Overview
The family who built Red Bay Castle got here in a hurry. The Bissets had fled Scotland after Walter de Bisset was accused of murder, bought the Glens of Antrim from Richard de Burgh, the Earl of Ulster, and around 1224 raised a Norman motte-and-bailey on this headland between Cushendall and Waterfoot. What remains today is later and much reduced: a fragment of sandstone wall, part of a later tower house, looking out over Red Bay and the Irish Sea.
Be clear about what this is before you go. It stands on private land and is not a site you tour. There is only a stub of the tower left, and the Glens of Antrim Historical Society describes the remaining sandstone wall and traces the site from the Bissets to the MacDonnells. Leave field entrances and the roadside clear.
History and clan ownership
The Bissets held the headland through the 13th century, and it passed to the MacDonnells of Antrim when John Mor MacDonald married Margery Bisset – the Bissets built the castle, the MacDonnells inherited it. During the 16th century the MacDonnells kept it as a two-storey tower house watching the sea route between Ireland and Scotland. In 1565 Shane O’Neill of Tyrone burned it; Sorley Boy MacDonnell rebuilt it, but the peace never lasted. A restoration in 1604 came to little, and Cromwellian forces reduced the castle to its present state in 1652. Locally it is still called McQuillan’s Fort.
The ‘red’ in the name has nothing to do with the castle and everything to do with the ground it stands on: a cave in the red sandstone cliff below the headland.
The ruins
The surviving wall is built of local sandstone, not the basalt you see everywhere else along this coast. That is most of what’s left – a length of thick masonry and the footings, enough to read the tower’s footprint but not much more. The ground around it is private, so do not enter the fields.
Practical information
The castle stands on private land. There is no public access, no visitor facilities and no set opening, so do not plan a visit around going onto the site. Keep field entrances and the roadside clear.
For a public outing nearby, use the signed village and beach access at Cushendun, which is managed by the National Trust. The Glens of Antrim rise behind this stretch of coast.