Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Dunineny Castle Ruins
Town Parks, Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Record only (not listed)
- Grade
- Record Only
- Type
- Castle
- Date of construction
- Pre 1600
- Address
- Dunineny Castle Ruins, Clare Road, Ballycastle, Co Antrim
- Townland
- Town Parks
- Council
- Causeway Coast and Glens
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 55.21160, -6.25103
- Date of survey
- 24 September 2000
- HB reference
- HB05/14/039
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 5 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1827 "Antrim, Raghery." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
The Department's description
Exterior description and setting
Meagre basalt wall remains of Dunineny Castle on cliff top promontory.
Dunineny Castle was built on a triangular piece of ground on a cliff top overlooking Rathlin Sound at a place called Castle Point. Little remains of the castle but 2 stumps of basalt masonry which may have formed turrets on each side of entrance. A moat or ditch separates the triangular platform of land on which the castle was built. At present some repair work is being carried out to prevent further loss of the diminished ruins.
Historical information
The O.S. Memoirs gives a good description of the ruins as they were at the time of the first Ordnance Survey. From that account there is much less remaining now. Certainly no apartment or vestige of an apartment can be discerned. Who first established a castle here is uncertain but the McQuillans, the McDonnells and the McGregors at various times were in occupation. Mullory and McNeill in The Archaeology of Ulster suggest that the McDonnells built a number of small castles along the north Antrim coast to consolidate their expansion and quell the McQuillans. Dunineny Castle was one of these.
This is a scheduled monument and a more detailed discussion can be found under the following refence in the Mounuments and Buildings Record at EHS's offices at Hill Street in Belfast: SMR No. Ant 4:1
References
Primary Sources
1. O.S. Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of Co Antrim IX 1830-2, 1835, 1838-9
Ed by Angelique Day, Patrick McWilliams and Noirin Dobson p. 122.
Secondary Sources
1. Mallory & McNeill, The Archaeology of Ulster p. 301.
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
Not listed
Criteria for listing: historic interest
Not listed
Evaluation
Interesting archaeological ruins of mediaeval North Antrim coast castle probably built by the McDonnells in their struggle to consolidate their power over the McQuillans. It is considered more appropriate however to protect this structure by scheduling rather than listing.
Nearby in the register
- Coastguard Look-OutCoastguard Stationunder 1 mi
- Burial GroundsGraveyardunder 1 mi
- KenmaraHouseunder 1 mi
- CLARE PARKHOUSEunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.