Ireland · Ruin
Northburgh Castle
Northburgh Castle (also called Green Castle or Greencastle) is a late 13th/early 14th-century castle in Greencastle, County Donegal, Ireland, completed in 1305 by Richard Óg de Burgh. The site is an oval curtain-wall enclosure that incorporates its keep into the outer defences, with a twin polygonal-towered gatehouse at one end and a larger polygonal tower at the other. The castle was heavily damaged by cannon fire in later centuries and today survives as a ruin under state care.
First raised
1305
Its prime
1305
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1305
What Northburgh Castle looked like in its prime.
An oval stone curtain wall built on a rocky platform, the castle's outer defences incorporate the keep rather than enclosing a separate donjon; a twin polygonal-towered gatehouse sits at one end and a larger polygonal tower at the opposite end. The gatehouse has its entrance leveled to the main courtyard (the gate passage opens into a lower, small courtyard with steps rising to the main one). Walls are of coursed local stone with narrow embrasures and crenellated wallwalks.
Its story
The story of Northburgh Castle.
Northburgh Castle — Green Castle — was completed in 1305 by Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, sited to control Lough Foyle and to enable his plans for expansion. Its design consciously echoes Edward I's great Welsh castles: parallels have been drawn between the gatehouse and Harlech, and between the rest of the castle and Caernarfon — a deliberate association by a builder who was close to Edward and had been knighted by him at Rhuddlan Castle.
Edward Bruce captured the castle in 1316 and held it until his death in 1318, when Richard recovered it. In 1331 Walter Liath de Burgh was imprisoned here by his cousin William Donn de Burgh, the "Brown Earl", and died of starvation in February 1332 — an act anecdotally commemorated by the skeleton in Derry's coat of arms; William's sister was found dead beneath the battlements. After William's death, the castle became a stronghold of the O'Doherty family.
The castle is an oval curtain-walled enclosure that builds its keep into the outer defences, with a twin polygonal-towered gatehouse at one end and a larger polygonal tower — likely added in the 15th century — at the other. Heavily damaged by cannon fire in later centuries, it survives as a ruin under state care.
Step inside
9 places to explore in 1305.
The record describes 9 distinct spots at Northburgh Castle — including 3 interiors: gate passage and small lower courtyard, great hall (along north curtain wall), north tower (interior rooms). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Create History
Recreate Northburgh Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1305 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Whose castle
Clans who held Northburgh Castle.
The families that held Northburgh Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
