Greencastle (County Down)
Greencastle ( Irish Caisleán na hOireanaí ) is a royal castle in County Down in Northern Ireland . It was built in the 13th century and changed significantly in the 15th and 16th centuries. The large, rectangular donjon has three vaulted rooms on the ground floor. It can be reached via a bridge that crosses a ditch cut into the rock. Originally it was surrounded by a wall in the square that had four corner towers. Their ruins are still visible today. Hugh de Lacy probably had the castle built with Carlingford Castle on the other side of Carlingford Lough . The two castles were supposed to monitor the narrow entrance to Carlingford Lough and were connected by a ferry.
The mound of an earlier Norman wooden moth , possibly built by John de Courcy , is still on the lake side today. Legend has it that John de Courcy married on Greencastle, but this must have taken place on the earlier Motte. According to information from the information boards on the castle, this was held in 1264-1333 for the English crown by Richard Og de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster . During the Scottish invasion from 1315 it was conquered by Edward Bruce , but after the failure of the invasion in 1318 it was recaptured. Greencastle was attacked by the Irish at least twice in the late 14th century, but was an English garrison until the 1590s. In the 1500s, the castle was held by the Earl of Kildare and then by Nicholas Banenal of Newry . After a bombing by Cromwell's troops to prevent it from being used by rebel forces, Greencastle was no longer usable.
The castle is a State Care Historic Monument in Town Country of Greencastle in District Newry, Morne and Down .
Individual evidence
- ^ Greencastle . In: Environment and Heritage Service NI - State Care Historic Monuments . Archived from the original on July 22, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
Web links
Coordinates: 54 ° 2 '27.2 " N , 6 ° 5' 49.2" W.