Audley's Castle: The Free Tower House Above Strangford Lough, Where Game of Thrones Arrived In the first season of Game of Thrones, the fields and approaches to Castle Ward became Winterfell — the ancestral seat of the Starks. The fields around Audley's...
Kilwaughter Castle: John Nash's Antrim Ruin, Declared Enemy Property in the Second World War In 1803, John Nash — the architect who designed Regent Street, remodelled Buckingham Palace and built the Royal Pavilion at Brighton — came to County Antrim and...
Shane's Castle: The O'Neill Estate on Lough Neagh, Touched by John Nash and Twice Burned In 1809, John Nash — the architect who designed Regent Street, Carlton House Terrace and remodelled Buckingham Palace for George IV — began redesigning a castle on the...
Belfast Castle: The Free Victorian Castle Above the City, with Nine Hidden Cats The legend says the castle will be safe — or its residents will have good fortune — as long as a white cat lives within its walls. The castle's response to this piece of local...
Gosford Castle: Ulster's Largest Listed Building — and Game of Thrones' Riverrun When Robin Fedden of the National Trust surveyed Gosford Castle in 1952, he described it as "one of the most original buildings of its time" and noted that it had...
Enniskillen Castle: The Maguire Clan's Lough Erne Fortress, Home to Two Museums Hugh Maguire built his castle at Enniskillen around 1428. His nickname — 'the Hospitable' — suggests a lord who understood the politics of generosity as well as the politics...
Killyleagh Castle: Ireland's Oldest Inhabited Castle, Above Strangford Lough Sir Hans Sloane was born in Killyleagh in 1660. The physician, naturalist and collector who grew up in this County Down village on the shore of Strangford Lough went on to assemble a...
Castle Ward: The House That Couldn't Agree on a Style — and Became Winterfell Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor, and his wife Lady Ann Bligh could not agree on what kind of house they wanted to build at their County Down estate in the 1760s. He wanted classical...
Dundrum Castle: Where John de Courcy's Norman Ulster Meets the Mourne Mountains In 1177, the same year that John de Courcy built Carrickfergus Castle on Belfast Lough, he also established a fortress on a rocky hill above Dundrum Bay in County Down. The two...