Shane's Castle ruins, Shane's Castle Park, Antrim, Co Antrim

Shane's Castle Ruins, Shane's Castle Park, Antrim, County Antrim

These are the ruined remains of the ancestral residence of the O'Neills of Shane's Castle, built in stages over several centuries and destroyed by fire in 1816. The site is of considerable archaeological and historic importance, with recorded references dating back to the 15th century. Within the surviving fabric are visible elements from probably the late medieval period, the 17th century, and the Georgian era. The ruins stand in an unspoiled setting within a well-wooded demesne overlooking Lough Neagh, and together with associated structures form a group of considerable architectural interest. The building has also been scheduled as an ancient monument (ANT49:29).

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

What survives is a three-storey castellated house dating from the 18th century but incorporating earlier phases of building. It now consists of two ruinous shells — the former wings of the house — standing approximately north and south of each other, roughly 23 metres apart. The buildings are constructed of random rubble basalt and brick, partly harled (rendered). The western end of each wing is circular and the eastern end rectangular. Almost all of the original long connecting walls that ran east and west between the two wings are now missing.

North Wing

The west elevation is formed by the circular bay, open at the rear, of three storeys, built of galletted random rubble basalt and partly harled. The parapet is crenellated, rising from a slightly projecting brick corbel course. At ground floor level there is a cut sandstone doorway with a semi-circular arch flanked by panelled pilasters rising to a broken triangular pediment, with moulded cornices. Each floor has a window with a semi-circular arch in brick and a moulded sandstone cill that projects slightly. Similar semi-circular arched openings appear in the north and south sides of the circular bay. At the base of the circular tower on the north side is a red brick segmental relieving arch positioned directly over the underground service tunnel. There is no corresponding relieving arch on the south side of the tower, where it sits directly over the tunnel and where flues rise within the tower wall.

The north elevation, to the left of the circular end bay, consists of a slightly battered wall built in two sections, with the vertical joint between them now visibly open at the top. The portion to the right of the joint is one window wide, with flat arched brick openings and the same style of cills as above. The portion to the left of the joint is two windows wide, with segmental arched brick openings and similar cills. The east elevation is one window wide, also with segmental arched brick openings.

The inner faces of the north wing are of rubble masonry at the east end wall and the eastern two bays of the north wall, with red brick lining to the bay of the north wall closest to the circular tower. The circular tower or bay is also lined with brick, with some plaster remaining on the brick lining. Inside the circular tower are three semi-circular arched niches with doorways between them, and a stack of three fireplaces at the south corner of the tower.

South Wing

This wing consists of a complete circular tower rising from basement level on the south side and part of the west, together with open rectangular walling — apparently of different periods of construction — connected to the east, also rising from basement level on the south and east sides, and forming a square tower-like bay to the east.

The west elevation of the circular tower is of three storeys, built of random rubble basalt and partly harled, with a crenellated parapet similar to that of the north wing. The window openings have semi-circular brick arches of similar size to those of the north wing, but with brick jambs; some remnants of cut-stone cills survive, but there is no cut-stone doorway. On the north side of the circular tower, scant and featureless remains of a storey-high wing wall of basalt rubble project northward, with a detached lower portion standing to the north of that. At the rear of the circular tower, the outer layer of rubble stonework stops to reveal a later pair of twin stilted semi-circular arches in red brick with basalt rubble to the common pier — probably a later repair to prevent the ruin from collapse. Brick lining continues around the interior, and at each floor level within the tower there is a fireplace; the one at first floor level retains a damaged rectangular cut-stone surround.

The south elevation shows the circular tower abutted on the right at the jamb of the window openings by a short straight return wall, which is linked to a rectangular bay projecting forward at the east end of the wing. This return wall is of basalt rubble, crenellated at the top, one window wide, and contains four small windows with roughly segmental arches formed by rough stone voussoirs. A basement doorway, positioned slightly off-centre, is segmentally arched with rough stone voussoirs and has a later segmental brick arch immediately below it; the doorway is blocked and finished with smooth cement render. The rectangular tower-like bay to the east is of basalt rubble, of three storeys and a basement, harled on its short projecting west side, with crenellations now missing. Its openings are brick segmental arched with remnants of moulded sandstone cills, centrally placed except at ground floor level where the opening is off-centre and partly blocked with rubble. The base of the wall is abutted by a later brick-vaulted compartment dating from the early 19th century additions.

