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Ireland Photo of the Week: Every Tuesday, our friend Kevin Balanda is sharing a special photo from Ireland and telling its story here on Irlandnews. Kevin worked in Dublin for many years and now lives in West Cork. He enjoys taking his camera with him wherever he goes. This week we continue our travels in Northern Ireland:

A medieval castle, a violent feud and a tragic love story with a tortured banshee

Dunluce Castle is located at the end of the White Rocks cliffs on the Causeway Coast in Co Antrim. It has witnessed a violent feud between the McQuillans and MacDonnells that is intertwined with the tortured history of Ireland, Scotland and England. 

History places the castle in the hands of the McQuillans, in 1513, after they became Lords of the Route. They were driven out in 1584 by the MacDonnells, a branch of the  Scottish MacDonald clan, after losing two bitter battles in the 1550s and 1580s. Salvage from the wreck of the Girona, part of a failed Spanish invasion of England, was used to restore the castle in 1588. Dunluce Castle was abandoned by the MacDonnells in 1690 after their impoverishment following the Battle of the Boyne. 

With such powerful histories come many tragic stories. Perhaps the most famous is the story of Maeve Roe, daughter of Lord McQuillan, who refused to marry her father’s chosen husband. As punishment, Maeve was locked into one of the castle’s towers until she mended her ways. She was in love with another man and, on one stormy night, her beloved launched a daring rescue but the pair were drowned in the wild seas below the castle. It is said she can still be seen keeping watch in the tower; her cries can be heard on stormy nights.

The castle has a large place in our cultural history. In particular, in 1973 the castle appeared on the inner gatefold of the Led Zeppelin album Houses of the Holy.

 

 

Photographic specifications: This photo was taken on a late Summer evening with a lens set at a 65mm focal length. Camera settings were ISO 100, f/8, 1/125s. It was edited in Lightroom.

© Kevin Balanda

This story / page is available in: German