Ireland · Ruin
Red Bay Castle
Red Bay Castle is a medieval castle site on a headland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, originally built by the Bissett family in the 13th century and later held and rebuilt by the MacDonnells. The castle was restored in the early 17th century and was destroyed during the Cromwellian campaign in 1652. Today only ruinous masonry survives on the grassy coastal headland.
Its prime
1604
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1604
What Red Bay Castle looked like in its prime.
Set on a grassy coastal headland above an exposed red-brown sandstone scarp, the castle in its prime presents a low compound of rubble masonry in grey-brown stone with fragments of curtain-wall and a single tall rectangular tower remnant rising above the bank. Rooflines are absent on the surviving stonework in the photograph; vegetation runs along the top of the terrace and the approach slopes are grass-covered. The silhouette is dominated by the upright tower fragment and low wall outlines against the skyline.
Its story
The story of Red Bay Castle.
Red Bay stands on a headland projecting into the sea north of Glenariff, on the road to Cushendall in County Antrim, built by the Bissett family in the thirteenth century on the site of an earlier motte-and-bailey outpost of the kingdom of Dál Riata. The Bissetts had fled Scotland for their lives after Walter de Bisset was accused of the murder of Patrick, Earl of Atholl, at Haddington in 1242, and Henry III granted them large possessions in the Barony of Glenarm.
Through John Mor MacDonald, 1st of Dunnyveg, and his marriage to Margery Bissett of the Glens of Antrim, Red Bay came to the MacDonnells, who rebuilt it and restored the castle in the early seventeenth century. Destroyed during the Cromwellian campaign of 1652, it survives only as ruinous masonry on the grassy coastal headland.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1604.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Red Bay Castle — including 1 interior: inside the tower ruin (interior). 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 Red Bay Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1604 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Whose castle
Clans who held Red Bay Castle.
The families that held Red Bay Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Bissett
Built by the Bissett family in the 13th century, on lands granted by Henry III.
Acquired through John Mor MacDonald's marriage to Margery Bissett; the MacDonnells rebuilt it and restored it in the early 17th century.
