Thursday, October 17, 2013

Dunluce Castle

Before we left the Causeway Coast yesterday we visited Dunluce Castle which sits precariously on the edge of a cliff that plunges straight down to the sea below. There are stories that one night part of the kitchen fell into the sea taking several servants and that night's dinner - but as we discovered yesterday that's just a story, but a good one! A different part did fall into the sea though and the castle was abandoned not long after - I would have been gone straight away!
The castle dates back to Medieval times and was once the headquarters of the MacDonnell clan. It was originally owned by the MacQuillans and was fought over several times. There have been archaeological digs that date the castle and surrounds back to the 14th century.
 The inner castle is accessed by a narrow bridge which would have originally been a drawbridge with guards protecting it and firing on any invaders. There are sheer drops all around this inner part of the castle.

 Little windows provide snippets of views to the surrounding coastline.
 Looking west - spectacular!
 My Lord?! Nah - just James again!
 Outside at the top of the hill, we found a friendly cat....
 who lived in this wee cottage!
Now where's the bloody leprechaun?!

2 comments:

Lorri said...

hi kerrie and james....can i borrow your camera next year when we are os....your photographs are magnificent to say the least. i loved your paris photos, and your irish photos are just superb..the countryside, the history...i am just loving this trip.
you have probably heard the news from home is not the best. wed/thurs just gone; we had incredible high winds and temperatures. many uncontained fires raged across nsw...more than 100 homes have been lost in the blue mountains...yesterday was cooler and provided some relief, but temperatures will be back in the 30plus by monday. i haven't heard from robyn yet; but i assume she must be home shortly..the hsc is well and truly underway, with not too many major problems reported to date...i will be going to sydney to mark from 4nov - an event i always look forward to; for some strange reason...enough of my ramblings...enjoy the guiness..share the pot'ogold when you get home and watch out for the pl's...playboy leprechauns xx

Kerrie said...

Hi Lorri - great to get your message - I'm impressed you've got this technology worked out!! Yes we've heard about the fires - have been looking at news online. Terrible. Just about to put another blog post up - we are now in Galway on the coast - beautiful. Love you xx