Olderfleet Castle
| Olderfleet Castle | |
|
County Antrim | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Olderfleet Castle | |
| Type: | Towerhouse |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | D41310164 |
| Location: | 54°50’34"N, 5°48’3"W |
| History | |
| Built 1612 | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | (State care) |
Olderfleet Castle is a four-storey towerhouse, the remains of which stand on Curran Point to the south of Larne Harbour in Larne, County Antrim.
The name of Olderfleet may be a corruption of Ulfrecksfiord (or Ulfried's Fjord), the Viking name for Larne Lough.[1][2]
Olderfleet Castle is now a State Care Historic Monument.
Contents
History
The original towerhouse was possibly built by the Scoto-Irish Bissett family of Glenarm around 1250, although these remains are actually thought to be those of Curran Castle, a towerhouse built in the sixteenth-century.[2][3] On a 1610 map it was called Coraine Castle.[4]
In 1315 Edward Bruce landed here with his 6,000 strong army on his way to conquer Ireland, with a welcome from the Bissetts.
Queen Elizabeth I considered the castle of such strategic importance that it was seized for the Crown and Sir Moyses Hill appointed its governor in 1569.[3] In 1597 the castle was claimed by the MacDonnell of Antrim|MacDonnells and in 1598 it was dismantled.[4]
The present castle was probably built about 1612.[4] In 1621 it was granted to Sir Arthur Chichester and remained in that family until leased to William Agnew in 1823. James Chaine purchased the lease in 1865. In 1938 it was taken into State Care.[2][3]
Features
What remains of the four-storey towerhouse is part of the tower with pairs of gun loops in the basement.[2] The square remains show that it only had 1 metre thick walls and it is without visible domestic features, which means that it could have been built as a fortified warehouse and watchtower.[4]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Olderfleet Castle) |
References
- ↑ Sandford, Ernest (1976). Discover Northern Ireland. Belfast: Northern Ireland Tourist Board. p. 53. ISBN 0 9500222 7 6.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Olderfleet Castle". Northern Ireland Tourist Board. http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/Olderfleet-Castle-Larne-P22242. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Olderfleet Castle". Larne Borough Council. Archived from the original on 19 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140119220757/http://www.larne.gov.uk/uploads/docs/Heritage_Trail2.pdf. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Olderfleet Castle". http://www.castles.nl/olderfleet-castle. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
