1830 during repairs to the castle's foundation: restoration finished in 1988 and the castle opened as a nursing home and remains one today.


History
The Dublin Penny Journal of 30 March 1833[3] describes King's Castle as follows:

... the largest of the many ancient castles of Ardglass, and is popularly known by the name of ""the King's Castle."" It was a fortress of considerable size and strength; but is at present much dilapidated, and falling to decay.

King's Castle (Ardglass)

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Ardglass Castle (also known as The Newark) is situated in Ardglass, County Down, Northern Ireland. It was originally a row of 15th century warehouses by the harbour. Large sections of the original building can still be seen within the modern club house of Ardglass Golf Club. (Grid ref: 561 371[1])


History
The 15th century structures were converted into a castellated house at the end of the 18th century by Charles FitzGerald, the first and last Baron Lecale. The castle was also lived in by his mother, Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster, and her second husband, William Ogilvie, who had been tutor to her son, Lord Edward FitzGerald. Ogilvie subsequently worked to develop Ardglass as a fashionable seaside resort and port. The old warehouses were given battlements, regular windows and the interior was decorated with plasterwork of the period. It was eventually inherited by William Ogilvie’s daughter by a former marriage, who was the wife of Charles Beauclerk, a great grandson of Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans. In the later 19th century there was further work on the windows and a porch added to one front. The castle became the premises of Ardglass Golf Club in 1911.[2]

Features
The block of warehouses was built to provide 13 spaces behind the quay, guarded by towers at each end, and which it is assumed could be let out to resident or visiting merchants.[3]

The Dublin Penny Journal of 30 March 1833[4] describes Ardglass Castle as follows:

Here is also a long range of castellated houses, called by the inhabitants the New-works, and said to have been erected by Shane O'Neil about the year 1570. It stands boldly on a rocky shore of the bay, which washes it on the east and north sides, and extends 250 feet (76 m) in length, and in breadth only 24; the thickness of the walls being three feet. Its design is uniform and elegant, consisting of three square towers, one in the centre and one at each end, each tower containing three apartments 10 feet (3.0 m) square; the intermediate space is occupied by a range of 15 arched door-ways of cut stone, and 16 square windows--a doorway and a window being placed alternately next to each other all along the range, an arrangement which leaves no doubt that they were designed for shops or merchant's ware-rooms. There is a story over the shops, containing the same number of apartments, and each has its own separate stone staircase. The rooms on the ground floor were seven feet high; the upper rooms six feet and a half; and in each of these was a small water-closet, the flue of which runs down through the walls, and is washed at the bottom by the sea. They have no fire-place; and the merchants, as it would appear, were in the habit of using Horn Castle as their kitchen and dining hall. On the seaside there are no windows or apertures, except narrow loop-holes, a circumstance which, together with the centre and flanking towers, shows the secondary purpose of the building to have been a fortress, to protect the merchants from piratical assailants.

Ardglass Castle

Castle Ward is an 18th-century[1] National Trust property located near the village of Strangford, in County Down, Northern Ireland, in the townland of the same name. It overlooks Strangford Lough and is 7 miles from Downpatrick and 1.5 miles from Strangford.

Castle Ward is open to the public and includes 332 hectares (820 acres) of landscaped gardens,[1] a fortified tower house, Victorian laundry, theatre, restaurant, shop, saw mill and a working corn mill. It has a shore on Strangford Lough. From 1985 to 2010 it has also hosted Castleward Opera, an annual summer opera festival.

History
Castle Ward has been the home of the Ward family since ca. 1570. Known originally as Carrick na Sheannagh and owned by the Earls of Kildare, it was bought by Bernard Ward, father of Sir Robert Ward, Surveyor-General of Ireland. The 850 acre walled demesne also dates from the 16th century. The Ward family built a succession of homes in their estate; Old Castle Ward, built about 1590 near to Strangford Lough, still survives, but a mansion built about 1720 by Judge Michael Ward was demolished about 1850, although some of the associated landscaping remains.[4]

The architect of the current building, built during the early 1760s for Michael Ward's son Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor is unknown, although he may have come from the Bristol area, with which the Ward family had associations. It may have been James Bridges who practiced in Bristol between 1757 and 1763 and whose work there has some similarity to Castle Ward.[3]

The property was inherited by a settlement made during 1748 by Bernard Ward's eldest son, Nicholas, 2nd Viscount Bangor, who was clearly insane. When his younger brother, Edward, died during 1812 leaving a young son, the youngest brother Robert took the opportunity to relocate the insane Nicholas into a smaller house in Downpatrick and strip Castle Ward of everything valuable. The house stood empty until the death of Nicholas during 1827, when it was inherited by Edward's son, now the 3rd Viscount. He and his descendants restored the building and its furnishings, but on the death of the 6th Viscount during 1950 the house and estate were given in lieu of death duties to the Government of Northern Ireland, who presented the house and its gardens to the National Trust during 1952.

