Jordan's Castle (;

Ulster Scots Ulster Scots, may refer to: * Ulster Scots people * Ulster Scots dialect Ulster Scots or Ulster-Scots (), also known as Ulster Scotch and Ullans, is the dialect (whose proponents assert is a dialect of Scots language, Scots) spoken in parts ...

: ''Joardan's Kessel'') is a castle situated in

Ardglass Ardglass () is a coastal fishing village, townland (of 321 acres) and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland, in the historic barony of Lecale Lower. It is still a relatively important fishing harbour. It is situated on the B1 Ardglas ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Northern Ireland. The tower house known as Jordan's Castle is a State Care Historic Monument sited in the

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

of Ardglass, in the

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (Irish language, Irish: ''Comhairle Ceantair an Iúir, Mhúrn agus an Dúin'') is a local authority in Northern Ireland that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaces Down District Council and Newry and ...

area, at grid ref: J5601 3713. It stands close to the junction of Kildare and Quay Streets in Ardglass and commands the harbour.

Features

The entrance is at the bottom of the north-west tower and leads to a spiral stairway to roof level. It is protected by a

machicolation In architecture, a machicolation () is an opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement through which defenders could target attackers who had reached the base of the defensive wall. A smaller related structure that only protects key ...

at that level. The ''Dublin Penny Journal'' of 30 March 1833 describes Jordan's Castle as follows:

History

It was also extensively used for get-togethers of the wide circle of Irish Cultural revival artists and writers to whom Bigger was friend and patron. Following suggestions by

Alice Stopford Green Alice Stopford Green (30 May 1847 – 28 May 1929) was an Irish historian, nationalist, and member of the first Seanad Éireann. Early life She was born Alice Sophia Amelia Stopford in Kells, County Meath. Her father Edward Adderley Stopford ...

and the archivist Henry Egan Kenny, Bigger renamed the tower "Castle Seán' in honour of the two years when Shane O'Neill (Seán Ó Néill) controlled Ardglass, and they believed, re-fortified the tower following his defeat of the MacDonnells at Glentaisie in 1565.Stopford Green, Alice 'A Castle in Ardglass' in ''The Old Irish World'', Gill & MacMillan (Dublin and London, 1912), pp. 141. The contents have since been dispersed among the Ulster Museums general collections and the tower is no longer open to the public. Ardglass had at least six castles and remains of four of them can still be seen:

Ardglass Castle Ardglass Castle (also known as The Newark) is situated in Ardglass, County Down, Northern Ireland. It was originally a row of 15th century warehouses by the harbour. Large sections of the original building can still be seen within the modern cl ...

, Cowd Castle, Margaret's Castle and Jordan's Castle.

References

External links

Environment and heritage Service – Jordan's Castle
{{Authority control Castles in County Down Ruined castles in Northern Ireland Ardglass Northern Ireland Environment Agency properties Tower houses in Northern Ireland

Features

History

See also

References

External links