Dunluce Castle
Dunluce Castle clings to a basalt crag over the North Atlantic, and legend says its kitchen once slid into the sea mid-dinner.
Published
Quick Facts
- Location
- North Antrim coast, between Portrush and Bushmills, County Antrim
- Built or opened
- Earliest castle around 1300; major rebuilding by the MacQuillans and MacDonnells in the 16th and 17th centuries
- Setting
- A basalt outcrop cut off from the mainland by a sheer chasm
- Early builder
- Traditionally linked to Richard Óg de Burgh, Earl of Ulster
- Key owners
- The MacQuillans, then the MacDonnells, later Earls of Antrim
- Famous neighbour
- The Giant's Causeway, a short drive along the coast
- Hidden feature
- Mermaid's Cave, a sea cave directly beneath the castle
- Screen link
- Said to have inspired the Greyjoys' Pyke in Game of Thrones
The castle that was built to be unreachable
Dunluce sits on a rock stack that has been sliced off from the mainland by a deep gap. The sea churns far below on three sides. Anyone who wanted in once had to cross that gap by a narrow approach, with defenders looking down on them. The earliest castle is traditionally attributed to Richard Óg de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, around 1300. The crag was almost certainly fortified long before then, and the site is a reminder that the best defences in Ireland were often simply the most awkward bits of coastline.
From MacQuillans to MacDonnells
By the 1500s Dunluce belonged to the MacQuillans, the dominant Gaelic family of this part of Antrim. Their grip did not last. The MacDonnells, a Scottish-Gaelic clan from the Hebrides, were pushing into the Glens and the north coast, and Sorley Boy MacDonnell took the castle for his family in the 1550s and 1560s. In 1584 English forces seized it. Tradition says Sorley Boy won it back soon after by getting men inside who hauled his own warriors up the cliff in a basket. Whatever the truth of that detail, the MacDonnells held Dunluce afterwards, and Sorley Boy's descendant Randal was created Earl of Antrim in 1620.
The wreck that armed a castle
In 1588 the Spanish Armada galleass Girona, overloaded with survivors from other lost ships, broke up on the rocks at Lacada Point, a few miles from Dunluce. Around 1,300 men died, and only a handful survived. Sorley Boy's people salvaged what they could, including guns, and the story is that some of the Girona's cannon ended up on Dunluce's walls. The ship's treasures were later recovered by divers and are now in the Ulster Museum in Belfast.
The night the kitchen fell into the sea
The best-known Dunluce tale dates to around 1639. During a storm, goes the legend, part of the castle's kitchen crumbled off the cliff edge and into the waves. The cooks and staff were carried down with it, and only a kitchen boy sitting in a safe corner survived. It is a story that has grown with every telling, and the exact details belong to folklore. What is certain is that the cliff edge here is unstable, and the story goes that the lady of the house, Katherine Manners, refused to stay after the incident. The family moved to a more comfortable home and the castle was gradually left to the weather.
Maeve Roe, mermaids and Narnia
Dunluce does ghost stories well. One tale tells of Maeve Roe, a daughter of the castle who refused her father's choice of husband, was locked in a tower, and died when her escape by sea ended on the rocks. Locals say a tower bears her name and that her ghost still visits it. Beneath the castle, Mermaid's Cave opens to the sea, and legend says a mermaid lives there. The ruin has also been linked with C. S. Lewis, a Belfast man who knew this coast, as a possible inspiration for Cair Paravel in Narnia. More recently it is said to have shaped the look of Pyke, the Greyjoys' seat in Game of Thrones.
What to look for when you visit
Start with the approach. The bridge to the main ruin crosses that dramatic gap, and the gatehouse beyond shows off its twin towers. Inside you'll find the shells of the great hall, the surviving kitchen area and the walls of the 17th-century house built by the MacDonnells. Look out to sea for views along the coast, and back towards the headland for the best photograph of the castle on its crag. The Giant's Causeway, Portrush and Bushmills are all close by, so Dunluce slots naturally into a day on the Causeway Coast.
Notable people
- Richard Óg de Burgh
- Sorley Boy MacDonnell
- Randal MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim
- Katherine Manners
- C. S. Lewis
Test yourself
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