The east elevation consists of the rectangular tower-like bay to the left and a section of blank walling set back to the right. The right-hand corner of the projecting bay is battered. The east face of the rectangular tower-like bay is of similar construction to its south side, except that it retains remnants of crenellations, is partly harled, and incorporates some sandstone quoins to the right-hand corner; one of these quoins bears a carved human head known as Edenduffcarrick, or "the black face of stone." There is one window opening to each floor similar to those on the south side, and a flat-arched off-centre opening to the basement, now blocked and smooth cement rendered. The blank walling set back to the right is of basalt rubble, partly harled, with crenellations now missing, and built in two phases — the junction between them is visible where the portion extending northward retains dressed sandstone quoins now abutted by later walling on the left. The junction inclines northward, showing the batter of the wall at that end. The end wall to the north is comparatively thick, of masonry throughout except for a later internal lining of brick in parts.

The inner faces of the rectangular walls are of basalt rubble with some brick lining, and there are some modern red brick repairs including angled brickwork supported on timber beams between the circular tower and its short linking return wall to the projecting rectangular bay. The interior basement area is largely filled with masonry debris and scrub.

SERVICE TUNNEL

At the base of the circular tower of the south wing, an arched underground entrance on the exterior leads from the open basement court into a vaulted service tunnel. This tunnel follows the curve of the tower, then branches off along what was the outside of the west face of the house, continuing directly underneath the circular bay of the north wing to emerge alongside the old private burial ground. The tunnel is lit at intervals along its length by metal-barred light wells.

SETTING

The ruins stand in a very rural position within a well-wooded demesne, on sloping grassland close to the shore of Lough Neagh. To the south, and connected to the ruins, stands a complex of other architecturally important structures: a battery and terrace, unfinished castle-style additions to the house, and a conservatory known as the Camellia House. Immediately to the south-west of the south wing is an open basement area containing the remains of angled walls, probably the kitchen area of the original house.

BUILDING HISTORY

The known early history of the site begins under its original name of Edenduffcarrick, an Anglicisation of the Irish "Eden dubh Cairrige" (meaning "the black face of stone"). In 1470 the Annals of Ulster recorded Edenduffcarrick as the town of Conn, son of Hugh Boy O'Neill. By 1490 there was the first reference to a castle or fort at the site, which was attacked and demolished. In 1535 a castle here — either repaired or rebuilt from that of 1490 — was attacked by the O'Neills of Tyrone. From the 1580s the site was associated with Shane McBrian O'Neill of the O'Neills of Clanaboy. Following serious family disputes over inheritance, the castle was given to Shane MacBrian O'Neill temporarily, then taken back by the government, reclaimed by Shane in 1597, and subsequently attacked and burned by Sir Arthur Chichester later that same year. The castle was finally granted to Shane MacBrian O'Neill in 1606, and it was he who appears to have given it its present name, appearing in 1613 on the Roll of Parliament of James I as "Shane McBrien O'Neill, of Shane's Castle."

Nothing is recorded about the castle's development during most of the 17th century, although the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of the 1830s recount a local tradition that it was Rose O'Neill — granddaughter of Shane MacBrian O'Neill, who inherited the property in 1638 and died in 1695 — who enlarged the old building and "raised it to its present size." She may have been responsible for some enlargement in the second half of the 17th century, but not for all that comprised the castle's final form.

A painting from the first half of the 18th century shows Shane's Castle as a large castellated country house comprising a four- to five-storey circular and square tower-house-like block, with a symmetrical three-storey block added to the north and what appears to be a main entrance doorway in a central bow on the east front. This three-storey block could have been added in the late 17th century by Rose O'Neill, or may date from the early 18th century. By the late 18th century, two further paintings show the symmetrical block had gained projecting rectangular end bays, with the one to the left having obscured the earlier square tower-house-like portion. This evidence suggests that the portion of the south wing commonly identified on site today as a "16th century tower house" and "the earliest building on the site" is in fact an 18th century addition, as it does not appear until the later of the two 18th century paintings. It would consequently appear that the carved stone face known as Edenduffcarrick or "the black face of stone," built into the outside of the eastern wall of the south wing, was brought from elsewhere and placed in its current position during the 18th century.

The late 18th century paintings also show that a terrace and conservatory were added to the south side of the house during the second half of that century. A visitor in 1793, Thomas Milton, noted: "the water formerly washed the walls of the castle, but within these years an embankment was made, on which is built a Green House, the Castle Wall forming one side and the Glass projecting into the lake on the other." This 18th century conservatory and terrace were later removed when early 19th century additions designed by John Nash were built. One further feature of the 18th century house, no longer visible on the ruins but still in existence having been removed to the outbuildings, was a sculptured coat of arms "said to have been erected over one of the principal entrances of the castle," as recorded by the Ordnance Survey Memoirs in the 1830s.