On 10 February 1973, Leonard O'Hanlon (age 23) and Vivienne Fitzsimmons (age 17), both members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, were killed in a premature bomb explosion in the grounds of Castle Ward estate.

Castle Ward

Quintin Castle is a castle situated in County Down, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of Portaferry. It is one of the very few occupied Anglo-Norman castles in Ireland.

The castle was built by John de Courcy in 1184 and it was later occupied by the Savage family and their dependents, the Smiths. In the 17th century Sir James Montgomery, then living at Rosemount, Greyabbey, purchased the Quintin estate from Dulaltaigh Smith. His son William, built a walled courtyard and other smaller towers, a large house adjacent to the central tower and a great kitchen to the seaward side of the castle structure. They then re-roofed the castle and added new floors, all probably before 1659.

The Montgomerys sold the castle to George Ross, but he never lived in the castle, allowing it to become a near ruin. While he lived in The Mount Ross estate a few miles outside of Portaferry. In the early 19th century the castle was inherited by Elizabeth Calvert (née Blacker), a descendant of Ross, and restored in 1850. The central keep was raised, a walkway made within the battlements, a drawing room opened into the inner gardens, and a dining room constructed on the lowest floor of the great tower. Most of the grounds were also enclosed by a massive stone wall.

Eventually the estate was purchased by the Burgess family, who lived in Quintin from the early 1930s until the 1950s. Skeets Martin, an auctioneer from Belfast, and his wife, then occupied the castle until the early 1970s. In 1978 the castle was opened as a private old people's home, which it remained for many years until sold into private ownership. The castle has been extensively refurbished by McGimpsey and Kane Builders, changing hands most recently in late 2006. The latest owner had trouble with upkeep, in particular paying of renovation works, forcing the castle into the hands of administrators in 2012.[1] In June 2013 Quintin Castle was sold (asking £1.65m with 22 acres) by NAMA to the Tayto Group (owned by the Hutchinson family's Manderley Food Group), which in July 2016 applied for permission to use the Castle as an 8-bedroom private function venue for weddings, visiting customers, training and conferences.

Quintin Castle

Killyleagh Castle is a castle in the village of Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland. It dominates the small village and is believed to be the oldest inhabited castle in the country, with parts dating back to 1180. It follows the architectural style of a Loire Valley château, being redesigned by architect Sir Charles Lanyon in the mid-19th century. It has been owned by the Hamilton family since the early 17th century.

It is currently the home of Gawn Rowan Hamilton and his young family. The castle hosts occasional concerts; performers have included Van Morrison, Glen Hansard and Bap Kennedy. The gate lodges provide self-catering holiday accommodation. From 2012 to 2014, the castle was used to film CBBC show Dani's Castle.

History
Killyleagh was settled in the 12th century by Norman knight John de Courcy who built fortifications on the site of the castle in 1180,[1] as part of a series of fortifications around Strangford Lough for protection from the Vikings.[2]

In 1602 Gaelic chieftain Con O'Neill of Clandeboye owned large tracts of North Down, including Killyleagh. O'Neill sent his men to attack English soldiers after a quarrel and was consequently imprisoned. O'Neill's wife made a deal with Scots aristocrat Hugh Montgomery to give him half of O'Neill's lands if Montgomery could get a royal pardon for O'Neill. Montgomery obtained the pardon but King James I divided the land in three, with the area from Killyleagh to Bangor going to another Scot, James Hamilton, later 1st Viscount Claneboye.[3] A map of Killyleagh from 1625 showed the castle as having a single tower on the south side of a residence.[1] In about 1625 Hamilton moved from Bangor to Killyleagh Castle,[4] where he built the courtyard walls.[2] It has been the home of the Hamilton family ever since.

Viscount Claneboye's son, James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Clanbrassil, built the second tower. He supported the Stuart monarch Charles I of England and the castle was besieged in 1649 by Oliver Cromwell's forces[1] who sailed gunboats into Strangford Lough and blew up the gatehouse. The Earl fled, leaving behind his wife and children. Parliament fined him for the return of the castle and his land.[2]

The 1st Earl's son, Henry Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil, rebuilt the castle in 1666. He erected the north tower and built (or perhaps restored) the long fortified bawn (wall) in the front of the castle.[1] The 2nd Earl's castle is mostly what remains today.

