Dungeon Bar, Ballygally Castle, Ballygally
[Photo: Ballygally Castle, Ballygally.]
You’ve met often enough the type of person who is always to be found ‘hanging about the bar.’ In the case of the Dungeon Bar, Ballygally, the phrase has a whole new literal meaning, and the iron wrist-fetters are still there on the walls to prove it.
You see, this was indeed once the dungeon of the Castle, and when you look at the five-foot thick walls, punctured only by the tiniest of barred windows, you’ll need no further convincing.
The Castle dates from 1625 when it was built by James Shaw on land he had obtained from the Earl of Antrim. It was constructed of local stone in the French Chateau style, and the original coat-of-arms can still by seen above the entrance. The ball and mace, the gaol railings round the counter, the spiral stone stairway down to the cellar bar, the flagged stone floor, and the five-foot-high arched fireplace, (which makes a snug with a difference) all underline the custodial and historical background.
And yet, oddly enough, the Dungeon Bar, with its soft orange lighting and pleasant cocktail-bar atmosphere, is cosy, warm and welcoming. No doubt some of its ‘guests’ from centuries gone by felt its welcome so strongly that they found it impossible to leave!
‘Claret for boys, port for men, brandy for heroes’…..Dr. Samuel Johnson.