The precise internal layout of the house in the 18th century is not fully known. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs noted that, following the fire of 1816, "none of the floors and only a small portion of a beautiful spiral stair of cut stone now remain," though they did not record the location of the stair. A visitor in 1787, the Reverend Daniel Beaufort, described the interior as including a drawing room adorned with magnificent mirrors, a breakfast room leading to a rotunda coffee room with recesses for china and a cistern with a tap and boiler for making breakfast, a letterbox and round table with four sets of pens and ink for general use, a conservatory along the lough with an alcove for meals and hot and cold bathing apartments with painted windows, and on the other side of the house a theatre and ballroom measuring 60 by 30 feet, described as being all of wood and canvas painted and sent ready-made from London. Mrs Siddons, visiting in 1793, referred to a band of musicians stationed in the corridor leading from the dining room into a conservatory "where the waves of the superb Lake washed its feet."

In the early 1800s, John Nash was commissioned to enlarge the house by adding a suite of south-facing rooms including a new conservatory, linked to the south-east corner of the old house and extending onto a new terrace projecting into Lough Neagh. The terrace and conservatory were completed, but the south wing was only partly built when the main house was destroyed by an accidental fire on 20th May 1816. The fire is reputed to have started in a chimney in which rooks had built, in one of the bedrooms or dressing rooms at the northern extremity of the castle. Following the fire, the site was abandoned and Lord O'Neill took up residence in part of the offices and outbuildings some distance to the west.

DATING UNCERTAINTIES AND HISTORIOGRAPHICAL DEBATE

There has been considerable uncertainty among historians and observers regarding the dating of Shane's Castle. In 1806 Sir Richard Colt Hoare described it as "an old castle modernised, or rather a modern mansion attached to an old fort." The Ordnance Survey Memoirs in the 1830s recounted a "vulgar tradition" that the castle had originally been a nunnery, and that before Rose O'Neill's ownership it had been "a small strength or fortress belonging to the family." The Memoirs also noted that "as to the date of its erection, nothing whatever can be locally ascertained, nor is it known who was its founder," adding that "all the ancient manuscripts of the family were said to have been destroyed at the burning of Shane's Castle on the 20th May 1816." The Memoirs observed that the ruins had "the appearance of being those of a modern building" which "do not in their structure or masonry bear the stamp of antiquity," though they did note that "over the southern one are stacks of high brick chimneys similar in proportions to those of the Elizabethan style of architecture" — these chimneys are now missing from the building. H.C. Lawlor in 1928 considered the date of the oldest part still standing could "be safely put down to between 1490 and 1535," while in 1940 he suggested that Shane MacBrian MacPhelim O'Neill apparently built "the earliest of the stone castles now existing," identifying it as a square peel tower. Later commentators, including the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society in 1970, Barzilay in 1975, and Bence-Jones in 1978, have perpetuated a view of 17th century origins with extensive 18th century additions.

Regarding the carved stone face known as Edenduffcarrick, the Reverend W.S. Smith in 1881 referred to a tradition that "when it falls, the O'Neill family will vanish from off the face of the earth." Lawlor in 1928 claimed it was known as "the black head of the O'Neills" and that the tradition had been "carefully respected for at least the last 400 years," believing it to have been "carried here by the O'Neills when they conquered south Antrim in the 14th century." Barzilay in 1975 similarly stated that "tradition says that the family of O'Neill will come to an end if it falls" and that "this stone is probably much older than the Castle itself." The earliest description of the stone, however — in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of the 1830s — stated emphatically: "There is neither legend, tradition or history relating to this face. All that is known is its name and that that of the manor is taken from it."

SUMMARY OF POSSIBLE DATES FOR THE PRESENT RUINS

It is possible that the short end wall at the north-east corner of the south wing is late 15th to early 16th century medieval work, though it could equally be early or late 17th century. The circular tower of the south wing may be early 17th century, with the twin-arcaded brick infill on its east side being a mid-19th century repair to prevent further collapse. The bulk of the main central rectangular block between the two circular towers — now entirely vanished — may have been late 17th or early 18th century. The projecting rectangular bay of the south wing is clearly from the mid to late 18th century, as is the north wing, including probably its circular tower or bay and the underground tunnel below it, which appears to be integral with the north wing, whereas the tunnel skirts around the base of the south circular tower. The short wall remnants projecting northward from the south circular tower, which formed part of the west wall of the main central block, could date from the early 17th century like the tower itself. The short wall projecting from the east side of the south circular tower and linking it to the projecting rectangular bay may also be early 17th century. The ruinous walls in the open basement courtyard to the west of the south circular tower, which presumably comprised the kitchens, likely date from the same period as the service tunnel — probably early 18th century, though possibly late 17th century.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN THE DEMESNE

