Dunluce Castle

Location: Northern Ireland

Dunluce Castle is a now-ruined medieval castle in Northern Ireland. It is located on the edge of a basalt outcropping in County Antrim (between Portballintrae and Portrush), and is accessible via a bridge connecting it to the mainland. The castle is surrounded by extremely steep drops on either side, which may have been an important factor to the early Christians and Vikings who were drawn to this place where an early Irish fort once stood.

The castle was originally built in 1500 by the McQuillans, who came from Scotland in the 1200s as hired mercenaries, and built the castle around 200 years later.

*Dunluce was taken by force from the McQuillans by Sorley Boy McDonnell after the Battle of Orla in 1565. It’s said the McDonnells covered a bog with rushes and stationed a few men on firm ground, fooling the McQuillans into charging into the bog.

*Over a 100-year period, the castle was besieged on numerous occasions by the English.

*The castle was once owned by Winston Churchill (below). It passed into the ownership of the Churchill family as a result of inter-marriage.

*While the Plantation of Ulster was going on, the MacDonnells were allowed to effectively carry out their own private plantation, bringing Scottish settlers over to found the trading town of Dunluce.

*The town, designed to rival Coleraine, was a cosmopolitan one, with Scottish, Irish, English and Welsh residents, along with Continentals