| The Ghost of Glenarm Castle (1853) |
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The original castle at Glenarm was said to be erected by the Bissets, though a 1270 Inquisition shows that a large area of land in Glenarm including the castle was let by the Bishop of Connor, Robert de Flanders (1264-1274) to John or Robert Bisset. As the Bissets were described as tenants of the Castle it is unlikely that they built it. The castle was presumably erected by someone else before 1270. The site was on the opposite side of the Glenarm river from the present castle where the market house stood on the corner of Castle Street. The market house, later the courthouse, was built on top of part of the ruins of the old castle. When workmen were clearing out the moat at the castle in 1856, they found a skeleton under some of the stones which were removed when they were pulling up old rough grass at the bottom. The first thought on everyone’s mind was that it had been there since the skirmishes at the 1798 uprising but further examination showed that the stones had been there for much longer. The skull was fractured and it was suggested that it was one of the household or family of Bissets who had fallen a victim in some of the raids or foul of the MacDonnells. The bones were removed and buried in the old graveyard at Templeoughter. A ghost is reputed to have walked the rooms of Glenarm Castle during the 19th Century according to an article featured in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 1912. The article deals with an old man’s recollections of younger days spent in the castle as a guest of Lord Antrim. In 1853 he and his sister were invited by the Earl to spend some time at Glenarm. A luncheon was provided after their arrival. When the meal was finished the storyteller had the occasion to go into an upstairs room. When he turned to leave, a woman was standing in the doorway. He recalled: ‘She was tall, with a careworn face and deep-set eyes. She wore what seemed, in the momentary sight I had, a short petticoat of blue and brown homespun. Her arms were extended, holding the strings of a cap with the frills, such as the Irish women used to wear. “Well?” I cried, for my conviction was she was one of the domestics, and had heard me trip on coming upstairs and came to see what I was about in these rooms, and of course I said nothing, when I went down to my host and hostess, and thought no more about the circumstance.’ In 1855 Captain Orlebar, RN, was asked to dine and stop at the Castle. Later he recalled, “I was awakened very early by the birds singing in the trees close to the window. It was bright daylight, and I turned on my elbow to reach my watch form a small table where my candle stood, and there, right in the doorway, was a woman, evidently a servant by dress, and just risen, for she wore a mob cap, and was holding the strings out in a dazed manner, with bare arms. “Well?” I cried sharply, and she was gone.” Some time later the storyteller visited an old man, Mr MacDonnell of Ballylegg, Glenariff. As the old man finished and account of how his great great grandfather went and fought the Bissets he was asked if there was ever a ghost in Glenarm Castle. “Oh aye, plenty, you may be sure,” he said, “why, Ann Bisset walks to this day, and , strange to say, it is only to strangers she ever appears. You see, she would not ask a favour of us, for we MacDonnells are her enemies.”
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