Sketrick Castle is a castle on Sketrick Island near Whiterock, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is surrounded by a drumlin landscape some of which is submerged in Strangford Lough as small islands.
The castle is from 12th century – though some people have tried to claim a Viking heritage, which is not impossible considering Vikings did operate extensively in Strangford Lough. In the 14th century it came under the possession of Sir Robert Savage. The Annals of the Four Masters record the capture of the castle in 1470 by an army led by the O’Neill to assist the MacQuillans. They took the castle and it was given to MacQuillan for safe keeping. It was intact until 1896 when a storm destroyed much of it.
It is part of an Ulster Scots trail whose website has an impressive interactive map for ease of use. http://ulsterscotstrail.com/sketrick/sketrick-castle
It is also on what looks to be quite an exciting canoe trail: http://www.canoeni.com/canoe-trails/strangford-lough/itineraries/?id=15
References
Sketrick Castle – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketrick_Castle
Sketrick Castle – http://ulsterscotstrail.com/sketrick/sketrick-castle
