Carrickfergus Castle is a
castleA castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its exact meaning, but it is usually regarded as being distinct from the general terms fort or fortress, in that it describes a residence of a monarch or...
with
Norman architectureThe term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used for English Romanesque architecture...
in
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, situated in the town of
CarrickfergusCarrickfergus is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 27,201 people recorded in the 2001 Census. The town is the administrative centre for Carrickfergus Borough Council. It is Co. Antrim's oldest town and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century...
in
County AntrimCounty Antrim is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland. It was named after the town of Antrim ....
, on the shore of
Belfast LoughBelfast Lough is a large, natural intertidal sea lough situated at the mouth of the River Lagan on the east coast of Ireland. The inner part of the lough comprises a series of mudflats and lagoons. The outer lough is restricted to mainly rocky shores with some small sandy bays...
. Besieged in turn by the
ScotsScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
,
IrishIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
, English and
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, the castle played an important military role until 1928 and remains one of the best preserved medieval structures in the whole of Ireland. It was useful as 3/4 of the perimeter is covered by water. Today it is maintained by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency as a state care historic monument, at grid ref: J4143 8725.
Carrickfergus Castle was built by
John de CourcyJohn de Courcy was a Norman knight who arrived in Ireland in 1177. From then until his expulsion in 1204, he conquered a considerable territory, endowed religious establishments, built abbeys for both the Benedictines and the Cistercians and built strongholds at Dundrum Castle in County Down and...
in 1177 as his
headquartersHeadquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The corporate headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
, after he conquered eastern
UlsterUlster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island.Ulster is composed of nine counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone are part of Northern Ireland; while Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan are part of the Republic of Ireland.-Terminology:The...
in 1177 and ruled as a petty king until 1204, when he was ousted by another
NormanThe Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
adventurer,
Hugh de LacyHugh de Lacy was the founder of a Norman noble family of de Lacy originating from Lassy . The descendants of Hugh de Lacy left Normandy and came to Saxon England with William the Conqueror in 1066, to become major landowners in the North of England....
.
Carrickfergus Castle is a
castleA castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its exact meaning, but it is usually regarded as being distinct from the general terms fort or fortress, in that it describes a residence of a monarch or...
with
Norman architectureThe term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used for English Romanesque architecture...
in
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, situated in the town of
CarrickfergusCarrickfergus is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 27,201 people recorded in the 2001 Census. The town is the administrative centre for Carrickfergus Borough Council. It is Co. Antrim's oldest town and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century...
in
County AntrimCounty Antrim is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland. It was named after the town of Antrim ....
, on the shore of
Belfast LoughBelfast Lough is a large, natural intertidal sea lough situated at the mouth of the River Lagan on the east coast of Ireland. The inner part of the lough comprises a series of mudflats and lagoons. The outer lough is restricted to mainly rocky shores with some small sandy bays...
. Besieged in turn by the
ScotsScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
,
IrishIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
, English and
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, the castle played an important military role until 1928 and remains one of the best preserved medieval structures in the whole of Ireland. It was useful as 3/4 of the perimeter is covered by water. Today it is maintained by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency as a state care historic monument, at grid ref: J4143 8725.
Origins
Carrickfergus Castle was built by
John de CourcyJohn de Courcy was a Norman knight who arrived in Ireland in 1177. From then until his expulsion in 1204, he conquered a considerable territory, endowed religious establishments, built abbeys for both the Benedictines and the Cistercians and built strongholds at Dundrum Castle in County Down and...
in 1177 as his
headquartersHeadquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The corporate headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
, after he conquered eastern
UlsterUlster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island.Ulster is composed of nine counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone are part of Northern Ireland; while Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan are part of the Republic of Ireland.-Terminology:The...
in 1177 and ruled as a petty king until 1204, when he was ousted by another
NormanThe Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
adventurer,
Hugh de LacyHugh de Lacy was the founder of a Norman noble family of de Lacy originating from Lassy . The descendants of Hugh de Lacy left Normandy and came to Saxon England with William the Conqueror in 1066, to become major landowners in the North of England....
. Initially de Courcy built the inner ward, a small
baileyA motte-and-bailey is a form of castle situated on a raised earthwork and surrounded by a protective fence. Many were built in Britain, Ireland and France in the 11th and 12th centuries, favoured as a relatively cheap but effective defensive fortification that could repel most small...
at the end of the promontory with a high polygonal curtain wall and east gate. It had a number of buildings, including the
great hallA great hall was the main room of a royal palace, nobleman's castle or a large manor house in the Middle Ages, and in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries. At that time the word great simply meant big, and had not acquired its modern connotations of excellence...
. From its strategic position on a rocky promontory, originally almost surrounded by sea, the castle commanded Belfast Lough, and the land approaches into the walled town that developed beneath its shadows.
