Quintin Castle, 3 Kearney Road, Ballymarter, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1QE

Quintin Castle is a large, two- to three-storey castellated mansion of around 1855, built on and around the ruins of a 12th-century castle originally constructed by the Anglo-Norman adventurer John de Courcy. It stands on the rocky shoreline of the south-east coast of the Ards Peninsula, approximately three miles south-east of Portaferry, overlooking Quintin Bay. The building is listed along with its courtyard walls, and has group value with the entrance gates and garden tower.

The castle is rectangular in plan, with its shorter sides to the north and south. Most of the structure is two storeys, with a large four-storey tower rising close to the south-east corner. The principal, west-facing front elevation is divided into three broadly distinct sections. The largest and most prominent occupies the southern portion: it is two storeys, symmetrical in composition, and features a centrally placed three-storey projecting entrance tower. The entrance itself is a sandstone-dressed pointed arch opening fitted with timber-sheeted double doors. Set back to the east and rising above this section is the tall four-storey tower. To the north, this main section connects to a slightly lower two-storey block whose battlements are less pronounced and less ornate; this block projects further to the west. The front elevation terminates at its northern end in a three-storey tower. Throughout, the external finish is rubble stonework with dressed sandstone to the window and door openings. Windows are generally flat-headed and two-light with stone mullions; the frames appear to be mainly timber, likely a mixture of casement and fixed-light. Ground-floor windows are taller than those above. The entrance tower has a single pointed arch window to the first and second floors, and pointed arch windows to the north and south at ground-floor level. The lower two-storey section has a large, relatively recently inserted opening at ground-floor level to the left, containing a large modern window with an accompanying timber-sheeted door. The northern tower also has a ground-floor doorway similar in form to the main entrance but narrower. Projecting from the north and south edges of the front elevation are tall battlemented walls that enclose a forecourt in front of the castle.

The north façade could only be inspected from a distance. To the left it is two storeys, and to the right is the north face of the three-storey northern tower. The two-storey section is essentially the north face of the lower block described above. To the left, this section is recessed and appears to remain stone-faced; to the right — which is actually the centre of the elevation — the façade is flush with the tower, and both are cement-rendered. This rendered portion appears to have only one first-floor window (similar in form to those on the front but without dressings), along with a small window and a plain sheeted door at ground-floor level. The recessed left-hand side of this elevation was largely obscured from view.

The south elevation is essentially the south face of the taller two-storey section. Projecting from its centre is a narrow three-storey tower, similar in form and detailing to the front entrance tower but rendered. The portion of the façade to the right of this tower is also rendered, while that to the left is stone-faced. Both the left and right portions have a window to each floor. The ground-floor window on the left is similar to those on the front, but the window directly above it has been filled with a plain single pane. Both windows to the right are similar to those on the front elevation but have three lights instead of two.

The rear elevation is entirely rendered and presents the taller two-storey section to the left (south) and the lower two-storey section to the right. The large three-storey tower projects from the taller section, and immediately to its right (north) is a modern single-storey lean-to conservatory. Windows to both floors of both two-storey sections are generally similar to those on the right-hand side of the south elevation — three lights, with bevelled reveals and taller windows at ground-floor level. At the far right there is a modern glazed door, and the third window from the right has had its mullions removed. Evidence suggests that a large single-storey lean-to — possibly an earlier conservatory — once stood against the far right of this elevation, but it has since been removed. On the east face of the tower at ground-floor level there is a large pointed arch window containing three pointed arch lights with three quatrefoils above. At high first-floor level on this east face there is a three-light window similar to those described above, with a two-light window to the right on the south face. At second-floor level on the south face there is a much smaller three-light window with timber mullions.

The taller two-storey section and all the towers are finished with oversailing stepped battlements that rest on dentilled corbelling. The lower two-storey section has much plainer battlements flush with its façade. A large rendered chimney stack rises from the battlements on the north side of the taller two-storey section. The roofs are not visible from ground level, being concealed behind the battlements.

The outer bailey walls are built in flat rubble and vary in height. They are generally tall — up to approximately three metres — to the west, south, and north, but low, at approximately one metre, to the east, preserving open views towards the sea. All sections are finished with crenellations and are punctuated by small two- and three-storey corner towers and pointed arch gateways. To the west, the walls enclose a tarmacadam forecourt; to the east, a lawn adjacent to the house; and to the south, an additional long rectangular lawn leading to a folly tower.

The castle has a long and layered history. In the later medieval period it was held by the Smiths, a dependent family of the Savages. In the mid-17th century Sir James Montgomery, a relation of the Savages, purchased the castle and surrounding lands from Dualtagh Smith. Sir James and his son William renovated the structure, adding a large house and a walled courtyard. Following an interlude in the 1650s when a Cromwellian officer held Quintin, the Montgomerys sold the castle to George Ross, a member of an influential local family with lands at Kearney. Ross never lived there, and the castle remained in its mid-17th-century form until the 1850s. By that time it was roofless and dilapidated, and much of its stone had reportedly been taken by local people, as recorded in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs. One of Ross's descendants, a Mrs Elizabeth Calvert, undertook a comprehensive remodelling of the structure in the 1850s. This work included raising the height of the central keep, constructing drawing and dining rooms, decorating the entire building, and rebuilding the courtyard walls, gates, and outer towers.

In 1897 the estate was sold by the Land Commission, though the house remained with descendants of the Calverts. One of these, Miss Louise King-Hall, became a writer whose works included The Wicked Lady, a story of highwaymen and women that later became a successful film. The King-Halls sold the castle in the 1920s and it passed through a series of owners. One of these, Mr James O'Hara, operated the building as a nursing home during the 1980s; it is thought that the secondary entrance inserted into the front façade may date from this period, possibly to provide easier access for elderly residents. The castle has since reverted to its earlier use as a country residence.