JOYCEAN PICS 2008
Carrickfergus Castle
Contents of This Page


  Carrickfergus Castle
  Statue of King William III
  Carrickfergus Pier
  
  
CONTENTS 2008
   1  Tours IJJF Symposium 2008: "Re-Nascent Joyce"
   2  Tours and Joyce
   3  Tours: miscellanea
   4  La Maison du Vouvray
   5  Boat Trip down the Loire
   6  Chateau Royal or the Da Vinci Court, Amboise
   7  Paris and Joyce
   8  Paris: miscellanea
   9  Mont-Saint-Michel
  10  Dublin, Jew and Joyce: "Jublin"
  11  Dublin: miscellanea
  12  Athlone
  13  Clonmacnoise (Cluain Mhic Nois)
  14  Belfast: "You Are Now Entering Loyalist Sandy Row"
  15  Carrickfergus Castle
  16  The Hurry Head, East Antrim (Co. Antrim)
  17  Carrick-a-Rede
  18  The Old Bushmills Distillery Co. Ltd.
  19  Dunluce Castle
  20  The Giant's Causeway
  21  Seoul JJSK Conference 2008
  22  Seoul: miscellanea 2008

Carrickfergus Castle
24 June 2008

  
  
  Carrickfergus Castle is a Norman castle in Northern Ireland, situated in the town of Carrickfergus in County Antrim, on the shore of Belfast Lough. Besieged in turn by the Scots, Irish, English and French, the castle played an important military role until 1928 and remains one of the best preserved medieval structures in the whole of Ireland.  It was useful as 3/4 of the perimeter is covered by water.  
  Carrickfergus Castle was built by John de Courcy in 1177 as his headquarters, after he conquered eastern Ulster in 1177 and ruled as a petty king until 1204, when he was ousted by another Norman adventurer, Hugh de Lacy.  Initially de Courcy built the inner ward, a small bailey at the end of the promontory with a high polygonal curtain wall and east gate.  It had a number of buildings, including the great hall.  From its strategic position on a rocky promontory, originally almost surrounded by sea, the castle commanded Belfast Lough, and the land approaches into the walled town that developed beneath its shadows.
  It appears first in the official English records in 1210 when King John laid siege to it and took control of what was then Ulster's premier strategic garrison.  Following its capture, constables were appointed to command the castle and the surrounding area.  In 1217 the new constable, De Serlane, was assigned one hundred pounds to build a new curtain wall so that the approach along the rock could be protected, as well as the eastern approaches over the sand exposed at low tide.  The middle-ward curtain wall was later reduced to ground level in the eighteenth century, save along the seaward side, where it survives with a postern gate and the east tower, notable for a fine array of cross-bow loops at basement level.  A chamber on the first floor of the east tower is believed to have been the castle's chapel on account of its fine Romanesque-style double window surround, though the original chapel must have been in the inner ward.  The ribbed vault over the entrance passage, the murder hole and the massive portcullis at either end of the gatehouse are later insertions, probably part of the remodeling that followed Edward Bruce's long and bitter siege of 1315-1316.    After the collapse of the Earldom of Ulster in 1333, the castle remained the Crown's principal residential and administrative centre in the north of Ireland.  During the early stages of the Nine Years War (1595-1603), when English influence in the north became tenuous, crown forces were supplied and maintained through the town's port.  And in 1597, the surrounding country was the scene for the Battle of Carrickfergus.  During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a number of improvements were made to accommodate artillery, notably externally splayed gunports and embrasures for cannon, though these improvements did not prevent the castle from being attacked and captured on many occasions during this time.  General Schomberg besieged and took the castle in 1690.  This is also the place where Schomberg's leader, King William III first set foot in Ireland on 14 June 1690.  In 1760, after fierce fighting in the town, it was surrendered to French invaders under the command of Francois Thurot.  They looted the castle and town and then left, only to be caught by the Royal Navy.  
  In 1778, a small but significant event in the American War of Independence began at Carrickfergus, when John Paul Jones, in the face of reluctance by his crew to approach too close to the Castle, lured a Royal Navy vessel from its moorings into the North Channel, and won an hour-long battle.  In 1797 the Castle, which had on various occasions been used to house prisoners of war, became a prison and it was heavily defended during the Napoleonic Wars; six guns on the east battery remain of the twenty-two that were used in 1811.  For a century it remained a magazine and armory.  During the First World War it was used as a garrison and ordnance store and during the Second World War as an air raid shelter.  It was garrisoned continuously for about 750 years until 1928, when its ownership was transferred to the government for preservation as an ancient monument and it is open to the public.  The banqueting hall has been fully restored and there are many exhibits to show what life was like in medieval times.  
    ( Extracted from the site of Wikipedia.)

