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Wikipedia / Narrow Water Castle

Narrow Water Castle (; Ulster-Scots: Narra Wattèr Castle) is a 16th-century tower house and bawn near Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland. It is beside the A2 road and on the County Down bank of the Clanrye (Newry) River, which enters Carlingford Lough to the south. It is a historic monument in state care, within Newry and Mourne District Council district, in the townland of Narrow Water. The tower house was occupied by the Hall family from the 17th until the 19th century, when they built a large Elizabethan revival-style mansion, also known as Narrow Water Castle, within the same townland.

History

Originally the site of a 13th century Norman keep (associated with Hugh de Lacy, 1st Earl of Ulster), a replacement tower house and bawn was built at Narrow Water (by the Magennis family) in the 16th century. The replacement structure, built in the 1560s, was a typical example of the tower houses built throughout Ireland at the time. This kind of building, often rectangular in plan and three or more storeys high, comprised a series of superimposed chambers, with stairs, closets and latrines built within the walls (which are 1.5 metres or five feet thick in places).

The castle was damaged during the Irish Rebellion of 1641, and sold to the Hall family in the 1670s. It was occupied by the Hall family until they built an "Elizabethan revival style" mansion (also called "Narrow Water Castle") in the early 19th century.

The original (16th century) Narrow Water Castle keep was given into state care in 1956. The more recent (19th century) mansion remains a private residence of the Hall family.

On 27 August 1979, 18 British Army soldiers were killed by a Provisional IRA ambush near Narrow Water Castle (see Narrow Water ambush). It was the greatest single loss of life for the British Army during the Troubles.

A bridge was proposed to be built near the castle in the early 21st century. However, in July 2013, Louth County Council announced that the projected costs were prohibitive and the project was not progressed at that stage. In 2023, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar committed to examining the feasibility of co-funding a Narrow Water Bridge.

See also

References