Virtual Visit Northern Ireland

The Barbican Gate to Glenarm Castle was designed by William Vitruvius Morrison and built in 1825. Morrison, a prominent country house architect, was at the same time responsible for the remodelling of the Castle itself in the 'Tudorbethan' style. All of this work was commissioned by Edmund McDonnell and his wife, Anne Katherine McDonnell, Countess of Antrim.

Romantic in appearance and setting, and approached by a bridge over the Glenarm River, the Barbican Gate is fashioned from coursed rubble basalt with red ashlar sandstone dressings. It comprises of a three-storey main block with a taller turret staircase to the west and a lower, two-storey wing to the east. The turret staircase leads to the flat roof of the main block which affords significant views of the surrounding countryside. Internally the main block features stone-slabbed floors, and vaulted ceilings. Its setting and surroundings make it an ideal romantic retreat.