Town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Antrim
Antrim has a round tower that has outlasted a thousand years of weather, and a castle that was gutted by fire in October 1922.
Key information
- County
- County Antrim
- Nation
- Northern Ireland
- Population
- about 23,000 (2011 Census)
- Known for
- The Steeple round tower, Antrim Castle Gardens, the 1798 Battle of Antrim and its Lough Neagh shoreline
- What locals are called
- Antrim folk
- Famous people
- Sir John Clotworthy, Henry Joy McCracken (1798), Alexander Irvine
About Antrim
The tower that refuses to fall
Tucked into Steeple Park is a stone round tower about 28 metres tall. It is one of the best-preserved in Ireland. Monks built towers like this as bell towers and lookouts, and as places to shelter valuables when raiders came calling. This one has stood since the early medieval period, while the settlement around it grew into a market town. Look at the doorway, set well above the ground, and you can see why: it was designed to be reached by ladder and pulled up behind you. The tower gave the nearby Steeple area its name, and it is the town's best-known landmark.
A castle lost in a single night
The Clotworthy family arrived in the early 1600s. Sir John Clotworthy became a key figure in the politics of the time, and the family built Antrim Castle beside the Six Mile Water. In October 1922 a fire swept through the building and gutted it. It was never rebuilt as a home. The old stable block and the grounds survived, and the site is now Antrim Castle Gardens. The gardens still show their Anglo-Dutch layout, with long straight canals and formal lines. That style was fashionable in the late 1600s and is rare to find in Ireland. Clotworthy House, the surviving part of the estate, now hosts exhibitions.
The day the rebellion came to town
On 7 June 1798 the United Irishmen attacked Antrim, led by Henry Joy McCracken. It was meant to be the opening of the northern rising, and for a short time the rebels held part of the town. Then government forces rallied. Lord O'Neill was mortally wounded in the fighting, and the rebels were driven back and scattered. McCracken escaped, but he was captured soon after and hanged in Belfast. The battle is still remembered in the town's streets and its history trail.
Britain and Ireland's biggest lake at the doorstep
Antrim sits on Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the British Isles, which covers about 392 square kilometres. The town's Loughshore Park gives people a way to get down to the water for walking, cycling and watching birds. The lough is famous for its eels, which have been fished here for centuries and are still prized as a local delicacy. It is also home to the pollan, a whitefish found in only a handful of lakes in Ireland. The sheer size of the water makes it feel more like a small sea than a lake, especially in a good wind.
Words from the Entry
Pogue's Entry is a narrow lane in Antrim, and it was the birthplace in 1863 of Alexander Irvine. He grew up poor, travelled widely and became a writer and preacher. His book My Lady of the Chimney Corner (1913) describes a mother's strength in the cottage where he was raised. The cottage still stands as a small museum and reminds you that the town's story is as much about ordinary households as about castles and battles.