castles historical around south down

When built in the mid 13th century, the castle consisted of a strong rectangular, two-storey tower with reinforced corners and a stout irregularly shaped curtain wall with rounded corner towers. Only fragments survive of the curtain wall, which was further defended outside by a rock-cut ditch, from which stone was quarried for the construction of the castle.

The fortress was stormed by the Irish in 1260 and again in 1375, but also by Edward Bruce in 1316. To make it more easily defend...

Drumena is an irregularly shaped stone fort or cashel measuring 132 ft by 108 ft, and with walls 9-12 ft thick (which were partially re-built in 1925-26). The original entrance was probably on the east side, and a confused jumble of stones in the interior may once have formed the foundations of a house. Also inside the cashel is an easily accessible T-shaped souterrain which reaches a maximum height of 7 feet. The whole complex is likely to date from the Early Christian period....

Its name - Narrow Water - shows that its site was strategically chosen to guard the narrow stretch of the river which provided Newry with access to the sea. The tower was built by John Sancky around 1560, but by 1608 it had come into the possession of Sir Arthur Magennis, and is known to have been used for industrial purposes in the 18th century. Each of the tower's three floors consists of a single room, and there is a stone vault above the first floor. The tower stands in an irregularly sh...

The Scottish baronial style castle, now a conference centre was formerly the house of the Annesley family and overlooks the large central lake. The lake is stocked with brown and rainbow trout which can be fished from April to October. A licence is required. The lake is also used for canoeing....

Well-preserved four-storey tower house which withstood a siege around 1600. Largest of cluster of castles built in Ardglass in Middle Ages to protect the port. Other tower houses at Kilclief and Strangford....

Ardglass contains more medieval tower-houses than any other town in Ireland, reflecting its importance as Ulster's busiest port in the 15th century. Jordan's Castle was probably built in the 15th century and, like others of its kind, was a fortified family residence, owned, in this instance, by the Jordan family. Simon Jordan is celebrated for having defended the castle for three years during the Tyrone Rebellion until relieved by the Lord Deputy, Mountjoy, in 1601. Jordan's Castle is a good...

The mightiest of the castles along the County Down coast, Dundrum was probably built by John de Courcy in the last decades of the 12th century. It is first mentioned in the historical records when it was unsuccessfully besieged in 1205, though taken by King John five years later. The upper of the two wards, on the top of the commanding hiss, is dominated by a tall, round keep or donjon with immensely thick walls, from the top of which a splendid view may be had over the sea and many parts of s...