Red Bay Castle is situated in County Antrim

County Antrim

County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, on a headland projecting into the sea north of Glenariff

Glenariff

Glenariff is a glen in the County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Like all glens in that area, it was shaped during the Ice Age by giant glaciers....

 situated on the road to Cushendall

Cushendall

Cushendall and formerly known as Newtown Glens is a village and townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.It is on the A2 coast road between Glenariff and Cushendun, in the Antrim Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...

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History

It was built by the Bissett family

Bissett family (Ireland)

The history of the Bissett family in Ireland can be studied independently from that of the originally identical family in Scotland, because of their unique experience following their arrival in Ulster in the early or mid-13th century...

 in the 13th century on the site of an earlier motte-and-bailey

Motte-and-bailey

A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...

 outpost of the Kingdom of Dál Riata. The Bissett family were forfeited of their lands in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 and fled for their lives to Ireland after Walter de Bisset was accused of the murder of Patrick

Padraig, Earl of Atholl

Padraig or Patrick of Atholl was Mormaer of Atholl, from 1236/7 until 1241. The Chronicle of Melrose tells us that while he was lodging in Haddington, East Lothian, his enemies, "most wicked men," torched his lodging, killing both him and his two unknown companions...

, Earl of Atholl

Earl of Atholl

The Mormaer of Earl of Atholl refers to a medieval comital lordship straddling the highland province of Atholl , now in northern Perthshire. Atholl is a special Mormaerdom, because a King of Atholl is reported from the Pictish period. The only other two Pictish kingdoms to be known from...

, at Haddington

Haddington, East Lothian

The Royal Burgh of Haddington is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the main administrative, cultural and geographical centre for East Lothian, which was known officially as Haddingtonshire before 1921. It lies about east of Edinburgh. The name Haddington is Anglo-Saxon, dating from the 6th...

, East Lothian

East Lothian

East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh....

 in 1242. King Henry III of England

Henry III of England

Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...

 granted Bisset large possessions in the Barony of Glenarm, Ireland.

John Mor MacDonald

John Mór Tanister

John Mór Tanister was the second son of John Macdonald and Princess Margaret Stewart of Scotland, daughter of King Robert II. He is the founder of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg....

 1st of Dunnyveg

Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg

Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg, also known as Clan Donald South, Clan Iain Vor, Clan MacDonald of Islay and Kintyre, MacDonalds of the Glens and sometimes referred to as MacDonnells, is a Scottish clan and a branch of Clan Donald...

 married Margery Bissett

Margery Byset

Margery Byset was an Irish noblewoman belonging to the Bissett family whose marriage to John Mór Tanister MacDonnell in 1399 laid the basis for the Clan Donald claim to the Glens of Antrim, the lordship of which her family had established in the 13th century...

 of the Glens of Antrim

Glens of Antrim

The Glens of Antrim , known locally as simply The Glens, is a region of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It comprises nine glens , that radiate from the Antrim Plateau to the coast. The Glens are an area of outstanding natural beauty and are a major tourist attraction in north Antrim...

, and acquired as a result the castle of Red Bay. His descendants known as the MacDonnells of Antrim extended and rebuilt the castle in the 16th century. In 1565, the castle was burned to the ground by Shane O'Neill

Shane O'Neill

Seán Ó Néill, anglicised Shane O'Neill , nicknamed 'Seán an díomais', was an Irish king of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster in the mid 16th century. Shane O'Neill's career was marked by his ambition to be The Ó Néill Mór - Sovereign of the dominant Ó Néill Mór family of Tyrone... and thus head...

, chief of the O'Neills of Tyrone; it was rebuilt by Sorley Boy MacDonnell

Sorley Boy MacDonnell

Somhairle Buidhe Mac Domhnaill , Scoto-Irish prince or flaith and chief, was the son of Alexander MacDonnell, lord of Islay and Kintyre , and Catherine, daughter of the Lord of Ardnamurchan...

, however later fell into disrepair.

In 1604 the castle was restored and was later destroyed by Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

 in 1652 during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...

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