Ireland · Restored
Ballygally Castle
Ballygally Castle is a 17th-century Scottish baronial-style tower house on the coast at the head of Ballygally Bay in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Built as a rectangular four-storey stone house with corner turrets and a flanking stair tower, it later served varied uses and today functions as a hotel.
First raised
1649
Its prime
1760
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1760
What Ballygally Castle looked like in its prime.
Rectangular Scottish baronial stone tower house of four storeys with walls about 1.5 metres thick, surmounted by four small corner turrets and a larger flanking tower on the northeast containing an entrance and a stone spiral stair. The main entrance set in the tower bears a Middle Scots inscription over the doorway. Originally the castle was enclosed by a stone bawn and walled garden with four corner turrets and it stands at the head of Ballygally Bay overlooking the sea.
Its story
The story of Ballygally Castle.
James Shaw's Castle, 1625
Ballygally Castle was built in 1625 by James Shaw, a Scottish settler who rented the land at the head of Ballygally Bay from Randal MacDonnell, the Catholic Earl of Antrim, for £24 a year — though other records place its construction as late as 1649. The rectangular Scottish baronial tower has four storeys, walls about 1.5 metres thick, four corner turrets and a flanking tower at the north-east housing the entrance and a stone spiral stair; it originally stood within a bawn that had four corner turrets of its own. Over the main entrance an inscription in Middle Scots reads "Godis Providens is my Inheritans." The castle is sometimes described as the oldest occupied building in Ireland, though Castle Upton is somewhat older.
The 1641 Rebellion
During the Great Rebellion of 1641, the Irish garrison stationed at Glenarm made several attempts to take the castle, then more fortified than it is today, but failed to capture it.
The Shaw Family, 1730s–1799
In the late 1730s the Shaw children were tutored at the castle by David Manson, later a pioneering Belfast educator known for his "play school"; for many years one of the castle's rooms was known as the Manson room. Around 1760 the squire Henry Shaw extended the castle buildings after marrying a Miss Hamilton, whose two sisters came to live there with the couple. In 1799 the castle passed to William Shaw, the last Shaw squire; with the family's wealth exhausted, he sold the property within a few years.
Coastguard Station to Hotel
Ballygally then passed through several hands, including use as a coastguard station. In the 1840s the side of the castle nearest the sea was removed to make way for the new coast road. The textile millionaire Cyril Lord bought the property in the early 1950s and refurbished it as the hotel it remains today, now a Grade A listed building. It is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in Ulster, a claim taken up by paranormal enthusiasts such as Jeff Belanger.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1760.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Ballygally Castle, including 2 interiors: northeast flanking tower and spiral stair, the 'manson room' apartment. 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 Ballygally Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1760, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Defend this castle →Whose castle
Clans who held Ballygally Castle.
The families that held Ballygally Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Built by James Shaw in 1625; held by the Shaws until the last squire, William Shaw, sold it in the early 1800s.
Nearby
