Ireland · Restored
Ardglass Castle
Ardglass Castle, also called The Newark, is a long, narrow range of former harbour warehouses in Ardglass, County Down, that was given a castellated house appearance in the late 18th century. Large parts of the medieval-built block survive within the later house and today form the clubhouse of Ardglass Golf Club. The building sits directly on the rocky shore of the bay with the sea to its east and north sides.
Its prime
1800
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1800
What Ardglass Castle looked like in its prime.
A linear stone range about 250 feet long and only about 24 feet deep, built of pale local stone with three square towers (one central, one at each end) rising above a continuous crenellated parapet; the seaward face has no regular windows but narrow defensive loop-holes, while the quay-facing side features a sequence of 15 cut-stone arched doorways alternating with 16 square windows. Walls are roughly three feet thick; roofline is low and crenellated; the block sits directly on a rocky shore with the sea washing its base.
Its story
The story of Ardglass Castle.
Ardglass Castle, also known as The Newark, began not as a fortress but as a row of 15th-century warehouses beside Ardglass harbour in County Down. The Dublin Penny Journal of 1833 records a local tradition that the "New-works" were erected by Shane O'Neill about 1570.
At the end of the 18th century the medieval range was converted into a castellated house by Charles FitzGerald, the first and last Baron Lecale. His mother Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster, lived here with her second husband William Ogilvie, once tutor to her son Lord Edward FitzGerald; the house was eventually inherited by Ogilvie's daughter by an earlier marriage, wife of Charles Beauclerk, great-grandson of the 1st Duke of St Albans.
Large sections of the original medieval building survive within what is now the clubhouse of Ardglass Golf Club, a long, narrow range sitting directly on the rocky shore of the bay, with the sea to its east and north sides.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1800.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Ardglass Castle, including 3 interiors: interior of an end tower (stacked apartments), upper-floor apartments with separate stone staircases, upper-room water-closet and flue to the sea. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Ardglass Castle with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held Ardglass Castle.
The families that held Ardglass Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Converted into a castellated house in the late 18th century by Charles FitzGerald, Baron Lecale; home to Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster.
