Greencastle is located on the northern shore, a mile and a half inside the entrance to the Carlingford Lough inlet on Ireland's northeast coast. It offers the first secure anchorage inside the sea inlet of Carlingford Lough.

The anchorage provides good protection from all winds except for northwesterly or southeasterly conditions. Pilotage up to the anchorage is straightforward via a deep water shipping channel, running the entire length of the Lough, and final approaches by the marks provided for the local ferry service that operates from here.

Tides in the anchorage can run up to three and a half knots so newcomers should only approach at slack or high water.

Keyfacts for Greencastle

Position and approaches

Haven position

54° 2.280' N, 006° 6.110' W

One hundred metres south of the wooden pontoon in the anchorage area.

What are the key points of the approach?

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What's the story here?

Greencastle is a rural townland located inside the north side of the entrance to Carlingford Lough about 1½ miles in from Cranfield Point and 400 metres southeast of Greencastle Point. Its extensive beach is fronted by an old stone quay, a wooden pier and the ferry terminal of a car ferry service that crosses between Greencastle and Greenore on the opposite shoreline. Within this, the ancient castle is the main feature and apart from this there is only the occasional fisherman’s house or holiday home that can scarcely be called a scattered hamlet.




Greencastle provides the first good anchorage inside Carlingford Lough and with excellent holding in depths of up to 5 metres. This is located in the narrow channel between the ledges north of Green Island and Greencastle Point. Green Island is a small islet ½ a mile from the Greencastle shore that is always visible and protects the anchorage to the south. The holding is well needed as the currents run up to 3.5 knots here and a vessel will normally be tide-rode here.




The approach is made off the main commercial channel entered just over ½ mile to the southeast of Greencastle Point. The short narrow channel is marked by lit perches leading to the ferry terminal. Tides in the anchorage can run up to 3.5 knots so the best approach for newcomers is at slack or high water. Of these, the preferred option is near low water when the rocks on the west and south sides of the anchorage may be clearly seen.

How to get in?

Seaward approaches are detailed in eastern Ireland's coastal overview for Strangford Lough to Dublin Bay . Navigating Carlingford Lough provides a tide timer for the entrance and sailing directions for the run-up the Lough.

Follow the marked channel passing close to the Vidal Rock No. 9 starboard buoy and prepare to depart the marked channel here. Turn northward to starboard, and commence an approach on the anchorage to the east of Green Island, preparing to pick up on the ferry channel marks.




The car ferry service sails on the hour crossing Carlingford Lough from Greencastle to Greenore and it is important not to obstruct the channel or its approaches when it is manoeuvring. So it is essential to check that the ferry is not underway before entering the channel, and if so, wait until it has cleared the channel.




From Greencastle, it departs on the hour (Mon-Sat 7 am–8 pm, Sun 9 am–8 pm). From Greenore, ferries depart on the half-hour (Mon-Sat 7.30 am–8.30 pm, Sun 9.30 am–8.30 pm) and the crossing takes 15 minutes.




This path into the anchorage is well marked for the ferry and approaches close south of the rear Leading Lt. Beacon tower, which provides the main entrance channel’s 310° T lights-in-line leading lights. The deep narrow channel then lies between Half Tide Rock and the mainland shore. From here it is well marked by five perches, three port perches and two starboard perches, all lit.





The first of these is a red perch, passed to the east, to port, that marks the Half Tide Rock. Half Tide Rock is an outlier of Green Island, which is surrounded by an extensive rocky foreshore that covers high water. It has several outlying rocks such as Half Tide Rock to the east that also covers, and a drying sandbank to the north of the island and close south of the mooring area. The red perch marking Half Tide Rock can be challenging to identify as it is thin, and only shows 1 metre at high water springs.




Nevertheless, it is easy to identify and never more than at low water when Half Tide Rock is also visible. Once this is identified, steer for the perch, and when it draws close, turn to starboard and pass Half Tide Rock to port, keeping at least 15 metres off. All the other perch markers on either side of the channel are then closely spaced and the path is obvious from where it is simply a matter of passing through them on their correct sides.