In 1667 the 2nd Earl married Lady Alice Moore, daughter of the Earl of Drogheda, and their only child died in infancy. Lady Alice discovered that her father-in-law, the 1st Earl of Clanbrassil, had stated in his will that should Henry die without issue the estate should be divided between five Hamilton cousins, the eldest sons of his five uncles.[5] She destroyed the will and had her husband make his own will in 1674, leaving the estate to her. Henry died of poisoning in 1675, then Lady Alice died in 1677, leaving the estate to her brother.[1][6] The cousins, however, were aware of the 1st Earl's will and pursued their rights as inheritors. The matter was concluded 20 years later when a copy of the original will was discovered. By then, the cousins were all dead. The last to die was James Hamilton of Neilsbrook, County Antrim, son of Archibald Hamilton, the next brother of James Hamilton, 1st Viscount Claneboye. James Hamilton of Neilsbrook had been confident of a settlement in his favour and had bequeathed the estate to be divided in two, with one half going to his daughter Anne Stevenson, née Hamilton, and the other half to his younger brothers Gawn and William Hamilton. In 1697 the probate court divided the castle, with Gawn and William gaining the main house and the two towers and their niece Anne receiving the bawn and gate house. Gawn and William had to open a new entrance on the north side in order to enter their castle.[1]

William died without children in 1716 and the castle passed to successive generations of Gawn Hamilton's descendants. Gawn's great-grandson Archibald Hamilton Rowan, an Irish nationalist of the United Irishmen, lived in the castle as one of his homes between 1806 and 1834 after his return from exile in America.

Hamilton Rowan's grandson, Archibald Rowan-Hamilton, and his wife employed architect Sir Charles Lanyon from 1850 to renovate the castle,[1][2][7] creating its romantic silhouette with the addition of the turrets.

James Hamilton of Neilsbrook's daughter Anne married Hans Stevenson and her estate passed to her son James Stevenson, then to his daughter Dorcas, later Dorcas Blackwood, 1st Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye (1726–1807), and on to Dorcas's great-grandson Frederick Temple Blackwood, 5th Baron Dufferin and Claneboye (1826–1902). In 1860 the 5th Baron gave the bawn and gate house to the Hamiltons and commissioned a replacement gate house to better match the main castle.[1] The Baron added Hamilton to his surname just before marrying his distant cousin Hariot Georgina Rowan-Hamilton, daughter of Archibald Rowan-Hamilton, in 1862.

The castle came under attack by the Irish Republican Army during the troubles of the 1920s. Gawn Rowan Hamilton has said: ""I have a cutting from the Belfast Telegraph which tells the story of my great-great uncle being woken at 2 am and exchanging gunfire from the battlements, which was terribly exciting.

Killyleagh Castle

Dundrum Castle is a castle, situated above the town of Dundrum, County Down, Northern Ireland, not to be confused with Dundrum Castle in Dundrum, County Dublin.[1] It was constructed by John de Courcy, sometime near the beginning of the 13th century,[2] 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 Down District Council area, at grid ref: J4047 3700.[3]

Origins and ownership

De Courcy's original castle may have had defences of earth and timber, but the stone curtain wall of the upper ward was probably built at the beginning of the 13th century. As with other early enclosure walls, there were no towers, but defence was assisted by covered walks along the outside wall-head. An early timber hall may have been sited near the keep, where there is a double-latrine in the curtain wall.

In 1203 de Courcy was expelled from Ulster by Hugh de Lacy.[4] The earliest reference to the castle occurs in the mid 13th century Chronicle of Mann, which records of de Courcy's unsuccessful attempt to siege ""the castle of Rath"" in 1205, with the aid of one hundred ships of his brother-in-law, Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles.[2]

The castle was then captured by King John in 1210. Hugh de Lacy strengthened the castle with a massive round keep, probably employing master masons from the Welsh Marches, where such keeps were then popular.[4] Although much of the second floor of this keep was rebuilt in the 15th century, it is clear from the survival of the old fireplace flue and spiral stair that it originally stood at least three storeys high. The basement was used for storage and had a cistern below the first floor, which appears to have been the great chamber for the lord's day-to-day living, while the floor above would have housed his private chamber. The castle remained Crown property until de Lacy was allowed to return to his Earldom in 1226. It was probably after de Lacy's second tenure as Earl of Ulster (1227–43) that the twin-towered gatehouse, similar to the one at Pembroke Castle, was inserted in the curtain wall. It has a lopsided design with only one projecting tower to protect the approach along a narrow ramp from the south-west.

