I will freely admit that I chose Carrickfergus Castle as one of my blog posts in large part because it’s a castle and I never completely left my Disney princess phase. Thanks to our wonderful tour guide Angie, we had a full introduction to the castle’s long, dramatic history; even though no real princesses lived in Carrickfergus, the building’s stories and ocean views are movie-worthy by any standard.
Carrickfergus was initially built by John de Courcy, a Norman knight authorized by King John to take as much land as he could conquer. Under de Courcy, the castle and the surrounding village of Carrick flourished. He was reasonable in his taxes, attentive to his lands, and, according to our tour guide, attractive enough to be well-loved by his subjects. The problem with all of this was that de Courcy wasn’t a king. Upon hearing of the wealth and admiration that de Courcy was raking in at Carrick, King John began to feel that his knight was overstepping the bounds of his station. His suspicions were confirmed when de Coursy started to mint his own currency…adorned with his own face. Needless to say, after that stunt he was stripped of his lands and lost his beautiful Disney castle.
De Courcy was replaced by a much less pleasant man, Hugh de Lacy. De Lacy raised taxes, acted solely in his own self-interest, and, once again according to our tour guide, was not nearly attractive enough to make a good castle-owner. The resulting complaints by Carrick’s citizens prompted King John to take the castle into the ownership of the crown. In the following years the castle would become the victim of many attempted invasions, but Angie proudly told us that Carrickfergus was never taken by force.
The castle was notoriously hard to attack given its excellent location against the sea and the high number of murder holes in the roof (yes, that’s a real thing! They’re gaps left in the stone intentionally so that knights could pour burning sand and oil on invaders from above). Despite its admirable defenses, many groups still tried to take the castle. At one point in the tour, Angie noted that the castle’s history of invasions stemmed in large part from its location. Carrickfergus was an English castle surrounded by an English town that sat squarely in the middle of Ireland. Not only did that make it unpopular among the Irish, it also attracted England’s enemies to the island.
The castle’s critical role in historic moments like the Schomburg Siege during the Williamite wars demonstrates the ways that England’s presence in Ireland brought violence to the Irish people. The Williamite wars themselves were ultimately fought over who would take the throne of England, which only became an Irish concern because of England’s control of the island. Irish history is rife with revolutions aiming to overthrow English power, and in my view the record of invasions at Carrickfergus demonstrates why. When England took control of Ireland, it forced its issues and enemies on the Irish people, making the island a target for attack and bloodshed.
Carrickfergus’s history chronicles the effects of invasion and colonization on everyday people. When England built its beautiful Disney castle on the ocean it saddled the area with some less than beautiful new problems. The building’s stories provide another perspective on Irish freedom and the ways that foreign powers have impacted that control. Carrickfergus is now a source of pride for its community, and thanks to tour guides like Angie hundreds of people every day the chance to take in its beautiful views and come away with their own ideas about the castle’s historical impact.