Other developments in the demesne, whether proposed or eventually carried out, were as follows: in 1722 a burial vault was built in the burial ground to the north of the castle; by the late 1700s Deerpark Bridge was built; in 1801 Dunmore Bridge was built; in 1803–4 the village of Edenduffcarrick, which stood along the shore to the east of the castle, is said to have been cleared away and its ground, together with the main road from Antrim to Randalstown which ran through it, added to the demesne, although a late 18th century painting suggests these changes had been made earlier, by 1780; by 1806 the main bulk of the outbuildings or offices had been erected to the west of the castle; in 1815 a design by London architect John Papworth for a park entrance for Lord O'Neill was exhibited at the Royal Academy but does not appear to have been built; by 1833 an intention to build a new castle, "if not on the ruins of the old one, on some spot in the immediate vicinity," was reported in the Dublin Penny Journal; in 1838 the boundary wall to the estate along the road from Antrim to Randalstown was started; in 1840 a design by London architect Robert Lugar for a house for Earl O'Neill was exhibited at the Royal Academy but was not built; by 1841 a number of picturesque cottages and garden shelters had been built, of which all except Ballealy Cottage have since been demolished; in approximately the 1840s, four sets of entrance gateways and gate lodges were erected; by 1858, Kynes Cottage, the Poultry Cottages, and Turnpike House had been built within the demesne; between 1862 and 1865 a new castle was built attached to the outbuildings, to the design of the architects Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon, with a billiard room added in 1901 to the design of W.H. Lynn — all burnt down in 1922 and the remains cleared away; in approximately the 1860s, Gothic arches were erected in "The Rockery" garden to the west of the castle; in 1958 a new mansion was built attached to the outbuildings to the design of architect Arthur Jury of Blackwood and Jury; in 1971 the Shane's Castle Railway opened with a track laid from the Antrim Gate Lodge to the old castle ruins with private station buildings at each end, but closed in approximately the 1990s; and by 1988 a symbolic figure statue, sculpted in the 1920s, was erected in the disused burial ground.

THE O'NEILL FAMILY

The O'Neills are reputed to be the oldest traceable dynastic family in Europe, authenticated as far back as the 4th century, their progenitor being Niall the Great, Monarch of Ireland, from whom the surname O'Neill derives. There were two main branches of the O'Neill family — the Tyrone and the Clanaboy — those of Shane's Castle belonging to the latter. In 1606, following a long and turbulent history, James I settled the O'Neill estates on Shane MacBrian O'Neill, Lord of Clanaboy, who had made his peace with the English. Shane MacBrian O'Neill died in 1619 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir Henry O'Neill, who married the daughter of Sir Francis Stafford, Governor of Ulster in the reign of Elizabeth I. Sir Henry died in 1638 and was succeeded by his daughter Rose, who had at one time been Lady-in-Waiting to Princess Mary, daughter of Charles I, who had married the Prince of Orange and was living in Holland; while there, Rose is reputed to have helped bring up Prince William of Orange, later King William III. In later life Rose married Randal, Marquis of Antrim, and renamed the local town of Mullynierin "Randalstown" in his honour. Rose O'Neill died in 1695 without children, and Shane's Castle passed to a distant relation, her cousin's nephew, Colonel Charles O'Neill. Colonel Charles O'Neill died in 1716 without children, and the estates passed to another distant relation, John O'Neill, known as "French John" as he had been educated in France. "French John" O'Neill died in 1739 and was interred in the vault he had built at Shane's Castle in 1722. He was succeeded by his second son Charles, who died in 1769 and was succeeded by his eldest son John, who represented the county of Antrim in the Irish Parliament for several years, was created Baron O'Neill of Shane's Castle in 1793, and later 1st Viscount O'Neill in 1795. He was killed by insurgents at the Battle of Antrim in 1798, and was succeeded by his elder son Charles Henry St John O'Neill, who assumed the estates at the age of 19. Charles Henry St John O'Neill became 2nd Viscount Raymond and 1st (and last) Earl O'Neill in 1800; he was also Lord Lieutenant of County Antrim and Colonel of the Antrim Militia. He greatly improved the demesne of Shane's Castle and commissioned John Nash to design additions to the castle. He died in 1841 unmarried and was succeeded by his younger brother, John Bruce Richard O'Neill. Viscount John Bruce Richard O'Neill was a lieutenant-general in the army; he died in 1855 unmarried, and the estates passed to the Reverend William Chichester, a descendant of Mary O'Neill, granddaughter of "French John." The Reverend William Chichester assumed the name of O'Neill by patent and was created 1st Baron O'Neill in 1868. He was succeeded in 1883 by his son Edward Chichester, 2nd Baron O'Neill. Edward died in 1928 and was succeeded by his grandson Shane, 3rd Baron O'Neill, who was killed in action in 1944 and was succeeded by his son Raymond, the 4th Baron O'Neill.