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Carrickfergus Castle
      Carrickfergus Castle, Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.  The address is: Carrickfergus Castle, Marine Highway, Carrickfergus BT38 7BG United Kingdom.
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 (Tuesday 24 June) Carrickfergus Castle, Carrickfergus, County Antrim
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 (Tuesday 24 June) Carrickfergus Castle, Carrickfergus, County Antrim
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 (Tuesday 24 June) Carrickfergus Castle, Carrickfergus, County Antrim
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 (Tuesday 24 June) Carrickfergus Castle, Carrickfergus, County Antrim
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 (Tuesday 24 June) Carrickfergus Castle, Carrickfergus, County Antrim
  
      
Statue of King William III
      The statue of King William III stands by Carrickfergus Castle, Carrickfergus, County Antrim, where King William III landed in Ireland on 14 June 1690 on the very pier which you can see in the photograph below (cfc2008-014).  At the conclusion of his tour of the Castle and town he left for Belfast.: "This statue was erected by Carrickfergus Borogh Council to celebrate the tercentenary of the landing of King William III."
  William III (14 November 1650 - 8 March 1702) was the Prince of Orange from his birth, Stadtholder of the main provinces of the Dutch Republic from 28 June 1672, King of England and King of Ireland from 13 February 1689, and King of Scots (under the name William II) from 11 April 1689, until his death.
  Born a member of the House of Orange-Nassau, William III won the English, Scottish and Irish Crowns following the Glorious Revolution, during which his uncle and father-in-law, the Catholic James II (VII in Scotland), was deposed.  In England, Scotland and Ireland, William ruled jointly with his wife, Mary II, until her death on 28 December 1694.  He reigned as 'William II' in Scotland, but 'William III' in England and Ireland.  Often he is referred to as William of Orange, a name he shared with many other historical figures. In Northern Ireland and Scotland, he is often informally known as "King Billy."   William III was appointed to the Dutch post of Stadtholder on 28 June 1672, and remained in office until he died.  In that context, he is sometimes referred to as 'William Henry, Prince of Orange,' as a translation of his Dutch title, Willem Hendrik, Prins van Oranje.  A Protestant, William participated in many wars against the powerful Catholic King Louis XIV of France.  
  Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith.  It was largely due to that reputation that he was able to take the crowns of England and Scotland, where many, especially the English aristocracy, were intensely fearful of a revival of Catholicism and the papacy.  Undoubtedly, his army and sizable naval fleet also played a role.  His reign marked the beginning of the transition from the personal rule of the Stuarts to the more Parliament-centered rule of the House of Hanover.  (Extracted from the site of Wikipedia.)
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 (Tuesday 24 June) The script of Statue of King William III: "This statue was erected by Carrickfergus Borogh Council to celebrate the tercentenary of the landing of King William III."
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 (Tuesday 24 June) Statue of King William III
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 (Tuesday 24 June) Statue of King William III
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 (Tuesday 24 June) Statue of King William III
  
      
Carrickfergus Pier
      This is the historical pier at Carrickfergus Castle where on 14 June 1690 King William III's first step onto the soil of Ireland was made.  King William III was on his way to finally defeat the treacherous James and to guarantee "freedom and liberty to the people of the British Isles" (from the viewpoint of London and the Church of England/Ireland [the Protestants]).  Irish Catholics would tell the same story from the conflicting viewpoint.
  Each June the people of Carrickfergus commemorate this glorious event..
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 (Tuesday 24 June) Carrickfergus Pier




        


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