Dunluce Castle

One of the most famous castles in Northern Ireland, and a regular feature on Game of Thrones.

In the 16th Century when Sorley Boy McDonnell came over from Scotland to consolidate McDonnell territories in both Ireland and Scotland, his main base became Dunluce Castle. Dunluce Castle is one of the most iconic monuments in Northern Ireland situated as it is rather precariously on the craggy and treacherous Antrim coast and it provides a very important chapter in the history of the McDonnells of Antrim and North East Ulster. It was Sorley Boy’s grandson, the 2nd Earl of Antrim, and his wife who finally decided to abandon Dunluce. In 1639 as they were waiting for dinner one evening the kitchen, along with kitchen staff, fell into the sea. This is thought to have been the final straw. Although the 1st Earl of Antrim had already built a fine house at Glenarm, this was burnt down in the 1640s by a Scots Covenanter army, so even though they still visited a wing of the house, the Antrim family based itself at a house near Dunluce called Ballymagarry until Glenarm Castle was rebuilt by the 5th Earl in 1756.

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