Qualla: Carrickfergus https://qualla.com/carrickfergus en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Carrickfergus https://qualla.com/carrickfergus Carrickfergus: Introduction https://qualla.com/carrickfergus/ The castle sits on a basalt rock that juts into Belfast Lough as if planted there for that exact purpose. John de Courcy chose this spot in 1177 because no one with a longboat or a galley could pass without him knowing about it. Eight hundred and fifty years later, the castle is still there, its drum towers and gatehouse staring down at the ferry traffic from a slab of stone the locals have always called the rock of Fergus. The Irish folk song that begins "I wish I was in Carrickfergus" has carried the town's name around the world. The Norman walls below the singer's words have outlived every regime that put them there.

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/z/carrickfergus-wp/gcez-carrickfergus-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Carrickfergus: Fergus and his Rock https://qualla.com/carrickfergus/ The town's name is a small piece of mythology. *Carraig Fhearghais* means "the rock of Fergus", and the Fergus in question is Fergus Mór, the legendary king of Dál Riata, the Gaelic-speaking sea kingdom that bridged northeast Ireland and western Scotland in the early Middle Ages....

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/z/carrickfergus-wp/gcez-carrickfergus-fergus-and-his-rock.mp3 0:06 2 full Carrickfergus: The Only Outpost https://qualla.com/carrickfergus/ After the Earldom of Ulster collapsed in the fourteenth century, Carrickfergus had a peculiar status: it was the only English outpost in Ulster, a single fortified town in a province otherwise held by Gaelic chieftains. It held that position for four centuries. The town walls wen...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/z/carrickfergus-wp/gcez-carrickfergus-the-only-outpost.mp3 0:06 3 full Carrickfergus: John Paul Jones in the Lough https://qualla.com/carrickfergus/ On 24 April 1778, the American Revolutionary War briefly came to Belfast Lough. John Paul Jones, the Scottish-born father of the United States Navy, sailed the Ranger up the lough hoping to capture HMS Drake, a British Royal Navy sloop moored at Carrickfergus. The first attempt f...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/z/carrickfergus-wp/gcez-carrickfergus-john-paul-jones-in-the-lough.mp3 0:06 4 full Carrickfergus: Witches and a Hanging https://qualla.com/carrickfergus/ In 1711, Carrickfergus Courthouse heard the last witchcraft trial in Ireland. Eight women were accused of bewitching a young girl named Mary Dunbar; all were convicted, despite one of the judges effectively telling the jury to acquit. The sentence was a year in prison and four se...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/z/carrickfergus-wp/gcez-carrickfergus-witches-and-a-hanging.mp3 0:06 5 full Carrickfergus: A Liner Passes, A Poet Leaves https://qualla.com/carrickfergus/ On the morning of 2 April 1912, thousands of Carrickfergus residents lined the shore to watch a black hull move slowly up Belfast Lough on its way out to sea. It was the Titanic, on her sea trials, anchoring overnight off the town before continuing south. Twelve days later she wo...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/z/carrickfergus-wp/gcez-carrickfergus-a-liner-passes-a-poet-leaves.mp3 0:06 6 full