Dunseverick Castle is situated in

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

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 ...

, near the small village of

Dunseverick , translit_lang1 = Irish , translit_lang1_type = Derivation: , translit_lang1_info = Dún Sobhairce , translit_lang1_type1 = Meaning: , translit_lang1_info1 = Sobhairce's fort , image_skyline = DunseverickCas ...

and the

Giant's Causeway The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (5 km) northeast of ...

. Dunseverick Castle and earthworks are Scheduled Historic Monuments in the townland of Feigh, in Causeway coast and Glens district council, at grid ref: C9871 4467. Dunseverick Castle and the peninsula on which it stands were given to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

in 1962 by local farmer Jack McCurdy. The Causeway Cliff Path also runs past on its way to Dunseverick Harbour to the east and to the Giant's Causeway to the west.

History

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints be ...

is recorded as having visited Dunseverick castle in the 5th century AD, where he baptized

Olcán Olcán () is the name of an early Irish saint of the Dál Riata, disciple of St Patrick, founder and bishop of the monastery in Armoy, County Antrim, Armoy in northeast County Antrim, Northern Ireland.Charles-Edwards, "Ulster, saints of (act. ''c ...

, a local man who later became a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of Ireland. The original stone fort that occupied the position was attacked by

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

raiders in 870 AD. In the later part of the 6th century AD, this was the seat of Fergus Mor MacEirc ( Fergus the Great). Fergus was King of Dalriada and great-uncle of the High King of Ireland, Muirceartaigh (Murtagh) MacEirc. It is the 500 AD departure point from Ireland of the

Lia Fail Lia is a feminine given name. In the Spanish-speaking world, it is accented Lía. In America, the name may be a variant of Leah or Lea. Lia may be a diminutive of various names including Julia, Cecilia, Amelia, Talia, Cornelia, Ophelia, Rosa ...

or coronation stone. Murtagh loaned it to Fergus for the latter's coronation in western Scotland part of which Fergus had settled as his sea-kingdom expanded. It became a manorial centre of the Earls of Ulster from around 1250 to 1350 AD and then a stronghold of the O’Cahans and later the McDonnells from 1560 AD. The castle was captured and destroyed by General Robert Munro in 1642 and his

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

ian troops in the 1650s, and today only the ruins of the gatelodge remain. A small residential tower survived until 1978 when it eventually surrendered to the sea below. It was a 'key' ancient site in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. One of the five great royal highways, or ''slighe'' of ancient Ireland,

Slige Midluachra {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Slige Midluachra is the old northern road sometimes known High Kings Road that ran in ancient times from the Tara to Dunseverick on the north coast of Ireland. It was one of the legendary Five Roads of Tara, site ...

, had its terminal point at Dunseverick castle, running from here to

Emain Macha Navan Fort ( sga, Emain Macha ; ga, Eamhain Mhacha, label=Modern Irish ) is an ancient ceremonial monument near Armagh, Northern Ireland. According to tradition it was one of the great royal sites of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland and the cap ...

and further to Tara and the fording point on the Liffey at what is now

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

References

{{reflist
Dunseverick website
Scheduled monuments in Northern Ireland Castles in County Antrim Ruined castles in Northern Ireland

History

See also

References