carrickfergus castle

Its core, the oldest part, is the inner ward and massive four-storey keep, entered at first-floor level and now, used for historical displays. Sited on an easily fortified rock jutting out into the sea, it was probably constructed by John de Courcy in the years after his initial conquest of Ulster in 1177. Attached to its southern flank was a walled courtyard, entered from the east by a gateway through which visitors to the castle had to pass. Within this courtyard was a large hall, remnants of which still survive.

When King John came to Ireland in 1210, he captured the castle and, after his departure, the castle was further fortified by the addition of an outer wall defended by a strong square tower on the vulnerable eastern flank, which also gave cover to a new entrance north of the keep. Just to the north of this entrance there was a gully in the rock, which formed a natural defence and between 1226 and 1242, the remainder of the rock-spur to the north of the gulley, originally unfortified, was enclosed by a wall entered through a massive gate-house with two round towers. To this day, these portly towers-with their portcullis-guard the entrance for modern visitors (who, unlike their medieval counterparts, can gain entrance by mere payment of an entrance charge).

During the Later Middle Ages, the castle played a purely administrative role, and only saw action again in 1689, when Schomberg took it for King William, who landed in Ireland here the following year. Its final, unsuccessful defence was against the French commander, Thurot, who succeeded in seizing it in 1760. Subsequently, it acted in turn as a prison, magazine and armoury, and served as an air-raid shelter during the Second World War. The cannons which can be seen on its walls date partly from the 17th century, and partly from the early 19th century, when the castle was provided with new weaponry to guard against the threat of a Napoleonic invasion.

The town which grew up on the mainland under the protection of the castle was small and fortified by town walls. The size of both town and walls was virtually doubled by Arthur Chichester in the early 17th century. The walls are best seen from the outside in the north-eastern sector, at the car-park next to the modern bowling green. On the western side, outside which the Scots and Irish lived, parts of the walls were exposed in excavations conducted in the 1970s by Tom Delaney, in whose memory a plaque has been erected in a green space outside them. Within the walls is one of Ulster's most interesting churches, going back to the late 12th century-St. Nicholas (open on Sundays) with a late 12th-century arcade, very rare in Ulster.

Though founded probably by John de Courcy shortly before 1200, its present from dates partly from a re-building of 1614, and it contains the fine 17th-century tomb of Arthur Chichester in the north transept, which he himself had added. His residence at Joymount, within the walls, stood on the site of the present Town Hall.

Carrickfergus, on the northern shore of Belfast Lough, is rightly proud of possessing Ulster's finest castle, and one of Ireland's most impressive fortifications to survive from the Norman period.