One of Donegal’s most prominent castles

Burt Castle was built in 1560 on a small island surrounded by marshland. This was one of a network of castles built around Inishowen by the O’Doherty Clan. It has 3 stories, 2 circular watchtowers, and a small vaulted chamber. During the 1500s many powerful Gaelic families started losing their lands to the English Crown and eventually had to ‘bend the knee’ to King Henry VIII just to hold onto what they had. This process was called ‘surrender and re-grant’ and brought the Irish chieftains into the English legal system. The downside was that the King could (and did) take back the land and granted it to whoever he chose. Burt Castle fell in and out of the O’Doherty’s ownership and it was recorded that brothers Richard and Henry Hovenden resided here in 1587 under English instruction to resist the Spanish Armada. It was later occupied by Sir Henry Dowcra and then by Sir Cahir O’Doherty who went on to carry out his famous rebellion by sacking Derry, Strabane, and Lifford. It eventually fell into the hands of Sir Arthur Chichester who quelled the rebellion and was granted Sir Cahir’s 170,000 acres of land after he was hung, drawn, and quartered!

 

Thanks for great drone footage by Castles of Ireland