Steer for the head of the wooden pier when the last port perch passes astern passing the Carlingford Lough Ferry terminal located on the shore about 120 metres northward.




When closing on the head of the wooden pier, break off to the west, following the line of the moorings to pass the drying bank that lies between Green Island and the moorings, close south of the latter. The anchoring area will be readily apparent to local boats, most likely the lough’s pilot boat and tugs, which are usually stationed here.




The best place to anchor is to the west round to northwest of the moorings. At slack water it is easy to place the vessel in relation to the rocks on the south side of the anchorage. Holding is excellent over a bed of gravel and sand but tow the hook in well in as the currents run up to 3.5 knots here.




The wooden pier is largely a derelict wooden structure. It is best to land on the beach on either side. The head of the pier covers high water Springs.




There is also a small concrete pier around the northern face of Greencastle Point. This pier and its approach path dry out entirely at low water. A single starboard perch and two port perches mark the entrance channel to this pier.

Why visit here?

Greencastle derives its name from its signature Norman fortress, which is known by the same name. Recorded in early Latin documents as 'Viride Castrum', literally 'green castle'. It is not known why it was so-called, and many such historic castles give their localities the same name. It is believed that it might be an allusion to the verdant appearance of the surrounding countryside.




The original fort would have been Anglo-Norman motte-and-bailey built by Hugh de Lacy on a rocky outcrop during the 1230s. The stone of the present structure would have arrived in the mid-13th century to bolster the key defensive location. When the Normans came to Northern Ireland, they only occupied the area that is now the eastern portions of counties Down and Antrim. In times of war, the land route from the south through the 'Gap of the North' was easily disrupted by the Irish from Mourne, making the Lough a critical stretch of water. By constructing Greencastle and the corresponding principal Carlingford Castle, the Normans stood two sentinels over the Lough’s narrow entrance and, with it, effectively controlled the seaward entrance to Ulster.




As well as protecting the southern approaches to the Earldom of Ulster from invasion, quelling, if not preventing, insurrection, and maintaining local Norman power, the castle also played a key role in a chain of Anglo-Norman fortresses along the eastern coast of Ireland. When Greencastle was linked by ferry to Carlingford, it connected this chain of strongholds to the centre of Anglo-Norman authority in Dublin. The coastal location of the fort here also provided vast food resources in the medieval period.




Being such a critical and somewhat exposed stronghold, Green Castle has had a turbulent history from the outset. Hugh de Lacy did not have an heir, and the castle was transferred to the Crown in 1243. In 1260 it was taken by the Irish, led by Brian O’ Neill and Hugh O’ Connor when the medieval annals Arx viridis in Ultonia prosternitor recorded "the green fortress in Ulster thrown to the ground". From 1280 to 1326 it was the preferred residence of one of the most powerful Irish nobles, Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster and 3rd Baron of Connaught, often called The Red Earl of Ulster. Richard’s daughters were raised in Greencastle, including Elizabeth, who was to become the second wife of King Robert the Bruce of Scotland.




This, however, did not stop The Red Earl from leading his forces from Ireland to support England's King Edward I in his Scottish campaigns. When Edward Bruce, brother of Robert Bruce, invaded Ulster in 1315, The Red Earl led a force against him and was defeated at Connor in Antrim. Edward Bruce then sacked Greencastle in 1316 and declared himself King of Ireland until he was defeated at Faughart outside Newry. After an unsuccessful siege in 1333-34, the Gaelic Irish captured and destroyed the Green Castle in 1343. In 1375 and again in 1381, the Magennis family from Dundrum damaged the castle. In the 15th century, the royal garrison was reduced in number, but the castle had a further level added to the tower with mural passages and wall walks, and the ground floor was subdivided into three barrel-vaulted chambers to make it more defensible.




