Bangor Castle is a country house situated in Castle Park in
Bangor, County Down
Bangor ( ; ) is a city and seaside resort in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the southern side of Belfast Lough. It is within the Belfast metropolitan area and is 13 miles (22 km) east of Belfast city centre, to which it is linked ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. The building, which is also referred to as Bangor Town Hall and is now used as the offices of
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Ards and North Down Borough Council is a local authority in Northern Ireland that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Ards Borough Council and North Down Borough Council. The first elections to the authority were on 22 May 2014 and it ...
, is a Grade A
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
History
The site was first occupied by
Bangor Abbey
Bangor Abbey was established by Saint Comgall in 558 in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland and was famous for its learning and austere rule. It is not to be confused with the slightly older abbey in Wales on the site of Bangor Cathedral.
His ...
which was founded by
St. Comgall in 558 and was home to Franciscan friars until the
dissolution of the monasteries in 1542. A mansion was built on the site for
Sir James Hamilton, who had acted as an agent and informant for
King James I
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
, in around 1611: it was remodelled in the late 18th century.
[
The current building was commissioned by The Hon Robert Edward Ward, who had served as ]High Sheriff of Down
The High Sheriff of Down is the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Down. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besides his judic ...
for 1842 and was a brother of the 3rd Viscount Bangor. It was designed by the Scottish architect, William Burn
William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred t ...
, in the Jacobethan style, built in ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
stone and was completed in 1852.[ The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with five bays facing east. The first bay on the left featured a three-stage ]castellated
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...
tower with a corner clock turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
, which was surmounted by a pyramid
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...
-shaped roof and a weather vane
A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...
. The second bay, which contained a porch with an arched doorway, the third bay and the fourth bay were all recessed: they were fenestrated by mullion
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
ed and transomed windows on the lower floors and by dormer
A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window.
Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...
windows at attic level. The right hand two bays were also fenestrated by mullioned and transomed windows but were gabled.[ Internally, the mansion contained 35 bedrooms and a huge salon for musical recitals: the violinist, William Henley, performed in the chamber at a concert hosted by the Belfast Orchestral Society in July 1893.
Ward's only daughter and heiress, Matilda Catherine Maude, married the 5th Baron Clanmorris in 1878. After his death in 1916, Lady Clanmorris retained possession of the house until her own death in 1941. After the then local authority, Bangor Borough Council, bought the castle and grounds in 1941, the music saloon was converted into a council chamber, and the council, which had previously been based in Main Street, relocated to the castle in 1952.] The building continued to serve as the headquarters of the borough council and, after local government reorganisation in 1973, it went to become the meeting place of North Down Borough Council
North Down Borough Council was a Local Council in County Down in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ards Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become North Down and Ards District Council.
Its m ...
. North Down Borough Council merged with Ards Borough Council
Ards Borough Council was the local authority of Ards in Northern Ireland. It merged with North Down Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become North Down and Ards District Council
North i ...
in 2015 and the building then became the meeting place of the combined authority, Ards and North Down Borough Council
Ards and North Down Borough Council is a local authority in Northern Ireland that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Ards Borough Council and North Down Borough Council. The first elections to the authority were on 22 May 2014 and it ...
.[
The gardens, designed by the Ward family in the 1840s, have won many awards for their outstanding blooms and are open to the public. The building also hosts a museum to the Ward and Bingham families, which includes the ]Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
awarded to Commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
The Hon. Edward Bingham
Rear Admiral The Honourable Edward Barry Stewart Bingham VC, OBE (26 July 1881 – 24 September 1939) served in the Royal Navy during the First World War and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in engaging the German fleet dur ...
, son of the 5th Baron Clanmorris. Works of art in the building include a portrait by Edwin Long
Edwin Longsden Long (12 July 1829 – 15 May 1891) was a British genre, history, biblical and portrait painter.
Life and works
Long was born in Bath, Somerset, the son of James Long, a hairdresser, (from Kelston in Somerset), and was edu ...
of Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infan ...
.
Bangor Castle was used as a film location for the 2017 movie "The Bookshop" starring Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy.
See also
* List of Grade A listed buildings in County Down
This is a list of Grade A listed buildings in County Down, Northern Ireland.
In Northern Ireland, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of "special architectural or historic interest". ...
References
{{Government buildings in Northern Ireland
Castles in County Down
Bangor, County Down
Grade A listed buildings
Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest
1852 establishments in Ireland
Government buildings completed in 1852
City and town halls in Northern Ireland