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Audley's Castle is a 15th-century castle located 1 mile (1.6 km) north-east of
Strangford Strangford (from Old Norse ''Strangr fjörðr'', meaning "strong sea-inlet") is a small village at the mouth of Strangford Lough, on the Lecale peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 475 at the 2001 Census. On the ...
,
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 531,665. It borders County Antrim to th ...
,
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. North ...
, on a rocky height overlooking Strangford Lough. It is a three-storey
Tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strate ...
named after its 16th century owner, John Audley. Audley's Castle tower house and bawn is a State Care Historic Monument in the
townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...
of Castleward, in Down District Council area, at grid ref: J5781 5058. There are thousands of small stone towers similar to Audley's Castle in the Irish countryside. They are one of the commonest of
archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...
sites, which indicates these were not buildings put up for the higher aristocracy, but for lesser
lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ...
s and gentry. Most were built in the late
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
(roughly 1350–1550). Audley's was built towards the end of this period.


Features

Audley's Castle consists of a tower set within a yard (technically known as a
bawn A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional ...
) which is enclosed by a thin wall, with a simple gate. The tower has one main room on each floor, with one or two subsidiary rooms off each of the big ones. The ground floor has small windows and no
fireplace A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the desig ...
or
latrine A latrine is a toilet or an even simpler facility that is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground ( pit latrine), or ...
and was for storage of provisions. The first floor has better windows, a large fireplace and access to a latrine; this was a room for the owner to live in and entertain his friends. It also has a chute for throwing dirty water away, so the large fireplace was also probably used for cooking on. The second floor was probably the lord's private room for sleeping and his family life: servants and others could be accommodated in the
attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a ''loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...
. There is very little historical information about the buildings in the small courtyard around Audley's. Only a minority of towers had courtyard walls at all, and their buildings were clearly less important than the tower. The towers in different parts of the country vary, with distinct regional patterns. Audley's with its two turrets linked by an arch is one of a type found in
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 531,665. It borders County Antrim to th ...
only.


History

Audley castle is a ruin which once stood as a tower constructed in the 15th century which now lies on the ground of castle Ward, owned by Viscount Bangor. The area was established by the Irish Normans, and given to a knight named
John de Courcy {{Infobox noble , image = Sir John de Courcy (1150-1219).jpg , caption = , alt = , more = no , succession = , reign = , predecessor = , successor = , ...
in 1177. In 1646 the castle was bought by the Ward family and a 3-story tower castle was built and named after John Audley. Nearby was a town named Audleystown, until the locals were sent to America by the Ward family in the 1850s. The castle is now a public park


Filming location

During the filming of the TV series
Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the firs ...
, the castle ruins were twice used as a set, once for an encampment at the scenes for the 'battle of camps'. And another as a backdrop to the Twins', Frey residence in the 'Red wedding' in season 3, episode 9.


Gallery

Image:Audley's Castle (10), August 2009.JPG, Audley's Castle, August 2009 Image:Audley's Castle, through trees.jpg, Audley's Castle


See also

*
Castles in Northern Ireland This List of Castles in Ireland, be they in Northern Ireland and thus United Kingdom or in the Republic of Ireland, is organised by county within their respective jurisdiction. Republic of Ireland County Carlow : County Cavan : County ...


References


External links


Irish Antiquities – Photographs of Audley's Castle
{{coord, 54, 22, 46.50, N, 5, 34, 19, W, region:GB, display=title Castles in County Down Ruined castles in Northern Ireland Houses completed in the 15th century Tower houses in Northern Ireland