Mahee Castle

The tower house was built in 1570 by an English soldier, Captain Thomas Browne, after petition to the Bishop of Down. It was abandoned by the early 17th century. The corner stones may have been taken for local building projects, and stones from the northeastern wall were used to make the causeway to the island. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Mahee Castle was near the border of two territories: Clandeboye to the north and Dufferin to the south. At this time the area would have been subject to border conflicts, and Mahee Castle may have changed hands many times. In 1923, under the direction of H.C. Lawlor, restoration works were undertaken by the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical…

The rectangular tower house guards the bridge onto the island, and to the southwest there are the remains of a walled enclosure, known as a bawn. Mahee Castle encloses a boatbay, lying on the shore of the lake, and is quite small, with only two rooms on the ground floor. The main part, the tower-house, is three stories tall, although little remains of the upper floors. The entrance passes under a murder-hole.