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Sunday, 20 November 2011

Dunluce, Again


A closer view of the castle.

While it is believed that there has been a castle here since the 13th century, the first record is in 1513 when it belonged to the MacQuillans.
Parts of the current ruins would have been built at that time.

Following battles in the late 16th century, the MacQuillans lost control of the castle to the Scottish MacDonalds and their Irish counterparts, the MacDonnells.
In 1584, Sorley Boy MacDonnell took control of the castle.

On 26th October 1588, one of the surviving ships from the Spanish Armada, the Girona, was shipwrecked near Dunluce.
Sorley Boy recovered three cannon and two chests of treasure from the wreck.  The funds raised from the sale of the treasure were used to improve the castle.

The rest of the treasure from the Girona was recovered  during 1967 and 1968 by a team of Belgian divers.  This was the greatest amount of Spanish Armada treasure to be recovered from a wrecked ship.
The items found are now displayed in the Ulster Museum in Belfast.

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