English control
It appears first in the official English records in 1210 when
King JohnJohn , King of England, reigned from 6 April 1199 until his death. He acceded to the throne as the younger brother of King Richard I, who died without issue...
laid siege to it and took control of what was then Ulster’s premier strategic garrison. Following its capture, constables were appointed to command the castle and the surrounding area. In 1217 the new constable, De Serlane, was assigned one hundred pounds to build a new curtain wall so that the approach along the rock could be protected, as well as the eastern approaches over the sand exposed at low tide. The middle-ward curtain wall was later reduced to ground level in the eighteenth century, save along the seaward side, where it survives with a postern gate and the east tower, notable for a fine array of cross-bow loops at basement level.
A
chamberChamber may refer to:*Chamber , a Marvel Comics superhero associated with the X-Men*Chamber , the portion of the barrel or firing cylinder in which the cartridge is inserted prior to being fired*A room inside a building...
on the first floor of the east tower is believed to have been the castle's
chapelA chapel is a building used as a place for fellowship and of worship for Christians. It may be attached to an institution such as a large church, a college, a hospital, a palace, a prison or a cemetery, or may be an entirely free-standing building, sometimes with its own grounds...
on account of its fine Romanesque-style double window surround, though the original chapel must have been in the inner ward. The ribbed vault over the entrance passage, the murder hole and the massive
portcullisA portcullis is a latticed grille or gate made of wood, metal or a combination of the two. Portcullises fortified the entrances to many medieval castles, acting as a last line of defense during time of attack or siege...
at either end of the
gatehouseA gatehouse is a feature of European castles, manor houses and mansions. Originally a gatehouse was a fortified structure built over the gateway to a city or castle...
are later insertions started by Hugh de Lacey who died in 1248 and did not live to see it's completion in around 1250 A.D. It was finished by King Henry.
After the collapse of the Earldom of Ulster in 1333, the castle remained the
CrownThe Crown is a corporation sole that in certain countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as in any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof, represents the legal embodiment of executive government...
's principal residential and administrative centre in the north of Ireland. During the early stages of the Nine Years War (1595-1603), when English influence in the north became tenuous,
crown forces were supplied and maintained through the town's port. And in 1597, the surrounding country was the scene for the
Battle of CarrickfergusThe Battle of Carrickfergus took place in November 1597, in the province of Ulster in what is now County Antrim, Northern Ireland, during the Nine Years War. It was fought between the crown forces of Queen Elizabeth I and the Scots clan of MacDonnell, and resulted in a defeat for the English.-...
.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a number of improvements were made to accommodate
artilleryArtillery is a military combat Arm that employs weapons capable of discharging large projectiles in combat. They are generally capable of adding considerable fire power to the military capability of an armed force...
, notably externally splayed gunports and embrasures for
cannonA cannon is any tubular piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
, though these improvements did not prevent the castle from being attacked and captured on many occasions during this time.
General SchombergFriedrich Hermann , 1st Duke of Schomberg , was both a marshal of France and a General in the English Army....
besieged and took the castle in 1690. This is also the place where Schomberg's leader,
King William IIIWilliam III was a sovereign Prince of Orange by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland, and as William II over Scotland...
first set foot in Ireland on 14 June 1690.
In 1760, after fierce fighting in the town, it was surrendered to French invaders under the command of
Francois ThurotFrançois Thurot was a French privateer, merchant naval captain and smuggler who terrorised British shipping in the early part of the Seven Years' War....
. They looted the castle and town and then left, only to be caught by the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
.
Later use
In 1778, a small but significant event in the American War of Independence began at Carrickfergus, when
John Paul JonesJohn Paul Jones was the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War. Although he made enemies among the American ruling class, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to this day.During his...
, in the face of reluctance by his crew to approach too close to the Castle, lured a Royal Navy vessel from its moorings into the
North ChannelThe North Channel is the strait which separates eastern Northern Ireland from south western Scotland...
, and won an
hour-long battleThe North Channel naval duel was the fight between the United States Continental Navy sloop of war Ranger and the British Royal Navy sloop of war Drake on the evening of 24 April 1778...
. In 1797 the Castle, which had on various occasions been used to house prisoners of war, became a
prisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Other terms are penitentiary, correctional facility, and jail , although in the United States "jail" and "prison" refer to different subtypes of correctional facility...
and it was heavily defended during the
Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
; six guns on the east battery remain of the twenty-two that were used in 1811.
For a century it remained a magazine and
armoryAn armory is a military depot used for the storage of weapons and ammunition. The term may also apply to an area within a building, used for the storage of weapons. In the United States, armory may refer to the building from which a National Guard or Reserve component trains during peacetime...
. During the First World War it was used as a
garrisonGarrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, of more than 50 men, but now often simply using it as a home base. The station is usually a city, town, fort, castle or similar...
and ordnance store and during the Second World War as an air raid shelter.
It was garrisoned continuously for about 750 years until 1928, when its ownership was transferred to the government for preservation as an ancient
monumentA monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of past events. They are frequently used to improve the appearance of a city or location. Cities that are planned...
and it is open to the public. The banqueting hall has been fully restored and there are many exhibits to show what life was like in medieval times.It was built and re-built three times, and still stands today.
External links