Historic Places in Causeway Coast and Glens District

Dunseverick Castle is the dramatically situated ruins of one of the oldest castles in Ireland, perched on a narrow sea stack on the North Antrim coast between the Giant's Causeway and Ballintoy, its fragmentary walls rising from sheer basalt cliffs above the Atlantic. The site was fortified from at least the early medieval period, with Dunseverick mentioned in the ancient Ulster annals and associated with the legendary figures of early Irish history. The present masonry represents the latest phase of occupation, with the castle destroyed by Cromwellian forces in 1653. The coastal path that passes the castle is part of the Causeway Coast Way, one of the most spectacular coastal walking routes in Ireland, with the Giant's Causeway UNESCO World Heritage Site a short distance to the west.

Dungiven Castle in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, is a nineteenth-century Gothic house incorporating the ruins of an Augustinian priory founded in the twelfth century by the O'Cahan family, who are commemorated by one of the finest medieval tomb monuments in Ireland within the priory ruins. The site has a long ecclesiastical history as the location of Dungiven Priory, founded in the twelfth century by the O'Cahan family who were lords of this part of Derry. The early seventeenth-century bastion fortification added to the priory site reflects the plantation era's military requirements. The priory ruin with its decorated O'Cahan tomb is the most significant heritage element of the site and can be visited freely. The surrounding Sperrins landscape provides outstanding walking and cycling country in one of the most scenic upland areas of Northern Ireland.

Kinbane Castle is a dramatically situated ruined sixteenth-century tower house on Kenbane Head on the North Antrim coast, its white limestone walls rising from the narrow headland that gives the castle its name, kenbane meaning white headland in Irish. The castle was built by Colla MacDonnell, brother of the Scots-Irish lord Sorley Boy MacDonnell, one of the most significant figures in the turbulent history of sixteenth-century Ulster. The castle was twice attacked and damaged by the English Crown during the wars against the MacDonnells, and was eventually abandoned. The headland position above the Atlantic provides outstanding views along the North Antrim coast and is accessible from a steep path descending from the clifftop car park. The surrounding coastal landscape, including the Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge nearby, is one of the most celebrated in Ireland.