On the shores of Belfast Lough, in County Antrim, Carrickfergus Castle raises its powerful Norman keep above the water. A major English bastion in a disputed north-east of Ulster, it was at the heart of the Tudor reconquest and of the clashes with the Gaelic clans and the Scottish MacDonnells.
The English lock of the north-east
Built in the twelfth century, Carrickfergus is one of the most imposing Norman castles in Ireland. In the sixteenth century, it was the great English bastion in a north-eastern Ulster the Crown struggled to control: a base for a colonisation attempt in the 1570s, then a military base against the Gaelic clans and the MacDonnells, those Scots of the Glens of Antrim settled on the coast. During the Nine Years' War (1594-1603), Carrickfergus was an essential link of the English arrangement against the great Gaelic revolt.
The death of the governor (1597)
The castle was the scene of a famous and brutal episode. On 4 November 1597, during a parley that turned into a clash, the governor Sir John Chichester was shot down then beheaded by the men of James MacSorley MacDonnell. This violent death of a high representative of the Crown, at the hands of the MacDonnells, illustrates the savagery of the struggles for control of north-east Ulster at the end of the Tudor age. The Chichester family (including Arthur, the future great organiser of the Plantation) would keep a tenacious grudge over it. To see: the Norman keep, the cannon, the ramparts and fortified gate, the view over Belfast Lough.
Did you know?
The beheading of the governor Sir John Chichester in 1597 by the MacDonnells left a lasting wound: his brother Arthur Chichester, who would become Lord Deputy of Ireland and one of the great architects of the Plantation of Ulster, never forgot it. His ruthless colonisation policy towards the Gaels doubtless owes something to this personal grudge — the severed head of a brother at Carrickfergus perhaps weighed on the destiny of all Ulster.
Notes
Carrickfergus Castle lies at Carrickfergus, County Antrim, on Belfast Lough; a castle run by the NI heritage bodies, open to visits. Hours to check.
Quiz
- What role did Carrickfergus play in the sixteenth century?
- A major English bastion in north-east Ulster
- A Gaelic monastery
- A neutral trading port
- What happened to the governor Sir John Chichester in 1597?
- He was shot down then beheaded by the MacDonnells
- He was crowned
- He went on crusade
- Against whom did Carrickfergus serve as a base?
- The Gaelic clans and the Scottish MacDonnells
- The Spanish
- The French