Today, Con’s name lives on in the Connswater River which flows through East Belfast. The significance of its name should not be overlooked. It was his river, he controlled it, and when it was spoken about colloquially it was sometimes called ‘Con’s Water’. The...
There was a large earthen mote and an ancient church on this site, but nothing is now visible above ground. An impressive historic house, Motelands, now stands on part of the site. Two stone coffin lids of a Norman design were removed when the old graveyard was...
Knock is used as the name of a modern district in East Belfast. This is a built-up area of the city, close to the A55 Outer Ring Road and the major artery that is the Newtownards Road. Near the high point of the road on the Outer Ring, on the short side-street called...
The emergence of tower houses, or caisleán, on the Ulster landscape, coincided with the resurgence of the Gaelic clans. There are many in County Down, some such as Kilclief, Audley’s and Narrow water castle still being in excellent order. Castle Reagh or Casleán...
Hidden in dense woodland beside the S.O.N.I. offices, and heavily overgrown, is the mound of inauguration of the Clandeboye O’Neills. This is a short distance from the Castle site. A stone chair (now in the Ulster Museum) would have stood atop the mound and was used...
Over 1000 years ago this was the homestead of a farming family in the Castlereagh Hills above Belfast and above what would eventually become the site of the castle. There is a large circular earth bank, planted with trees, with a ditch on the outside. The rath would...