The site comprising of 220 acres includes remnants of the ancient Irish fort of the McQuillan
clan.
Building of the Castle was started in 1618 by Sir Faithful Fortescue and is recognised as one of the finest examples of early Jacobean architecture in Ireland.
The Chapel close to the Castle also dating from the time was used by the family until it was burnt down by the United Irishmen in 1798. After this services including baptisms were held in the Castle kitchen.
As well as the architecturally important Castle and Courtyard, the estate includes two further listed buildings: a small roundhouse, formerly the home to a labourer and his four children and a beautiful cottage on the Sourhill Road.
The Estate bustled with life, employing over 30 people in the house, garden stables and farm.
The Young’s who bought the Estate in the 1843, also owned the Braidwater Mill. They were forward thinking pioneers who ensured the prosperity of the estate by adopting innovative new farming methods such as building flax dams, a water wheel and tank. At the time Galgorm was one of the premier agricultural estates in the north.
Coinciding with the industrial revolution and mechanisation of the farming circa 1900 the estate’s fortunes began to decline. The existing layout was perfectly suited to traditional methods, but totally inappropriate for the new mechanised approach.
The Courtyard, part of which dates back to the early 17th century, suffered the indignity of an attempted conversion/update using the Victorian approach which involved unsympathetic demolition of walls.
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