Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/17/067

Address :
Nendrum Castle Mahee Island Killinchy Co Down BT23 6EP

Townland:
Mahee Island

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Castle

Former Use
Castle

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
Yes

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
168/9

IG Ref:
J5238 6395

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Owner Category

Central Govt

Exterior Description And Setting

Ruinous and partly overgrown remains of a tower house, probably built c.1570, set at the northern edge of Mahee Island, facing the causeway from Reagh Island, c.2.5 miles (as the crow flies) NE of the village of Killinchy. The ruins are three storeys in height and split stone rubble and boulders. The plan was probably originally rectangular, the remaining walls measuring roughly 13m by 6.5m. Very little survives of the NE wall save a corner section to the right, but much of the SW wall remains. The SW wall contains six openings of various sizes, with splayed reveals, with a two openings to the ground floor, three to the first floor and one to the left on the second floor. The opening to the left on the ground floor appears to have been a doorway. Above one of the openings on the first floor there are a series of niches which once held the second floor joists. At ground level there are the remains of two rooms with barrel vaulting to that to the SW. The SE room continues through to a full width doorway on the SW (see above), but the NE end has fallen away. The first floor appears to have consisted of a single chamber. The remains of the stairway are to the S corner and the stairway itself can be seen rising through the thickness of the SE wall.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

This castle is believed to have been built in c.1570 by a soldier from England named Thomas Browne, who had secured a lease of the Mahee Island from Bishop Merriman. In 1572 Captain Browne petitioned Lord Burghley in relation to his expensive buildings on the island, which had apparently cost him 400 marks (£266-4-0). References- Primary sources 1 QUB Calendar of State Papers relating to Ireland Vol.I (1509-73), 492. 2 PRONI OS maps 1st ed. 1834, Co. Down 17. Secondary sources 1 'Archaeological survey of Co. Down' (HMSO 1966), p.244-45.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Ruined remains of a tower house, probably built c.1570.

General Comments

Date of Survey

02 July 1998