🏰 Northburgh Castle

Northburgh Castle, also known as Green Castle or Greencastle Castle, is a ruined late 13th/early 14th-century castle in Greencastle, a village and fishing port in the north of Inishowen, County Donegal, on the north coast of Ireland. It was completed in 1305 by Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster. Northburgh Castle was sited to control Lough Foyle, and to act as an enabler to de Burgh's plans for expansion. The rock outcrop/platform on which the castle is built was not big enough to incorporate the plans, so the gatehouse is below the main castle extents and has its first floor at the level of the main courtyard: the gate passage leads only to a small lower courtyard from which steps lead up to the main one. It was captured by Edward Bruce in 1316 who held the castle for two years until his death in 1318, after which it was recaptured by Richard. Walter Liath de Burgh was imprisoned in the castle in 1331 by his cousin William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster, and died of starvation in February 1332. Anecdotally, that act is commemorated in the Derry City coat of arms as a skeleton. William's sister was found dead beneath the battlements. After William's death, the castle became a stronghold of the O'Doherty family.