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Romantic Ruins
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This weeks feature
Dunluce Castle | You come upon them suddenly, the dark, dramatic ruins of Dunluce Castle in Northern Ireland crowning a rocky crag jutting into the sea.
Fortified by towers and high walls, on sheer cliffs that drop to raging waters a hundred feet below, the castle could only be conquered by cannon. Much of the present remaining buildings date from the 16th century, though it’s known the castle was in use long before then. A rock-cut passage from the 10th century is the oldest sign of human habitation.
The Manor House, built in 1636 for Catherine Manners, Duchess of Buckingham, was grand and glorious, but the kitchen court was built too close to the rock edge – in 1639 a maid announced there’d be no dinner for guests that night. The kitchen, the cooks and their pans had fallen into the sea! |
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The castle’s history mirrors that of North Antrim, of marriages between Irish chieftains’ families and Scottish clans a few miles across the water; of skirmishes, raids, feuds and sieges; and fighting off attacks by the English. In 1588, James MacDonnell at Dunluce and his father Sorley Boy MacDonnell did well from the demise of the Girona, a treasure-filled galleass from the wounded Spanish Armada, which ran aground on rocks close by. |
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