Such is the appeal of the now-ruined Dunluce Castle that it,
and its magnificent surroundings, have been the inspiration for both poetry and
music. The 4-part poem published in 1814
by Edward Quillinan sets the scene at length, describing the castle itself, the
roar of the Atlantic “in wildest fury frantic” and the dramatic coastline
around it. A tone poem called Dunluce
was written in 1921 by Irish composer Norman Hay, while a more recent musical
work called Dunluce Castle was performed by the Irish Rovers in the 1990s. The castle made an appearance on the sleeves
of two albums: Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy in 1973 and American musician
Jandek’s Glasgow Friday in 2008. The
castle is believed to have been the inspiration for Cair Paravel in Chronicles
of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. Finally, not
surprisingly, the castle was one of the many Northern Irish locations used in
Game of Thrones as the castle of Pyke, seat of House Greyjoy.
Dunluce Castle was the first stop on our wonderful drive
along the Causeway Coast a few years ago, and it set the scene magnificently for
the rest of it. The castle was built by
the MacQuillan family around the year 1500, but 50 years later it was seized by
the MacDonnell clan. There was once a
small town called Dunluce, founded by the Earls of Antrim in the 17th
century. The town was abandoned long
ago, but visitors can view the remains uncovered by an archaeological dig. The castle’s precarious position perched over
the foaming sea was allegedly the cause of a catastrophe in 1639, when the
castle’s kitchen fell into the sea along with the unfortunate kitchen staff
while the 2nd Earl of Antrim and his wife were waiting for their
dinner. However, the veracity of this
story is in some doubt, since the kitchen is still in situ among the
present-day ruins. What is for sure is
that in the 18th century the north wall of the residence building
did fall into the sea. The remaining
walls are still standing.
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Awesome Dunluce Castle. Photo by Osioni, via Wikimedia Commons.
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