castles historical 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...

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...

With Portaferry, the town of Strangford has a stranglehold on the entrance to the lough which bears the same name, and the castle in the town was built to control traffic in and out of, as well as across, the lough. It is a comparatively simple three-storey 16th century tower incorporating an earlier fortification which had the entrance at first-floor level. The original floors - like their modern replacements - were made of wood....

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....

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....