Mahee Castle, County Down
Photo © Aubrey Dale, 23 January 2007
Mahee Castle, County Down
Photo © Aubrey Dale, 23
January 2007
Mahee Castle (also known as Nendrum Castle) is a ruined Tower house on Mahee Island in Strangford Lough, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is situated close to Nendrum Monastery. The castle is on the northern shore of Mahee Island, close to the causeway to Reagh Island.
The tower house was built in 1570 by an English soldier called Captain Browne.
The tower-house is built on an artificial terrace cut into the north-eastern end of a drumlin. The back of the terrace is retained by a revetment wall about 4m to the south-west of the tower-house. There had been restoration work at the site during the 1920's. Mahee Castle is 40ft by 22ft externally. The walls are 5ft thick, except the south-east end wall, which is 6ft thick. The entrance doorway is on the north-west end, defended by a murder-hole inside. The ground floor was vaulted and the first floor is 29ft by 12ft. The castle was apparently originally 3 storeys high, but now stands only 25ft high. There are possible remains of a bawn. It has two ground floor rooms, the larger with a semicircular vault built on plank centering and the smaller with a pointed vault. This smaller room may have been a secure boat bay. There were two storeys above, but they are ruined. Part of the bawn wall survives to the south-west.[1]
Excavations were carried out at the site in 2001 and 2002 in advance of restoration work by the Environment and Heritage Service (what is now the Northern Ireland Environment Agency). In 2001 artefacts ranging in date from the late medieval period to the 20th century were recovered. During the 2002 excavations, pottery, metal artefacts, glass, worked stone and animal bone were found.
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