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Old Tower, Castle Garden, Plantation House and Bawn is a post-medieval fortification located in the Ards peninsula of County Down, Northern Ireland. The complex comprises multiple structures reflecting the defence strategies employed during the plantation period in Ulster. The monument's construction took advantage of the local Sherwood Sandstone Group bedrock, a geological formation of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone deposited during the Ladinian age, which would have provided a relatively stable foundation for the structures and accessible building stone.
The bawn, a distinctive feature of Ulster plantation defences, represents the settlers' response to the uncertain security environment of early seventeenth-century Ireland. This fortified enclosure would have protected both the plantation house and its associated domestic and agricultural activities. The survival of the tower, castle garden, and plantation house alongside the bawn demonstrates the integrated nature of plantation settlement design, combining residential, defensive and productive functions within a single defended complex.
The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency under reference 6371, reflecting its significance as evidence of the plantation settlement pattern in the Ards. The site's archaeological potential remains considerable, as the physical remains preserve information about early modern colonial strategies, architectural practices and daily life during this formative period in Irish history.
Old tower, castle garden. plantation house & bawn is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 6371. View the official record →
Old Tower, Castle Garden, Plantation House and Bawn is a post-medieval fortification located in the Ards peninsula of County Down, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 6371.
Old tower, castle garden. plantation 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.
Old tower, castle garden. plantation 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 6371.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Stone and wooden fishtrap (5.4 km), Deserted settlement (5.8 km), Windmill stump - c.f. ihr 2775 (6.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Old tower, castle garden. plantation 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.
Old tower, castle garden. plantation house & bawn stands on Sherwood Sandstone Group, bedrock that formed in the Ladinian. The rock here is sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.