Ireland · Still standing
Glenarm Castle
Glenarm Castle in County Antrim is the ancestral seat of the Earls of Antrim, the present house built in 1636 and still in family ownership. The estate includes extensive lawns, a walled garden open to the public, and grounds used for cultural events and festivals.
First raised
1636
Its prime
1636
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1636
What Glenarm Castle looked like in its prime.
Large ashlar stone mansion set back from a broad lawn, with a symmetrical south façade dominated by a central projecting entrance bay topped by an ornate stone parapet. The roofline shows steep gables, multiple tall brick or stone chimneys, and paired octagonal corner turrets capped with conical roofs; mullioned windows puncture the walls in regular rows. The house sits within mature trees and parkland on a gently sloping estate.
Its story
The story of Glenarm Castle.
John Bisset's Capital in the Glens
John Bisset acquired the lands between Larne and Ballycastle from Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster, and made Glenarm his capital. A castle stood here from the 13th century; by 1260 it sat at the centre of what is now the village, with a kitchen garden, an orchard and a mill, and woods and meadows around it. Some of its walls are still built into the old village courthouse, where an immured skeleton was found in the 1970s.
Con O'Donnell's Raid and the Last MacEoin Bisset
In 1495 Con O'Donnell of Tirconnell marched on MacEoin of the Glens, as the Bisset chieftain was styled, for he had been told that MacEoin had the finest wife, steed and hound in his neighbourhood. He had sent messengers for the steed and been refused, so he made no delay, and surmounting the difficulties of every passage he reached MacEoin's house by night without warning of his designs. He took MacEoin captive and made himself master of the wife, the steed and the hound.
The last MacEoin Bisset was killed fighting the O'Donnells in 1522. The Bisset lands were then seized by the MacDonnells, their former partners, who occupied the old Bisset castle until they built the new one.
Sir Randal MacDonnell's Castle of 1636
Sir Randal MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim, built the present castle in 1636, and it has stayed in the family ever since. The McDonnells have been at Glenarm for nearly 600 years and have held the estate for 400 of them. It remains the ancestral home of the Earls of Antrim, owned by Randal McDonnell, 10th Earl of Antrim, and was listed Grade A in May 1976.
The Walled Garden and the Dalriada Festival
The walled garden opens to the public from May to September and carries a run of events with it: a Highland games meeting on the grounds each July, traditional Ulster Scots gatherings, and the Dalriada Festival, held at the castle and in the village. Outdoor concerts staged as part of the festival brought General Fiasco, The Priests, Duke Special, Ronan Keating, Sharon Corr and David Phelps to Glenarm in 2012, the same year Summer Madness, Ireland's biggest Christian festival, moved here from the Kings Hall in Belfast.
Step inside
4 places to explore in 1636.
The record describes 4 distinct spots at Glenarm Castle, including the full exterior approach. 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 Glenarm Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1636, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Glenarm Castle.
The families that held Glenarm Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Held by the MacDonnell Earls of Antrim since Sir Randal MacDonnell built the present castle in 1636; the family has been at Glenarm for nearly 600 years.