In 1505, Green Castle was granted to the Fitz Gerald Earls of Kildare, who made further alterations, including the enlargement of the upper windows. By the time of their downfall, in 1534, Green Castle was in what was described as being in a "wretched condition". In 1549 it was granted as part of the lordships of Newry and Mourne to Sir Nicholas Bagnall, Knight Marshall of Ireland. It appears that both Greencastle and Carlingford castles were under his governorship to better secure communication between the English settlers in the counties of Louth and Down. During their tenure in 1597, the castle was listed as one of the few garrisons retained for Elizabeth I in Ulster. The Bagnalls remained resident in the castle until 1635.




Having survived centuries of attack, counterattack and occupation Green Castle finally ceased functioning as a fortification in 1652. It was then largely destroyed by a parliamentary forces bombardment during the decade of wars in Ireland that followed the 1641 Rebellion. By the time the Earls of Kilmorey became principal landowners in Mourne, Greencastle was uninhabitable.




During all this time the castle was very much the hub from which the local landscape evolved. During this time, its surrounding village was the thriving centre of a major Gaelic fair. Held on 12th January and 12th August the three-day fair was called 'Clonaenach More,' the 'Great Fair Meadow'. After the end of the Nine Year’s War, the fair was revived under a patent granted by James I in 1613. This sadly declined in relevance into the 19th century when Greencastle was to be continuously outstripped as a place of importance by the steady growth of the town of Kilkeel.




Optimistic prospects were kindled when Greenore Port was opened in 1873 by the LNWR railway company to serve its Irish Sea ferry route to Holyhead. The wooden pier was built and a paddle steamer service was established from Greencastle to carry County Down passengers across to meet the Greenore ferry. There were plans for railway facilities to be extended to Greencastle in the 1880s. But alas, it was never constructed, leading to the end of the ferry service shortly afterwards. This confined Greencastle to its essentially rural, out-of-the-way hamlet character into the 20th and 21st centuries.




The fine Norman-Irish military keep of Green Castle finally came into State Care in the 1960s and, for some generations, was in the possession of the McElroy family. Their farm and domestic buildings occupy much of the area around the western side of the castle. With its air of sombre antiquity, the dismantled and dilapidated fortress carries the meditative mind to memories of the past.




Close to the castle is the late medieval church associated with the fortification and its Anglo-Norman motte-and-bailey that was Greencastle’s precursor. The site of the medieval village of Greencastle, which must presumably lie in the environs of the castle, has not yet been found. Within the hamlet are the former Lighthouse Keepers’ dwellings built over 150 years ago and which are now listed, a boat house and walls dating to a similar period, and the old wooden pier is also listed. The pier is used by the pilot crew, and tug boats anchor off its head.




Today the castle with its small quay and fishing village, situated further west along the shore that can scarcely be called even a scattered hamlet, is very quiet. It adds much to its appeal by offering stunning views of the lough. At the entrance to the lough, the view includes the famous 41-metre high Haulbowline Lighthouse, erected in 1823, and the Block House Island where the ruins of its Elizabethan fort built in 1602 are still visible. The towering Mourne Mountains that bound the area to the north are simply beautiful.




From a boating perspective, Greencastle is the first anchorage of the beautiful Carlingford Lough sailing area. The commercial harbour of Greenore, which lies opposite, cannot accommodate leisure craft. Hence it is an important berth for those entering or exiting the lough.

What facilities are available?

There are no shops or facilities of any kind in Greencastle apart for the dedicated area for vehicles to wait to embark, toilets and waiting area for foot passengers. Kilkeel is the largest and nearest town to Greencastle and is just under 5 miles from the Carlingford Lough Terminal. Carlingford car ferry (passengers €1.50, cars €7 carlingfordferry.com) makes the 15 min crossing across Carlingford Lough to Greenore, 6km south of Carlingford. Buses serving Dundalk (Mon-Sat 7 daily; 55min) and Newry
(Mon-Sat 4 daily; 25min) stop outside the old Station House on the waterfront.

Carlingford Lough Ferry +353 (86) 415 0585

Taxi services are available in the area:
Joe’s Taxis +44 (0)28 4176 3793
Premier Cabs +44 (0)28 41764397

Any security concerns?

Never an issue known to have occurred at Greencastle.

With thanks to:

Thomas Cunningham - Harbour Master for Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission.