Castles of Ardglass

Ardglass and Horn Castles

A castle type structure has been on this site since the early 15th Century. In 1790 Lord Charles Fitzgerald demolished half the original building and built his seaside mansion. In 1896 the Ardglass Golf Club was formed and in 1911 they purchased what is now the club house and adjacent land off the bankrupt landlord Aubrey De Vere Beauclerk.

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Cowd Castle

Cowd Castle is a castle situated in Ardglass, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the other side of the road from Margaret's Castle, at the entrance to Ardglass Golf Club. It is a small two-storey tower which may date from the late 15th century or early 16th century. The doorway is in the west wall. A straight mural stairway (now blocked) led to the upper level. There is a theory that this was a flanking tower to a curtain wall of the Newark

Margarets Castle

Margaret's Castle is a castle in Ardglass, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a small Tower house probably built in the 15th century. Only two storeys still exist but there is evidence that it was at least three storeys high. It is vaulted above the ground floor with a rectangular tower with projecting turrets in the north west wall. The doorway between the turrets was protected by a murder-hole. A spiral stairway rises within the west turret.

Jordans Castle is a good example of a tower-house, built in the late 14th Century. The earliest authentic reference to the castle is Simon Jordan's defense of it against the O'Neills in 1601. Aquired and repaired in 1911 by Belfast antiquarian Francis Joesph Bigger, it was presented on his death to the state in 1926

The Tower consists of two stories. It is 27 feet high and its outside diameter is 18 feet. The Tower was built by Aubrey William Beauclerk (1801-1854) for his daughter Isabella who was suffering from Tuberculosis in 1851. On the 19th of October 1867 Isabella married George Palatiano, Le Chevalier Surgeon-Major of Corfu.

In the digging of the foundations for this ornamental tower, it is recorded in the Down Recorder on the 1st of March 1851 that a cinerary urn containing calcined human bones was discovered, the dating of which is in the Bronze Age.This prehistoric burial ground was found on the summit of the conical hill known locally as the 'Ward'.This hill,which is evidently artificial and resembles the tumuli known in different parts of Dorsetshire in England leaves no doubt that this mound was raised as a monument to a warrior, bard or chief.

This Gazebo was built in the mid nineteenth century and was built as a changing room for this is the location of the first Ardglass Baths. People from all parts travelled to the village to make use of the healing powers of the local waters. The baths were outdated when the larger baths were made across Casey's shore, the constructed walls can be seen clearly behind the gardens of the last two houses closest to the marina.