Qualla: Dundrum Castle https://qualla.com/dundrum-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/dundrum-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Dundrum Castle https://qualla.com/dundrum-castle Dundrum Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/dundrum-castle/ Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. John de Courcy had a habit of building things he could not keep. The Anglo-Norman knight who invaded Ulster in 1177 began throwing up a castle on this drumlin above Dundrum sometime near the start of the thirteenth century - earth, timber, then a stone curtain wall along the upper ward. He was expelled from Ulster in 1203 by his rival Hugh de Lacy, never to return. King John captured the place in 1210. By the time the castle had its third owner in a decade, the design that survives today was already taking shape: a massive round keep, a curtain wall, and a steep approach that any attacker would come to regret.

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Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/dundrum-castle-wp/gceu-dundrum-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Dundrum Castle: A Keep Built by Welsh Masons https://qualla.com/dundrum-castle/ Photo credit Geoff Flannagan, CC BY-SA 2.0. Hugh de Lacy did not waste his prize. After King John handed him Dundrum, he set about strengthening it with a circular stone keep, probably hiring masons from the Welsh Marches where such towers were then in fashion. The keep originally rose at least three storeys - the survivin...

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Image: Geoff Flannagan | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/dundrum-castle-wp/gceu-dundrum-castle-a-keep-built-by-welsh-masons.mp3 0:06 2 full Dundrum Castle: The Lopsided Gatehouse https://qualla.com/dundrum-castle/ Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. When de Lacy returned from his second exile to take up his earldom again between 1227 and 1243, he or his successors added a twin-towered gatehouse modelled on the one at Pembroke Castle. The design has a quirk: only one tower projects to defend the approach, while the other is r...

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Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/dundrum-castle-wp/gceu-dundrum-castle-the-lopsided-gatehouse.mp3 0:06 3 full Dundrum Castle: The Mac Artains and the Magennises https://qualla.com/dundrum-castle/ Photo credit Eschadew, CC BY-SA 4.0. After the earldom collapsed in the fourteenth century, the castle slipped into Gaelic Irish hands. The Mac Artáin chiefs of Kinelarty held it through the late fifteenth century and probably raised the stone curtain wall of the outer bailey, the lower enclosure that still ribbons ...

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Image: Eschadew | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/dundrum-castle-wp/gceu-dundrum-castle-the-mac-artains-and-the-magennises.mp3 0:06 4 full Dundrum Castle: What the Hill Sees Now https://qualla.com/dundrum-castle/ Photo credit Jamey Cassell, CC BY-SA 2.0. The drumlin that holds Dundrum Castle still commands the same view the Welsh masons surveyed in 1210. To the south the Mourne Mountains rise toward Slieve Donard, the highest peak in Northern Ireland. To the east Dundrum Bay opens to the Irish Sea, the tidal flats stretching wide...

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Image: Jamey Cassell | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/dundrum-castle-wp/gceu-dundrum-castle-what-the-hill-sees-now.mp3 0:06 5 full