Interesting Castles in Northern Ireland
By: Basma Alhayek
Tags: Travel, Castles, Tourism, Northern Ireland Castles, Northern

Northern Ireland Castles

Do you enjoy the way those old castles look, walking through them, and getting to know more about the history they carry behind? Northern Ireland is filled with different castles that stand for a very long period of time, some of them could be entered while others do not allow visitors to come inside, but in both cases tourists will end up enjoying the whole scene of the old building and hearing the story behind it.

Some castles out there only carry historical stories related to when they were built and what was the main purpose behind their appearance, others might carry some scary stories which make people even more interested to visit them. Which kind of tourist are you, the one who enjoy regular stories or the one who enjoys those scary ones?

There are some famous castles located in Northern Ireland which I want to shed the lights on — it might be helpful for those who are still writing down their plans.

Carrickfergus Castle in county Antrim is the first one I am going to talk about. Carrickfergus Castle is a Norman Irish castle and its name means “cairn of Fergus” with ‘Fergus’ here referring to a strong man. This castle is situated in the town of Carrickfergus in county Antrim on the northern shore of Belfast Lough. Back in the old days, when Carrickfergus Castle was built, it was considered very important since it managed to play an important military role until 1928 because about 3/4 of the castle was surrounded by water before the reclamation of the land which we see today. This is one of the best medieval structures in Northern Ireland nowadays.

Carrickfergus Castle

Carrickfergus Castle

The second castle to mention here is Dunluce Castle which is a medieval castle on cliffs. Dunluce is translated into ‘fort of the fort’ but this was not its first name and actually no one knows the meaning of the first name which was “Dunliphis”. The castle is surrounded by very steep drops on each side, which drew the early Christians and Vikings to this place where an early Irish fort once stood. This historical castle has been the site of numerous battles, over a one hundred year period it was besieged numerous times.

Dunluce Castle Co. Antrim

Dunluce Castle Northern Ireland

Dunluce Castle

Among the long list of castles which tourists could visit while they are in Northern Ireland and experience a bit of the country’s history, there is Dundrum Castle in County Down. In order not to get confused, there are two different castles named Dundrum, one in Northern Ireland and the other one in Ireland. Dundrum Castle is a 13th century castle that is located above the town of Dundrum in county Down, Northern Ireland, and the reason behind building it back during these days is to control the access into Lecale from the west and the south.

Dundrum Castle

Dundrum Castle County Down

Belfast Castle is set on the slopes of Cavehill Country Park, 400 feet above sea level, which gives visitors the chance to check this old castle in Belfast and at the same time get the chance to enjoy the breathtaking views from up there. The original Belfast Castle was built back in the 12th century by the Normans and it was even located in Belfast City Centre, and this means that it is not the same castle that we visit today, and this goes back to the old version being burnt down. Belfast Castle which is visited today was actually built when the Chichesters decided to build a new residence for the suburbs.

Belfast Castle is also used today for making events, like weddings for example, giving couples the chance to mix their future with a bit of history.

Belfast Castle Northern Ireland

Belfast Castle

Belfast Castle 360 Degree

These are some of the most famous historical castles in Northern Ireland that tourists could visit and enjoy while being there, but there of course a couple of others which we didn’t manage to include in the list.

You could visit www.connollycove.com in order to check the different touristic attractions in Northern Ireland, Ireland, as well as different other countries around the world, and you could also check several different videos on ConnollyCove channel on YouTube.