Historic Places in Ards and North Down District Council

Quintin Castle is a private castle on the Ards Peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland, one of the very few Anglo-Norman castles in Ulster to have been in continuous occupation by the same family, the Savage family, since the Norman period. The Savages were among the earliest Anglo-Norman settlers in east Ulster, arriving with John de Courcy's forces in the 1170s and establishing themselves as lords of the Ards Peninsula for centuries afterward. The castle incorporates medieval fabric within a substantially rebuilt and extended building of later centuries, and the long continuity of occupation by one family gives it an unusual historical depth. The Ards Peninsula location provides access to the beautiful east shore of Strangford Lough, one of the most important tidal inlets in Ireland for both natural heritage and early Christian history.

Kirkistown Castle is a well-preserved seventeenth-century tower house on the Ards Peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland, built in 1622 by the Savage family, an Anglo-Norman dynasty who had held lands on the Ards Peninsula from the earliest period of Norman colonisation of east Ulster. The tower is a compact three-storey structure with battered lower walls and corbelled parapets typical of Ulster tower house design, set in the flat agricultural landscape of the Ards Peninsula close to the sea. The Ards Peninsula forms the eastern boundary of Strangford Lough, and the surrounding landscape of flat farmland, small fishing harbours and the beautiful lough provide a distinctive coastal character well suited to gentle cycling and coastal walking.

Sketrick Castle is a ruined fifteenth-century tower house on an island in Strangford Lough near Ardmillan in County Down, Northern Ireland, one of the characteristic lough-shore and island castles that punctuate the extraordinary landscape of this great tidal inlet. The castle was associated with the Savage family of the Ards Peninsula and controlled movement across this part of the lough. The surrounding waters of Strangford Lough provide one of the most important marine and coastal habitats in Ireland, supporting internationally significant populations of brent geese, waders, wildfowl and the diverse marine life of a tidal lough system. The heritage landscape of Strangford Lough shores, combining early Christian sites, Norman earthworks, plantation-era settlements and Victorian estate buildings, makes this one of the richest historical landscapes in Northern Ireland.

Portaferry Castle is a small sixteenth-century tower house in the centre of Portaferry town at the southern end of the Ards Peninsula in County Down, controlling the narrows of the Strangford Lough entrance where the powerful tidal currents between the lough and the open sea create one of the most unusual water habitats in Ireland. The castle runs alongside Castle Street leading from The Square to the ferry slipway, giving it a prominent urban position in this picturesque town. The waters of Strangford Narrows visible from the castle are a marine nature reserve of international importance. Portaferry is home to Exploris Aquarium, Northern Ireland's only public aquarium, and the short ferry crossing to Strangford village on the opposite shore provides access to the western lough shore and the Lecale Peninsula.