© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)
Galgorm Castle is a seventeenth-century fortified house and bawn located near Ballymena in County Antrim. The monument comprises a residential structure surrounded by a bawn, a distinctive form of post-medieval fortification consisting of a defensible enclosure with stone or earthen walls. This type of fortified farmstead became common in Ulster during the early modern period, combining domestic and defensive functions to protect settlers and their livestock in a volatile frontier landscape.
The castle occupies a site underlain by Palaeogene extrusive rocks, part of the ancient volcanic geology that shapes much of the northeast of Ireland. These mafic lavas and tuffs, formed during the Paleogene period, create the bedrock upon which the structure was constructed, contributing to the local stone available for building.
Galgorm Castle is protected as a scheduled monument under the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities, registered under reference 2557. The site represents an important surviving example of seventeenth-century settlement architecture in Ulster, reflecting the period's distinctive approach to establishing secure residential and agricultural bases in rural County Antrim.
Galgorm castle. c17th house & bawn is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 2557. View the official record →
Galgorm Castle is a seventeenth-century fortified house and bawn located near Ballymena in County Antrim. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 2557.
Galgorm castle. c17th house & bawn dates from the post-med period, and is classified as a fortification. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Galgorm castle. c17th house & bawn is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Ni. The official designation reference is 2557.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Church (0.1 km), Mcquillan's castle. motte and bailey (0.5 km), Megalithic tomb (2.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Galgorm castle. c17th house & bawn's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Galgorm castle. c17th house & bawn stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.