Castle hotel
Ballygally
Ballygally Castle
A genuinely fortified 17th-century tower house on the Antrim coast, developed into a hotel from the 1950s and reputedly haunted.
Worth the detour
Notable castles to visit
1625
Notable castle
Ballygally Castle
Built in 1625 by James Shaw, a Scotsman who settled on the Antrim coast in 1605, Ballygally is built in the style of a French chateau with a steep roof and corner turrets and remains one of the best-preserved 17th-century buildings still in daily use in Northern Ireland, today as a hotel with a reputed resident ghost, 'Lady Isabella'..
1177
Notable castle
Carrickfergus Castle
Built in 1177 by John de Courcy as his headquarters after conquering eastern Ulster, this is one of the best-preserved medieval structures in Ireland, with three-quarters of its perimeter surrounded by water on Belfast Lough.
13thc.
Notable castle
Dunluce Castle
A spectacular ruined castle perched on a basalt sea-stack on the Antrim coast, built in the 13th century by Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, later the seat of Clan MacDonnell.
1618
Notable castle
Galgorm Castle
Built in 1618 by Sir Faithful Fortescue, Constable of Carrickfergus Castle, who acquired the estate after tricking Gaelic chieftain Rory Óg MacQuillan out of his lands, Galgorm is regarded as one of the finest examples of Jacobean architecture in Ireland.
1636
Notable castle
Glenarm Castle
Built in 1636 by Sir Randal MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim, Glenarm has been the family seat of the McDonnells, Earls of Antrim, for roughly 400 years and remains a working farm estate at the heart of the Glens of Antrim.
16thc.
Notable castle
Olderfleet Castle
The four-storey ruins standing on Curran Point south of Larne Harbour, possibly built on the site of an earlier towerhouse of the Scoto-Irish Bissett family of Glenarm around 1250, though the surviving remains are thought to date from a 16th-century structure known as Curran Castle.