Holywood Motte
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Holywood Motte by Rossographer as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Holywood Motte
Image: © Rossographer Taken: 9 Jun 2008
Relatively small Norman motte some 4.5m high and 11m across located off Brook Street in Holywood. King John visited Ireland in 1210 and it is believed that he stayed in the Holywood area on the 29th July 1210 - this motte would probably have been in existence then but it is not certain that he stayed here (on the 30th July he travelled to the nearby Norman stronghold of Dundonald so he almost certainly visited the motte there - see Image). In the 19th Century the motte was transformed into an ornamental garden. A spiral path to the top was cut around the motte and the trees, beech and sycamore, were planted atop.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
54.641411
Longitude
-5.83101