Audley ' s Castle Audley ' s Castle is a 15th - century castle located 1 mile ( 1 . 6 km ) north - east of Strangford , County Down , Northern Ireland , on a rocky height overlooking Strangford Lough . It is a three - storey Tower house named after its 16th century owner , John Audley . Audley ' s Castle tower house and bawn is a State Care Historic Monument in the townland of Castleward , in Down District Council area , at grid ref : J5781 5058 . There are thousands of small stone towers similar to Audley ' s Castle in the Irish countryside . They are one of the commonest of archaeological sites , which indicates these were not buildings put up for the higher aristocracy , but for lesser lord s and gentry . Most were built in the late Middle Ages ( roughly 1350 – 1550 ) . Audley ' s was built towards the end of this period . Features . Audley ' s Castle consists of a tower set within a yard ( technically known as a bawn ) which is enclosed by a thin wall , with a simple gate . It is protected on its south side by a rocky cliff . The stone walls of the bawn have been reduced to low foundations , but its rectangular plan can still be traced . In the south - east area of the bawn are the foundations of an outhouse , probably a barn or servants quarters , and the tower house is at the north corner of the bawn . The south - east face of the tower house is dominated by two projecting square turrets , linked by an arch at parapet level ( a machicolation ) , through which objects could be dropped on anyone attacking the door in the south turret below . The ground floor room is entered through a small lobby which has a murder - hole in its roof . The room is lit by narrow window loops and has a wall cupboard and a chute for slops . The south turret contains a spiral stair which leads to the two upper chambers and the roof . The first floor chamber has a semicircular barrel vault , designed as a defence against the spread of fire . A number of beam sockets and projecting stone corbel s in the walls show how the vault was erected . The presence of window seats , a fireplace , two cupboards and a latrine ( in the east turret ) suggest that the first floor chamber was the main living room in the castle . The second floor chamber lacks a fireplace , but does have window seats and a latrine in the east turret and could have been a sleeping area . Above this floor is the roof level with a wall - walk behind a parapet and higher corner turrets , now largely demolished . The castle had a pitched roof as a drawing from 1840 shows a gable wall in place which later collapsed . the timber roof of the castle would have been covered with slates , wooden shingles , stone slabs or thatch . The tower has one main room on each floor , with one or two subsidiary rooms off each of the big ones . The ground floor has small windows and no fireplace or latrine and was for storage of provisions . The first floor has better windows , a large fireplace and access to a latrine ; this was a room for the owner to live in and entertain his friends . It also has a chute for throwing dirty water away , so the large fireplace was also probably used for cooking on . The second floor was probably the lord ' s private room for sleeping and his family life : servants and others could be accommodated in the attic . A spiral stair leads to the first and second floor rooms and the roof . The first floor room has a reconstructed wooden floor and semicircular stone barrel vault . There is very little historical information about the buildings in the small courtyard around Audley ' s . Only a minority of towers had courtyard walls at all , and their buildings were clearly less important than the tower . The towers in different parts of the country vary , with distinct regional patterns . Audley ' s with its two turret s linked by an arch is one of a type found in County Down only . History . The castle is probably of 15th century date , but its early history is unknown . The castle is named after its late 16th century owners , the Audleys , an Anglo - Norman family who held land in the area in the 13th century , although it is not known if they built the castle . It was sold , with the surrounding estate , to the Ward family in 1646 and used in 1738 as an eye - catching focus of the long vista along Castle Ward ' s artificial lake , Temple Water .