castles historical around north down

In the midst of a beautiful 700 acre estate on the shores of Strangford Lough, seven miles east of Downpatrick, stands Castle Ward - an 18th century "architectrual wonder"....

Kirkistown Castle built by Roland Savagh in 1622. The castle is in fact a tower house, one of the fortified private homes built from the fifteenth to the early seventeenth century by local landlords often as a protection from each other. This one has the remains of a bawn round it. The Savage family were the Norman landlords of the 'Little Ardes' and they built many of these small castles. Portaferry Castle is known to be an earlier one of theirs, erected in 1500....

Audley's Castle is a 15th century tower-house which retains the name of a 16th century owner, John Audley. It is a three-storey tower with the south-east doorway on the ground floor protected by two flanking towers, and with a stone vault - with marks of its original wicker centring - roofing the first floor rather than the ground floor, which would be more usual. The tower stood in the northern corner of a bawn, now reduced to its foundations, but whose walls would have originally protected...

It is square in plan, but has an L-shaped addition to guard the entrance. Access is gained directly to the ground floor, and a stairway leads up immediately to the main first-floor chamber, which is defended by a murder hole in the vault above. Access to the upper floors was gained by a spiral staircase within the walls. The tower was probably built by a member of the Savage family in the 16th century, and in 1635 Patrick Savage's brother-in-law, Sir James Montgomery of Rosemount, repaired t...

Anglo-Norman motte-and-bailey earthwork castle with added stone tower. Fine views from top of the mound. Free access always. Clough village, at junction of A24 and A25....