The stone curtain wall of the outer bailey is likely to have been built by the Magennis family of Mourne, who seized Dundrum in the late 15th century. The Earl of Kildare briefly captured the castle in 1517 as did Lord Deputy Grey in 1538.[4] During this period it was referred to as Magennis Castle. Phelim Magennis later surrendered the castle to Lord Mountjoy in 1601. It was made over to Lord Cromwell in 1605 and sold to Sir Francis Blundell in 1636. The Magennis family recaptured Dundrum in 1642, but later lost it to the Parliamentarians, who dismantled the castle in 1652 after they withdrew their garrison.[4]

After 1660 the Blundells returned and built a gabled L-shaped mansion in the south-west corner of the outer bailey.[4] This dwelling was ruined by the time the property passed to the second Marquess of Downshire in the early 19th century, though the trees on the hill were probably planted at this time. The castle and grounds were placed in State Care by the seventh Marquess in 1954.

The castle is an important example of Norman architecture, and is a regular destination for tourists and school children. It was the subject of an episode of archaeological television programme Time Team, broadcast on 24 February 2013. [5]

Dundrum Castle, Co. Tipperary
An unrelated structure called Dundrum Castle existed near Dundrum, County Tipperary and was the family seat of the O'Dwyer's of Kilnamanagh, members of the Gaelic aristocracy. Following the invasion of Ireland by Oliver Cromwell and the ill-fated retributive capture of the Rock of Cashel by the last clan chief Philip O'Dwyer, the O'Dwyers lost their properties per the Act of Settlement 1662. Dundrum Castle was destroyed sometime afterwards. In 1730 a mansion known as Dundrum House was built on the site. Dundrum House served as the home of Cornelius Maude, Viscount Hawarden and his descendants until the early 20th century when the structure was sold to an order of Roman Catholic nuns. Transferred to private owners in 1978, Dundrum House now serves as a luxury hotel and golf club.

Dundrum Castle

Castlewellan (from Irish Caisleán Uidhilín, meaning 'Uidhilín's castle') is a village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is beside Castlewellan Lake and Slievenaslat mountain, 11 miles (18 km) southwest of Downpatrick. It lies between the Mourne Mountains and Slieve Croob. It had a population of 2,392 people in the 2001 Census.

Castlewellan has a wide main street which runs through two main squares lined with chestnut trees. The town was designed by a French architect for the Annesley Family. The Annesley family did not always own the land as they bought it from The Maginess Family. (see Earl Annesley), then owners of what is now Castlewellan Christian Conference Centre and Forest Park, and is unique within Ireland due to its tree lined squares both in the old town (upper square) and new town (lower square) as well as its very wide main street. The old market house in the upper square was built in 1764 and now houses the public library.[1]

History
12 July 1849 saw the Dolly's Brae conflict. After learning that an attack upon their parade was planned, up to 1400 armed Orangemen marched from Rathfriland to Tollymore Park near Castlewellan, County Down. When 1000 armed Ribbonmen attacked them on their homeward journey, shots were fired, Catholic homes were burnt and about 80 Ribbonmen killed.[10]

Places of interest
Drumena Cashel is a good example of a small stone built farmstead enclosure or cashel of the Early Christian period. It is situated 2 miles (3 km) south west of Castlewellan off the A25 road to Rathfriland.[2][3]
Castlewellan Forest Park and Castlewellan Lake are situated to the northwest of the village. The Arboretum in the park was begun in 1740 and contains plants and trees from many different countries including Spain, Mexico and Wales;[4] the 'Castlewellan Gold' form of Leyland Cypress – originating from a single mutant tree in the arboretum and widely propagated from the 1970s – was selected by the park director, John Keown, being first named Cupressus macrocarpa Keownii, 1963.[5] The Peace Maze was constructed in the park between 2000 and 2001. Until 2007 it was the longest permanent hedge maze in the world.[6] In the very early hours of 7 April 2007 two youths died in a canoeing incident in the lake.[7]
Castlewellan Castle, a Scottish baronial castle of 1856, overlooks the lake and the park. Nowadays the castle is used as a privately run Christian conference centre, and is not generally open to the public.
Legannany Dolmen is 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Castlewellan, near the village of Leitrim, on the slopes of Slieve Croob.
Goward Dolmen is an impressive megalithic monument 2 miles (3.2 km) from Hilltown on the road to Castlewellan. It is known locally as Pat Kearney's Big Stone or Cloughmore Cromlech. The huge granite capstone has slipped from its original horizontal position.