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Photo: Stewart, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The best-preserved Norman castle in Ireland, built in 1177 when the site was almost surrounded by water. It was besieged and captured several times, including by French privateers in 1760. (They only wanted provisions not possession, and left as soon as the winds were favourable; the Royal Navy destroyed them off Galloway.) The castle remained in military use until 1928. Victorian and other additions were then taken away to restore the Norman appearance.
Carrickfergus Castle is a Norman castle in Northern Ireland, situated in the town of Carrickfergus in County Antrim, on the northern shore of Belfast Lough. Besieged in turn by the Scottish, rebel Irish, English, and French, the castle played an important military role until 1928 and remains one of the best preserved medieval structures in Northern Ireland. It was strategically useful, with three-quarters of the castle perimeter surrounded by water. Today it is maintained by the Department for Communities as a historic monument in state care.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Display of local history.
Replica of the thatched cottage home of the parents of US President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), the one on the US$20 bill. They emigrated to Carolina, where Andrew's father was killed in a logging accident three weeks before the birth. A small museum also commemorates the US Rangers, who trained here in 1942 before combat in Europe.