{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox building | name = Castle Carra | native_name = | native_name_lang = | former_names = | alternate_names = | status = | image = Castle Carra - geograph.org.uk - 467784.jpg | image_alt = | image_size = 300px | caption = | pushpin_map = UK Northern Ireland | pushpin_map_alt = | map_caption = | pushpin_mapsize = 300px | altitude = | building_type = Ruined castle | architectural_style = | structural_system = | cost = | client = | owner = | current_tenants = | landlord = | location = Near Cushendun, County Antrim, Northern Ireland | coordinates = {{coord|55|7|57.5|N|6|2|29.4|W|region:GB-MYL|display=inline,title}} | groundbreaking_date = | construction_start_date = | completion_date = | opened_date = | inauguration_date = | renovation_date = | demolished_date = | destruction_date = | architect = | url = | references = }} '''Carra Castle''' or '''Castle Carra''' ({{langx|ga|Caisleán Carrach}}) is a ruined castle, just north of Cushendun, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It dates to around the early 14th century.<ref name="CNL"/> The castle lies in a field near the coast and the harbour of Cushendun. The site had once been used during medieval times as a children's cemetery.<ref name="CNL"/>
==Etymology== Carra may be a corruption of "Carey".<ref name="Wright1823">{{cite book|last=Wright|first=George Newenham|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4X0HAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA58|title=A guide to the Giant's Causeway and the north-east coast of ... Antrim|year=1823|page=58|accessdate=29 May 2011}}</ref> It may have been known as Goban Saer's Castle.<ref name="The Gentleman's magazine">{{cite book|title=The Gentleman's magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/gentlemansmagaz10unkngoog|accessdate=29 May 2011|year=1853|publisher=F. Jefferies|page=[https://archive.org/details/gentlemansmagaz10unkngoog/page/n511 503]}}</ref>
==History== The castle was once occupied by Irish king Shane O'Neill, and Sorley Boy McDonnell was held as a prisoner here in 1565.<ref name="CNL">{{cite web|url=http://www.castles.nl/castle-carra|title=Castle Carra|publisher=Castles.nl|accessdate=29 May 2011}}</ref> In 1567, two years after being defeated by O'Neill, the McDonnells entertained him in Castle Carra during two days of hunting and feasting. However, on the third day, 2 June, during a quarrel, they stabbed O'Neill to death to avenge their earlier defeat and sent his head to the English representatives of Queen Elizabeth in Dublin Castle.<ref name="CNL"/>
In 1585, Donnell Gorm MacDonnell was besieged by the English,; his father, Sorley Boy landed near the castle and drove off the besiegers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.antrimhistory.net/content.php?cid=118|title=Castle Carra|publisher=The Glens of Antrim Historical Society|accessdate=29 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723015658/http://www.antrimhistory.net/content.php?cid=118|archive-date=23 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Around 1730, it was known to have been occupied by the Lynch family.<ref name="Burke1852">{{cite book|last=Burke|first=John Bernard|title=A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mDA_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA99|accessdate=29 May 2011|year=1852|publisher=Colburn|page=99}}</ref> Today the castle is in ruins and overgrown with ivy.<ref name="GallagherRogers1992">{{cite book|last1=Gallagher|first1=Lyn|last2=Rogers|first2=Dick|title=Castle, coast, and cottage: the National Trust in Northern Ireland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1KBnAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=29 May 2011|year=1992|publisher=Blackstaff Press|isbn=978-0-85640-497-9|page=43}}</ref>
==Architecture and fittings== The house has the characteristics of a hall house, but its outside dimensions are that of a tower house.<ref name="McNeill1997">{{cite book|last=McNeill|first=T. E.|title=Castles in Ireland: feudal power in a Gaelic world|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LnGzv0pN4pYC&pg=PA204|accessdate=30 May 2011|year=1997|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-16537-2|pages=204–}}</ref> What remains are the ruins of a 16th-century square tower house built over a Mesolithic flint working site.
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 14th century Category:Castles in County Antrim Category:Ruined castles in Northern Ireland