Antrim town is situated in the county of the same name, on the right bank of Six-Mile-Water just before it enters Lough Neagh, a little more than thirteen miles north-west of Belfast.
The castle, sometimes erroneously called Massereene Castle, was erected in the reign of James I. by Sir Hugh Clotworthy, a gentleman of Somersetshire.
Hugh and Lewis Clotworthy were amongst those who accompanied the Earl of Essex in his expedition to Ulster in 1573, and in 1603 Captain Hugh Clotworthy was doing garrison duty at Carrickfergus under Sir Arthur Chichester. In 1605 he received a grant of the confiscated lands of “Massarine,” and erected a residence on the site of the present building. This consisted of a moated courtyard flanked by towers.
Shortly afterwards he was knighted, and married the beautiful Marion Langford “of the flowing tresses.”
In 1610 Sir Hugh Clotworthy commenced to erect a castle according to the undertaking of the grant, and it was completed in three years. It consisted of a quadrangular pile, three storeys in height, which enclosed a small courtyard, and was flanked at the angles by square towers. The walls measured 6 feet in thickness. A short flight of granite steps led to the entrance hall, which contained a great open fireplace. On the right of the hall was the “buttery,” where at about 3 feet from the floor was a small square door through which food was distributed to the poor. The townspeople had the privilege of passing through the hall by the buttery to a pathway leading to the lake.
The river protected the castle on the west, while on the other sides it was surrounded by a moat. The “Mount” to the east of the castle was furnished with ordnance. Two bastions commanded respectively the town on the south and the lake on the north. The whole fortress covered more than five acres of ground.
Extensive alterations were made in the castle in 1813 by Chichester, fourth Earl of Massereene. At present it consists of a square embattled building of three storeys with a long wing at the same elevation running northward, flanked by two castellated towers near the end. At its extremity rises a very high tower in Italian style, which gives a most picturesque appearance to the stables when viewed from the lough.
The grand entrance hall is square, and the wall which once divided it from the centre courtyard has been replaced by oak pillars leading to an inner vestibule and staircase which occupies the site of the former open space. From this a passage extends the whole length of the castle to the Italian tower. The oak room is a magnificent apartment, wainscotted in dark Irish oak, relieved with lighter shades and exquisitely carved. The panels are painted with armorial bearings. There is a beautiful carved chimney-piece at the lower end of the apartment set with the grate in one frame. Upon touching a secret spring this all swings out and discloses a recess large enough to hide in. The furniture of the room is also Irish oak. Here is preserved the “Speaker’s Chair” of the Irish House of Commons.
The drawing-room and library are both very handsome rooms, and with the oak room, breakfast-room, parlour, and dining-room, form a splendid suite of rooms, opening one off the other. There is a very valuable collection of family portraits in the castle.
The Italian tower contains the chapel, record-room, and a small study. The first of these is in Gothic style and beautifully proportioned. Among the treasures to be seen here are Cranmer’s New Testament and Queen Mary’s Bible.