Kinbane Castle

Fragment of a 16th-century MacDonnell castle on a white limestone headland between Ballycastle and Ballintoy

Kinbane Castle stands on a narrow headland of white limestone between Ballycastle and Ballintoy; the name means "white head". Colla MacDonnell built a two-storey castle here in 1547, and it was damaged in English sieges in the 1550s and rebuilt. The hollow below is called Lag na Sassenach, "hollow of the English", after a troop of English soldiers said to have been trapped and killed there.

The castle is now largely destroyed and is a State Care monument, but the setting is superb, with views to Rathlin Island and the Iron Age fort of Dunagregor. It is just off the coast road, a good stop between Carrick-a-Rede and Ballycastle.

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