Qualla: Carrickfergus Castle https://qualla.com/carrickfergus-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:20 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/z/carrickfergus-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Carrickfergus Castle https://qualla.com/carrickfergus-castle Carrickfergus Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/carrickfergus-castle/ Photo credit Michael Kooiman, CC BY-SA 3.0. Seven hundred and fifty years of continuous military occupation ended in 1928, when the British Army transferred Carrickfergus Castle to the Government of Northern Ireland. In all that time -- from the Norman conquest of eastern Ulster to the aftermath of the First World War -- the castle never stopped being a working fortress. Scots besieged it. King John captured it. The French looted it. John Paul Jones lured a Royal Navy vessel from its moorings into the North Channel and defeated it within sight of its walls. Three-quarters of the castle's perimeter was once surrounded by water, though land reclamation has reduced that to roughly a third. What remains is one of the best-preserved Norman castles in Ireland, sitting on its rocky promontory above Belfast Lough exactly where John de Courcy planted it in 1177.

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Image: Michael Kooiman | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/z/carrickfergus-castle-wp/gcez-carrickfergus-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Carrickfergus Castle: The Norman Adventurer https://qualla.com/carrickfergus-castle/ Photo credit Irid Escent, CC BY-SA 2.0. John de Courcy was not invited to Ulster. He conquered it. In 1177, this Anglo-Norman knight swept into the east of the province and established himself as a petty king, building Carrickfergus as his headquarters on a basalt promontory that commanded the approaches to Belfast Lou...

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Image: Irid Escent | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/z/carrickfergus-castle-wp/gcez-carrickfergus-castle-the-norman-adventurer.mp3 0:06 2 full Carrickfergus Castle: Eight Centuries of Siege https://qualla.com/carrickfergus-castle/ Photo credit Irid Escent, CC BY-SA 2.0. King John laid siege to Carrickfergus in 1210 and installed English constables. In 1217, the new constable was granted one hundred pounds to build additional curtain walls protecting the landward approaches. The castle served as the Crown's principal stronghold in northern Irelan...

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Image: Irid Escent | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/z/carrickfergus-castle-wp/gcez-carrickfergus-castle-eight-centuries-of-siege.mp3 0:06 3 full Carrickfergus Castle: The Privateer and the Castle https://qualla.com/carrickfergus-castle/ Photo credit HantsAV, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1778, during the American War of Independence, the Scottish-born American naval captain John Paul Jones appeared in the waters off Carrickfergus. His crew was reluctant to approach the castle's guns, so Jones devised a ruse to lure the Royal Navy sloop HMS Drake from its moori...

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Image: HantsAV | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/z/carrickfergus-castle-wp/gcez-carrickfergus-castle-the-privateer-and-the-castle.mp3 0:06 4 full Carrickfergus Castle: Norman Restored https://qualla.com/carrickfergus-castle/ Photo credit michael clarke stuff, CC BY-SA 2.0. After its transfer to civilian stewardship, many of the castle's post-Norman and Victorian additions were stripped away to restore its original medieval appearance. The banqueting hall was fully reconstructed. Cross-bow loops in the east tower basement, a Romanesque double-window...

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Image: michael clarke stuff | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/z/carrickfergus-castle-wp/gcez-carrickfergus-castle-norman-restored.mp3 0:06 5 full